Every once in a while we see a movie about the military enlistment of someone who has trouble taking orders; examples include "Stripes" and "Your Mother Wears Combat Boots". One of the earliest examples was the Laurel & Hardy flick "Pack Up Your Troubles", wherein the boys get drafted into WWI. Following the typical fine messes into which they get themselves, one of their compatriots asks them to do him a favor should he die. This leads into what must have been one of the more serious plots that their movies ever had.While the movie is comedy through and through, it was a surprise to see Stan and Ollie display a more human side in this movie. I liked seeing them show that, wacky though they were, their characters had the courage to do the right thing when all hope seemed lost.Of course, one could ignore that and simply revel in the antics. And boy are there some funny ones! I hope that people keep watching Laurel and Hardy forever.

PACK UP YOUR TROUBLES (Hal Roach/Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, 1932), directed by George Marshall and Raymond McCarey, marks the second starring feature film from comedy team, Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy, and one of their finest efforts. Though categorized as a war comedy, the film in itself, divided into two parts, starts off with war related themed material while the second half concentrates more on the team's attempt in locating a little girl's grandparents while civilians after the Armitice.Opening title: "April 1917 – when the scratch of a pen on Capitol Hill caused crowns to rattle." After a brief montage of newspapers going to press with large headlines reading WAR DECLARED, Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy are seen seated on a park bench reading the latest news. While Ollie declares that flat feet is all that's keeping him from enlisting, the two are soon approached by a tough recruiting sergeant (Tom Kennedy). Even while their attempts pretending to be unfit for active duty, Stan foils up their disqualification, finding them in the next scene at the U.S. Army Training Camp. "It didn't take Uncle Sam long to whip this raw material into real fighting machine." Causing their short-tempered drill sergeant (Frank Brownlee) to go out of his mind over their bumbling antics, Stan and Ollie create more trouble while on K.P. duty, taking foul odor garbage to the general's (James Finlayson) residence, ending up in the brig with a tough cook named Pierre (George Marshall) after naming him the one who told them to place the trash into the general's home in a sarcastic manner. Eddie Smith (Donald Dillaway), the boys' best pal, receives a letter written by his wife telling him she has left him for another man, resulting on Eddie to leave his little daughter (Jacquie Lyn) in the home of a bickering couple (Rychard Cramer and Adele Watson) for the time being. Eddie is killed in battle, while Stan and Ollie unwittingly becoming war heroes. With the war ending November 11, 1918, civilians Stan and Ollie locate Eddie's daughter, take her away from the unhappy environment. They make every effort finding her grandparents with the only clue that their last name is Smith, thus having them going through every Smith name in the New York City directory. More problems arise as they try getting a $12,000 loan from the bank on their lunch wagon, and face losing Eddie's child to a mean officer of the Welfare Association (Charles Middleton) with efforts on taking her to an orphanage.While the final print is somewhat handicapped by some rough cuts resulting to flimsy material, it's a wonder whether the original concept of the movie was initially longer longer than the theatrical 68 minute time frame, probably explaining after repeated viewing why certain characters, especially those part of the Laurel and Hardy stock company of James Finlayson, Billy Gilbert or Charlie Hall, have only brief bits. There is no plot development nor how Laurel and Hardy got to become such good friends with Eddie Smith. One would assume there's an edited account of first their meeting resulting to their friendship during their Army training segment. His dying in battle leads to the purpose of the story with Stan and Ollie doing a good turn by taking the responsibility for his little girl while spending months trying to locate her grandparents. The tight editing, obviously, keeps in the necessary scenes for plot development purposes while leaving more room for comedy material. Memorable scenes include Jacquie reciting a bedtime story to Uncle Stanley, struggling to keep awake; Stan and Ollie's individual attempts locating the many Smiths in the telephone directory; arriving at 311 Chester Drive where Stan and Ollie disturb a wedding ceremony addressing the child to be Eddie's baby, Eddie being the hapless groom (Grady Sutton); Stan going to Poughkeepsie to acquire if the Smith Brothers of cough drop fame to be the relatives, among others. Fine casting goes to Mary Carr as the baby's nanny; Mary Gordon as Mrs. McTavish, the baby sitter during the second half of the story; and Charles Middleton going with honorable re-mention as the one with a face mean and scary enough to "haunt a house." Jacquie Lynn, who sometimes speaks like future child star, Shirley Temple, gets in her finest moments mimicking Stan and Ollie both in mannerisms and famous line quotes, adding much to the fun during their troubles.While the title, PACK UP YOUR TROUBLES, was used again for a Ritz Brothers comedy for 20th Century-Fox (1939), this is where the similarity ends. Home video prints to the original Laurel and Hardy edition (black and white or colorized) often eliminate material involving unpleasantness between the bickering couple looking after little Jacquie. Restored prints have turned up on numerous cable channel networks over the years, from American Movie Classics (1996-97) to Turner Classic Movies (TCM premiere: April 1, 2003). Adding a touch of World War nostalgia with background music from that era, including the title song, "Where Do We Go From Here?" and so forth, PACK UP YOUR TROUBLES is one of those films that seems to get better and funnier after repeated viewings, especially for devotees of this most famous of comedy teams of all time, Laurel and Hardy. (***)

It was back in 1991 when I was shopping at Target in Jacksonville, FL, that I stumbled onto this VHS tape from Video Treasures. It was a Laurel & Hardy movie I hadn't heard of before and while I think I checked out Randy Skretvedt's book "Laurel and Hardy: The Magic Behind the Movies" from the library there beforehand, I don't remember reading about the review of this particular movie at the time though I'm sure I read about it after seeing this when I checked the book out again afterward. Anyway, when the little girl-Jacquie Lyn-was doing the story of "The Three Bears" with sleepy Stan's reactions in close-up, I remember a relative I was living with laughing heartily at that and while it was funny to me as well, I don't remember laughing as loudly. I just watched it again this morning and I found myself laughing not only at that but most of the rest of the picture as Stan & Ollie join the army during World War I, make friends with a guy named Eddie Smith, and then try to find Eddie's parents after he dies in battle with his daughter I mentioned in tow. Hilarious supporting turns from usual L & H players like James Finlayson and Billy Gilbert as well as Grady Sutton and George Marshall who co-directed with Ray McCarey. In Skretvedt's review, he mentions a sequence cut from all reissued prints because of its too-violent-for-comedy status: Temporary guardian Rychard Cramer abuses his wife and Jacquie, then when L & H find out-he sends his goons after them but the boys manage to subdue them with boiling water! He also said a print survives dubbed in French. I'm not in a real hurry to see that one. So on that note, I highly recommend Pack Up Your Troubles. P.S. On this videotape I mentioned earlier in the review, Stan's daughter Lois put some home movies before the feature showing her on her fourth birthday and fifth birthday parties, and then showed her playing with Jacquie either in a sandbox or riding in a toy plane (cute seeing them kiss a couple of times there), a gift from her Uncle Babe (Hardy). She mentioned she hadn't seen her in a while and was looking for her. Well, a year later, Leonard Maltin & Richard W. Bann updated their book, "The Little Rascals: The Life and Times of Our Gang" and revealed in the C section of the Appendixes called The Rest: Their Glories and Their Ruin that Jacquie Lyn was given-by her son-a copy of this videotape for Christmas, saw those movies of her and Lois, and contacted her through The Sons of the Desert organization where she found out they only lived a couple of miles away! After Ms. Lyn left pictures after making a couple of Our Gang shorts-Free Wheeling and Birthday Blues-her family remained in Los Angeles where she eventually married a banker. I'll explain why she left when reviewing Birthday Blues. Update-12/26/14: I've now seen the deleted sequence which was colorized on YouTube. It's not as violent as I was afraid since we don't see Cramer hitting Jacquie. Also, that boiling water is from some pots that Stan uses to pour on the bad guys which is quite funny!

Despite being doughboys in General Pershing's army in France, the Allies still were able to win World War I with Laurel and Hardy in the ranks. But most of Pack Up Your Troubles is spent with the boys as veterans looking for the family of their late comrade Don Dillaway on behalf of his daughter little Jackie Lyn Dufton. Best scene in the film is when Stan and Ollie are sent out on what their exasperated sergeant thinks and hopes will be a suicide mission. They're told to get a prisoner. Remember this is 1932 and the story of Sergeant York even without the movie being made was known to one and all. How do Stan and Ollie pull off a Sergeant York? Well it involves a prototype tank, the enemy trenches, and some barbed wire. You have to see it being done.Laurel's scenes especially with the child have a nice ring of pathos to them. Most of the time he's simply an idiot, here he's a lovable idiot. Next best scene in the movie is the little girl reading Stan a bedtime story, Goldilocks and the 3 Bears and Laurel falling asleep.Pack Up Your Troubles has an unusually good cast of recognizable character players in roles that we all identify them with. Of course James Finlayson is there as their commanding general. But also there's Charles Middleton as a welfare inspector, Billy Gilbert whose daughter blows up a marriage to Grady Sutton when the boys think he's Dillaway's father and Mary Gordon as a delightful old Irish mother babysitting the little girl for Stan and Ollie. Third best scene is the police closing in on them and them trying to escape in a dumb waiter. Only their third sound feature length film and a winner for Laurel And Hardy.