There are wonderful plot elements here. The first involves the boys wanting to get employment. When they see a rich man needs a maid and a butler for a big dinner party he hires them (Stan becomes "Agnes" in drag). Of course, the skinny one can't keep away from the booze and gets snockered. The two are shot at as they run away. Now they get a job as street cleaners and end up soaking wet when a water truck driver sprays them just to be mean. As they have their lunch in front of a bank, Stan throws a banana peel. Just at that time, a bank robber, carrying the loot, slips on the peel and is knocked out. The bank president things the boys apprehended him. He want to give them a job, but Ollie points out they have no education. The bank president decides to give them the best; he sends them to Oxford. Of course, they are completely out of their element (dressed as British elementary school boys) and are victimized by the snobby rich kids, spend the night in a hedge maze, and end up in the quarters of the Dean. When Stan is struck on the head by a window as he looks out, the fun really starts. Memorable movie.

Stan Laurel is the number one star in this Laurel and Hardy entry from producer, Hal Roach. Not only is Laurel the instigator of the plot, and not only does he have a champion share of the funny business in the hilariously daffy three-handed jape with the "ghost", but for the first of only two occasions in his entire sound career, he essays a character role. And he plays this one most effectively too! (The other occasion was his Don Sebastion in 1945's The Bullfighters). Lord Paddington is no mere impersonation, but a complete reversal of Laurel's customary character. Speaking in a splendidly snooty, upper-crust accent, Paddington puts the maladroit Hardy through some marvelous paces. Even his dialogue is urbanely droll and keenly condescending. He argues, for example, that Hardy's ineptitudes "break the monotony" and that Babe "helps fill up the room, you know." There was never a funnier or more perfectly attuned team than Laurel and Hardy. Even when the situation is more piquant than usual, both can rise to the occasion. For personality, charisma and sheer vitality, they leave all the other twosomes far behind. I can never forget Paddington instructing Fatty in the proper deportment of a valet: "Lift up that chin! Both of them!"; and Babe's final, wildly exasperated response: "And another thing: I didn't like that double chin crack either!" Now that's acting!

Before this, I've elephant fly and monkeys explaining the Theorem of Pythagoras but that all is nothing compared to seeing Peter Cushing in a Laurel & Hardy movie.This is a good and fair, late effort from the boys, who already clearly had their best years behind them. This movie still reminded me at times of some of the good old Laurel & Hardy pictures from the early '30's. But there also lays a problem; the movie its originality. In multiple movies Laurel & Hardy reused some jokes or even situations but the fact that this movie is from 1940, multiple years after their glory years, leaves an even worse aftertaste. Nevertheless it as always still works effective so it's not really a big complaint about this movie, at least not the biggest.Basically the movie can be divided into three separate parts. The boys trying to get a job, the boys getting a job at the Finlayson residence and the boys at Oxford. Perhaps if the movie really was divided into three separate parts, each of them would work out better. As a whole its a bit too much. Each part is really great on their own and provides some good slapstick entertainment but as a whole it doesn't always connect. This is the biggest problem of the movie and the reason why it's nothing more than an above average Laurel & Hardy movie, despite having some great comical premises and situations.The sequences at the Finlayson residence are certainly the most 'Laurel & Hardy' ones, also of course thanks to the presence of James Finlayson. It's in the middle of the movie but in my opinion it's the best part of the movie. It's not really ever a good sign when the middle is better than the ending. The end part at Oxford is also most definitely good and enjoyable but the humor is a bit stretched out at times. Some sequences last too long, which sorts of drags down the amusement level of the movie with it. Nevertheless those parts still provide some good amusing entertainment, with a couple of fellow student who are giving the dumb and naive Laurel & Hardy a hard time. One of the students giving the boys a hard time is Peter Cushing, in one of his very first movie roles.Definitely worth seeing but a bit too stretched thin and disjointed at certain moments.7/10http://bobafett1138.blogspot.com/

A CHUMP AT OXFORD Aspect ratio: 1.37:1Sound format: Mono(Black and white)Arriving in Oxford to improve their education, Stan and Ollie fall victim to a number of practical jokes by their fellow students, until a knock on the head transforms Stan into a brilliant scholar! Originally released in two separate versions - a 42 minute print for the US market, and a 63 minute European edition - this patchwork parody of A YANK AT OXFORD (1938) arrived at the tail-end of a long collaboration between Laurel and Hardy and producer Hal Roach, which ended in 1940 following the production of SAPS AT SEA. The longer version of "Chump" includes an unrelated opening reel derived from a scenario in L&H's silent short FROM SOUP TO NUTS (1928), and while this material is only tenuously related to subsequent plot developments, there's still much to admire in the various set-pieces, including L&H as 'maid' and butler at a swank dinner party (Stan is told to serve the salad undressed!...), the famous maze sequence, and a show-stealing turn from Stan as alter ego 'Lord Paddington', an Oxford champion who excels at sports, addresses Ollie as 'Fatty', and is asked to advise Einstein on his theory of relativity! The movie is also notable for providing Peter Cushing with one of his earliest roles, alongside L&H stalwart Charlie Hall as a rabble-rousing student. Surprisingly, James Finlayson - another L&H regular - goes uncredited, despite playing a prominent role in the opening reel. Directed by comedy specialist Alfred Goulding, and co-written by silent star Harry Langdon.