The story is based on a joke popular in that era-Oliver joins the French Foreign Legion to forget a girl he had fallen in love with but couldn't have (because she is married). He and Stan join the Legion, do some bumbling, and then learn that being in the French Foreign Legion doesn't pay much, so they elect to leave. Unfortunately they find they cannot, and are tried for desertion and sentenced to death. They try to fly away in a stolen airplane, though neither actually know how to pilot said plane.There are good bits-where Stan plays a set of bedsprings like a harp, and where they make their escape from confinement. But many of the other gags are hardly funny. Laurel and Hardy may have been the original "fat and thin man" comedy duo, but Art Carney and Jackie Gleason did a far better job.

This is my second attempt in reviewing a movie that connects two classic movie comedy teams: Laurel & Hardy and Abbott & Costello. In this case, the connection is the director but I'll get to that later. Having just reunited with Oliver Hardy after Hardy briefly went solo in Zenobia due to some contract dispute with Hal Roach, Stan Laurel and Ollie would be loaned to independent producer Boris Morros for The Flying Deuces. It ended up being a remake of their four reeler Beau Hunks with Charles Middleton once again playing a mean commandant. In this one, Ollie is trying to forget a girl who turned him down for marriage so he and Stan join the Foreign Legion. Plenty of funny gags abound during the first 30 minutes while the last 40 is uneven especially toward the end but the boys are charming throughout even during the number "Shine On, Harvest Moon" with Hardy warbling while Laurel dances though I did wonder if Stan really played the harp in a later jail sequence (probably not, judging from Ollie's reactions). Among Roach veterans involved are cameraman Art Lloyd, writer Charles Rogers, and usual L & H supporting regular James Finlayson. Another writer, comic Harry Langdon, also provided the drawing of the boys in the first scene (and perhaps during the opening credits). One more note about the supporting cast: Jean Parker, who plays the girl Ollie's trying to forget, had previously played his daughter in Zenobia. That movie's producer was A. Edward Sutherland who also directed this film. He didn't like the experience as he wasn't accustomed to the star calling some of the shots. In fact, before his death, Sutherland said of Laurel, "I'd rather have worked with a tarantula." He probably had a much better time the following year when he introduced another comedy team on film that had just finished a Broadway run in "Streets of Paris"... P.S. This was where Hardy met his future wife, Virginia Lucille Jones, who was the script clerk here.

Of all the comedy teams in film to date, none have ever surpassed the popular duo of Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy. Further, no one has ever explained how these two simple comedians from different parts of the world, can go unheralded for years amid all the disastrous maniacal mayhem of the Hal Roach studios, but then once paired, became the most famous team to span generation after generation of audiences. This feature "Flying Deuces" is but one of their many features which has a reoccurring message. Take a life's' event like Oliver being rejected by a woman and what follows is sure to be "another find Mess, you've gotten me into" movie. Halarity is sure to follow when the boys join the Foreign Legion, 'just for a couple of days' so Olie can forget his troubles. Seeing this film as a child, caused me to nearly split a gut. As an adult, I recall that youth and realize, I never got over their wondrous power to make me laugh. Look very carefully and you'll see James Finlayson as the Jailer. His facial expressions and the antics of the boys is what made this film, (like all the rest) an unforgettable Classic. ****

I love this Laurel and Hardy film. "The Flying Deuces" proves to be faster paced and less redundant than many of their other films. Not that I don't love Laurel and Hardy, but it's hard for me to find one of their feature films where I am completely entertained the whole way through. In this movie, Stan and Ollie join the foreign legion so Ollie can forget his girlfriend who has rejected him. Along the way, they get in trouble and end up being chased by the entire foreign legion. It's a typical L & H plot, but this one remains entertaining because of great gags such as the shark scene and of course the famous airplane crash at the end. Stan's dialogue is especially great in this film. I like their other features such as "Way Out West" and "Our Relations" but this is and has always been my favorite. Their shorts are better, but this is very enjoyable and worth watching multiple times.***1/2 out of ****