Once again, Stan and Ollie find themselves being potentially done in for trying to do the right thing. Through a series of events, the boys find themselves in France in the service. They are totally incompetent as soldiers, of course, but they make the acquaintance of Eddie Smith, who helps them get by. Eddie gets a Dear John letter and gets the boys to promise that if anything happens to him, they will see that his baby gets taken to his father's home. Well, the sad thing happens and they are in his debt...a promising made. They are released from the Army as heroes for inadvertently rounding up a battalion of German soldiers. Once back in the states, they begin the arduous process of finding a man named Smith. This allows them to make some hilarious mistakes, including telling a bridegroom at his wedding that they have his child. A mistake, of course. This is a touching, loving effort. But, of course, these guys seldom catch a break.

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!

PACK UP YOUR TROUBLES only begins to pick up at the point the boys decide to track down the father of a little girl in their care. The best scenes involve their relationship with the cute tyke, who has a wonderful scene with STAN LAUREL where she puts him to sleep with her own version of Goldilocks and the Three Bears.Another highlight has the boys needing $2,000 and going to see a bank manager who has a good laugh when he sees that their restaurant business is nothing more than a traveling cart on wheels."I'd have to be unconscious to give you any money for that," he cries, and presto he knocks over a heavy vase that falls on his head. The boys escape with the money and even wackier developments follow.Finally, the situation is straightened out when they accidentally run into the girl's grandparents who intend to see that L&H get the proper award for finding their lost grandchild, just in time for the happy ending.A bit too plot heavy, but there are many scenes that are good for the kind of laughs you expect from any Laurel and Hardy film.Worth seeing, but not one of their best.

Pack Up Your Troubles (1932) *** (out of 4) Laurel and Hardy's second feature has them drafted to go and find in WW1. In training they meet a man and quickly become friends with him but after he's killed the boys try and get his orphan daughter to his parents. Being this is a Laurel and Hardy film you can expect plenty of laughs even though the movie is somewhat uneven and really plays like three short subjects put together to make a feature. There are laughs throughout the film but none of them are overly hysterical and in the end the film is somewhat weak but the good performance from the boys and the nice supporting cast makes it worth watching. I think the start of the film is the weakest when the boys are going through basic training as we get the same type of gags that we're use to and that includes them not being able to march and having a prank pulled on them, which gets them into trouble with the General (James Finlayson). The second half of the film contains the most laughs as Laurel and Hardy must try and find a "Smith" out of thousands in the phone book. In the most memorable scene, the boys interrupt a wedding with the father of the bride, played by Billy Gilbert, going crazy thinking that his future son-in-law has a kid. Some of the comedy doesn't work and that includes a rather long scene where the little girl starts telling Laurel the story of The Three Bears, which he falls asleep on.