Customer Reviews

Laurel & Hardy: Pack Up Your Troubles [VHS]

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

"Pack Up Your Troubles" presents Laurel and Hardy in their prime, with fresh gags and a great uncredited supporting role from Director George Marshall, as the cook. This, their second feature, is an improvement over their first. The scene where the little girl tells Stan the story of Goldilocks and the Three Bears as he falls asleep is alone worth the price of this DVD.
This is obviously a restored and complete print. There are scenes I had never seen before, and the picture quality is exceptionally clear and crisp. Contrast is excellent, and detail is sharp. If you are a Laurel and Hardy fan, you must own this rarely seen film. You will not be disappointed, as I have been with some of the recent L&H reissues. This one is a winner!!

Fully restored to its original 68-minute length, Laurel and Hardy's second starring feature holds up surprisingly well. "Pack Up Your Troubles" (1932) remains among the team's most enjoyable efforts, with several classic routines and an excellent supporting cast. Stan and Ollie are a pleasure to watch in this offbeat World War I comedy-drama. Look for a cameo by director George Marshall as the vengeful cook.

It's kinda pointless to review Laurel and Hardy, except to say that this is my favorite of all their features.

So, I'll review the disc. This is made by a small company, so it is on a DVD-R, but it is the only way you can get this movie on a DVD made for North America! (Foreign DVDs play at the wrong speed.) The film print they used is a good one, and it's a nice transfer to digital. Plus, the sound is full and rich. No need to shy away just because it's a small company that made it! This is worth it.

By 1932 the Stan and Ollie characters were solidified and their movie making process was in full swing. "Pack Up.." was a spectacular feature success made during the height of their two-reeler campaign. The bank loan and boot camp drill scenes are hilarious. Not all of their Hal Roach features are completely satisfying; some of the later post-Roach ones are negligible. This 1932 effort gets a strong FIVE stars!

Stan and Ollie are at it again, and this time they've got another partner, a little girl. You could laugh till you died watching the two bumbling idiots as they try to find the grandparents of "Eddie's baby" by going to see every Smith in the telephone book! The little girl is just so adorable! I loved the scene where she puts Stan to sleep with her Goldie Locks an the Three Bears story. The way that she makes her voice go so deep and wakes up Stan is adorable! I loved it!

Laurel & Hardy's second film effort is a pleasing follow-up to "Pardon Us". Here, at the height of their success, Stan & Ollie bumble their way through WWI, then take custody of their war buddy's little girl after he's killed on the battle field.
In all honesty, while this is a better constructed film than "Pardon Us", it's not quite as funny. Stan & Ollie have had better opportunities than this ("Sons of the Desert" and "Way Out West" come to mind) to display their humor. PUYT feels like two films stitched together, with not enough time devoted for either story.
However, no Laurel & Hardy movie is completely without its amusing moments: Stan crossing his eyes and then panicking when they won't uncross; their accidental capturing of the enemy (with Oliver's ample bottom half sticking out of a tank); and a charming, irresistible moment where the little girl reads a fairy tale to a napping Stan.
Although not THE best L&H fare, it's still enjoyable and worth watching.

This was the boys' second feature film, and I feel it's one of their best. It kind of begins like their 1927 short 'Duck Soup,' only in the short the boys are trying to evade service with the forest rangers, who need help in putting out a fire, and in PUYT they're trying to get out of serving in WWI. However, they can't get away with this for very long, and eventually are pressed into duty. The scenes in the trenches and at the barracks are pure classic L&H, one constant laugh-riot all of the way through, particularly when they're capturing all of the Germans without even realising what they're doing!

During their time as soldiers, they become buddies with a friendly young fellow named Eddie, whose wife is divorcing him. Sadly, Eddie doesn't make it home from the war, but out of friendship, the boys determine to find Eddie's baby (who is being raised by Eddie's less than likeable in-laws) and take care of her until they can locate Eddie's parents and turn the little girl over to her. This is the story that takes up most of the movie. The scenes with the cute little girl are just great, and really sweet, showing how genuine their affection for children really was. To support the child and themselves, the boys run a lunch wagon. However, the authorities find out about what's going on, and from then on out the three of them have to stay one step ahead of the people who are after them, the people who want them to turn Eddie's baby back to her maternal grandparents. While they are constantly trying to elude the authorities, they are also trying in earnest to find the girl's paternal grandparents, Eddie's parents. However, Eddie's last name was Smith, which means that they're going to more than just a few houses in the area!

This would be one of my top picks to recommend to someone who only knows L&H through their shorts. They might not be as well-known for their feature-length films, but that doesn't mean that their features are any less perfect and side-splitting than their shorter films.

This one of Stan & Ollie's earlier feature films and it is great! It moves at a very good pace and it isn't padded to stretch it out. The boys are in almost every scene. Their looking for the grandparents of their best friend [who was captured by the germans in WW1 and presumed killed]. Their misadventures of trying to find Mr. & Mrs. smith is hilarious! This is a must have for all Laurel & Hardy fans.

The boys have a bit of comic trouble in world war one. And that part is very funny, but the story becomes a mixture of sad, sweet,
and funny when they return home. Their buddy Eddie Smith never made it home from the war and the boys are taking care of Eddie`s
little girl who is now an orphan.
There are still plenty of laughs along the way between taking care of a small child, looking for the rest of her family (No easy
task with the last name of Smith) and trying to stay ahead of bureaucratic government goons that want to put the poor kid in
an orphanage.

Bought this for a Christmas present so have not yet viewed it and cannot comment on the quality of the product itself. However, the seller sent the item promptly and in good order so no complaints there.