Nothing but Trouble (1944)

While during the Great Depression no one could get work in America, by the time WWII comes around there is such high demand for workers that even the returning Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy (again, playing homonymous characters) easily get jobs cooking and buttling for a desperate society couple.

That’s more than enough of a premise for the two great clowns; but unable to leave well enough alone, complications are added to the plot:

After being hired, they get involved in a plot against the visiting prince of fictitious Orlandia, (Marshovia is also mentioned,) a Lincoln-quoting, football-loving youth (David Leland) who much admires populist American ideals much to the dismay of his murderous uncle (Philip Merivale).

By happenstance the two take the boy under their wing and host a dinner for his guardian while the unrecognized boy hides under the table.

Oliver’s mock turtle soup isn’t very good; and the piece of horseflesh they steal from a lion at the zoo turns the event into an utter disaster. They are fired.

At a flophouse that night, it is suspected they have kidnapped the boy who is then returned to his uncle (who still hasn’t given up on his plans.)

I suppose Laurel and Hardy already had stories where they adopted orphans, and even though this whole prince-and-the-pauper murder plot seems overly complicated and at odds with their character, that’s not really where the film’s problem is.

Their obvious incompetence is overlooked because of the war's workforce shortage; they admit they are failures, (they are!) despite the boy still thinking they are wonderful, (it’s clear they are not.) The script is much too conscious of their personae and works hard to attempt to justify their character when it should simply just naturally let them be the forces of chaos they are.

No explanation is required. Previously in their career, none was.

At Hal Roach’s they had excellent foils (the always reliable Edgar Kennedy, Billy Gilbert or James Finlayson,) an aspect which is absent here.

It's not even as if the length of the film makes them overstay their welcome; at just over an hour in length it matches their previous full-length features.

It’s mostly that overall, the two are given too little too do.

A skit with a lion (where Stanley reveals superhuman speed) is good; but, for example, a plate breaking scene is played offscreen with Ollie and their employer (Mary Boland) attempting to excuse it or ignore it while also reacting to the noise. It’s not only not very effective, but it doesn’t play up the team’s strengths.

Putting a second assassination attempt in the hands of these two bunglers and having it backfire is also not bad; add to that, a good, high-flying conclusion with a hysterical Stanley reminiscent of County Hospital (1932), and you get a conclusion that almost redeems the film.