. . . JITTERBUGS appeared on the big screen, with Stan Laurel trying to supplant Betty Grable as a pin-up gal for the Allied troops during WWII in 1943. Stan's effort falls totally flat, as he seemingly cannot even raise his voice to simulate the "fair sex" (a feat easily accomplished later by Dustin Hoffman and Robin Williams in the aforementioned flicks). Mr. Laurel and his frequent sidekick Oliver Hardy mostly are adrift here in a plot which makes less sense than their usual, and doesn't perk up until the last five minutes when the showboat Gen. Fremont drifts away from its New Orleans pier during rush hour on the Mississippi. JITTERBUGS' opening desert scene and its follow-up two-man band episode are okay, but the rest of this story quickly bogs down during the lengthy "New Orleans" sequence. Film rookie Vivian Blaine warbles rather well, but her shoulders are not broad enough to carry the entire flick.

Sometimes even an out of their prime Laurel and Hardy flick can fill the bill, like it did this morning on the Fox Movie Channel. I haven't seen one of their features in a while so this was a welcome treat. Yet even though they're both top billed in the credits, you somehow get the feeling that they have a support role in this story about con men out-conning each other with the boys as willing partners. As the story progresses, a host of characters slip in and out of the action, and one of the puzzlers is how a couple of the original grifters named Corcoran (Robert Emmett Keane) and his wife Dorcas (Lee Patrick) simply drop out of the picture, even though Corcoran was a partner of the main villain Bennett (Douglas Fowley). Oh well, not to worry too much about figuring that out.In some respects it appears that Twentieth Century Fox was attempting to follow the Universal formula of Abbott and Costello's successful early films by supplying a host of musical numbers performed by the pretty Vivian Blaine. Her character is Miss Susan Cowan, who's aunt had been swindled using the old bait and switch envelope trick. Rounding out the main quartet, Robert Bailey portrays another grifter named Chester Wright, and when he's stricken by Miss Cowan's looks and charm, he's a goner. If there were only enough pretty women in the world, maybe there wouldn't be any bad guys.You know, I've been thinking about that gas pill gimmick. Recall how Ollie was offering the bargain price of one dollar for the five gallon pills and two bucks for ten gallons - that would have worked out to twenty cents a gallon to manufacture gasoline out of water. Well I recall buying gas at twenty eight cents a gallon when I first started driving in 1967, so I just looked it up, and a gallon of gas in 1943 cost about ten cents. I wonder what they were thinking when they put the script together.Anyway, as con man Chester puts it - "Money lost through larceny can often be recovered the same way". And so it goes, as Stan impersonates the dowager Aunt Emily Cartwright, and pulls off the envelope switcheroo against the bad guys. If you're attentive, you'll catch a quick line from Stanley stating "I feel so gay" when he first puts on women's clothing. It kind of makes me wonder what he'd say if he were around today.

One of a declining number of features Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy made in the 1940's after they departed the Hal Roach Studios at the beginning of the decade,JITTERBUGS has the reputation of maybe being the best of a disposable bunch made at 20th CENTURY FOX and M-G-M.This actually isn't saying that much,and the film has many flaws that plagued the other films in this period that brought an end to their film careers.But there are somewhat more positive aspects that touch it up a notch or two above the other misconceived and misjudged efforts of these later years despite still being affected by numerous disadvantages.Travelling musicians Stan and Ollie steam up with a devious but likable conman (Robert Bailey) to help a young woman (Vivian Blaine) whose Aunt was fleeced out of $10,000 by various other shysters. Stan and Ollie don disguises as part of the plan,though they have to wary of their own safety along the way.The main problem with JITTERBUGS is the excess of plot complications and sub-stories plus various transient characters that don't just add a sense of disarrangement but provide little chance for any characteristic L & H humour throughout it's running time.We only get a sense of this in the opening few minutes or so with scenes of the boys on a isolated desert highway,but even here (as was evident in virtually all of their later films),the dialogue and behaviour is not particularly appropriate for their long established naive,lovable characters.Thereafter,with the appearance of conman Robert Bailey,his would-be girl Vivian Blaine and other types,Stan and Ollie often seem incidental to the plot and the numerous other characters that turn up.As has been mentioned before,it's main saving grace is to see the boys enact different characterisations.Ollie is enjoyable as a wealthy Texas landowner,Colonel Wattison Bixby,as a Southern states gentleman-type very close to his own upbringing,as is Stan as a fluttery and equally wealthy maiden Aunt,convincingly and amusingly in drag,employing the upper-class accent he used in A CHUMP AT OXFORD and flirtatious manner in ANOTHER FINE MESS.Ollie's scenes with Lee Patrick in his impersonation work surprisingly well,which features somewhat better supporting performances from such performers as Ms Patrick,Douglas Fowley,Noel Madison (who appeared in a similar Gangsterish role with the boys in OUR RELATIONS seven years earlier) and Robert Emmett Keane than was usually the case in these later films.This was Mal St.Clair's first film with the boys and his direction is fast and slick,helping to paper over the cracks of a less-than efficient script by Scott Darling,which was also a showcase for the up and coming starlet Vivian Blaine.She is a somewhat lightweight but pleasing presence,and the film is also helped by decent production values and a respected cameraman (Lucien Andriot), giving the film a more attractive and polished look.Though hardly vintage L & H,JITTERBUGS has enough good scenes to rate it alongside THE BULLFIGHTERS as the more tolerable of their post-Roach features,with both comedians looking generally more assured and confident with at least some decent material to work with than was the unfortunate case with most of their later work.JITTERBUGS is still flawed but enjoyable,with Laurel and Hardy's talent still managing to extract some laughs and overcome a plot and script that was far from perfect.RATING:6 out of 10.

I admit that I find Laurel and Hardy tiresome. If you do too, you might find some relief in this rather unusual project.The "boys" as a two man jazz band. As the foils in a scheme to bilk people using "gas pills," (some of which are still legally sold to suckers today in the US).And third in elaborate disguises to bilk another group of con men out of their unearned rewards. Its this last where the payoff is: two by now tired old men playing their scampy characters, playing film stereotypes: a Texas oilman and a rich spinster.Its not a memorable film experience, but it is likely the best I know of them other than what I think is one of their first film appearances as inmates of an asylum in "Call of the Cuckoo." Ted's Evaluation -- 1 of 3: You can find something better to do with this part of your life.