The Big Noise (1944) starring Stan Laurel, Oliver Hardy, Robert Blake, Philip van Zandt, Veda Ann Borg
A detective agency receives a request for two top men to guard a new bomb. The janitors (Laurel and Hardy) who take the call see it as their golden opportunity. They accept the job and immediately find themselves up against a gang of thieves. “Neighbors” who are determined to steal the dangerous cargo. An explosive, that will make The Big Noise
Review
A lot of people strongly dislike The Big Noise. For what it’s worth, it’s better than Utopia in my opinion. And, it has a lot of very funny moments, as well. For that matter, contemporary audiences liked it — it was very successful in the theaters.
Funny moments in The Big Noise
Cast of characters
- Stan Laurel (The Bullfighters) as Stanley. One of the two dim-witted janitors. He plays his normal, fumbling but lovable, character.
- Oliver Hardy (Zenobia) as Oliver. The other dim-witted janitor, who wants to become a detective. And takes advantage of a phone call to try to make his dream come true. Oliver plays his normal character.
- Arthur Space (Rio Rita) as Alva P. Hartley. The zany inventor who’s created a new bomb. As well as replacing standard meals with pills!
- Doris Merrick (The Neanderthal Man) as Evelyn.
- Esther Howard (Sullivan’s Travels) as Aunt Sophie. The often-widowed aunt … who now has her eyes set on Oliver!
- Robert Blake (Pillow to Post, Baretta) as Egbert Hartley. The inventor’s bratty son. Who delights in picking on Stan and Oliver.
- Veda Ann Borg (The Bachelor and the Bobby Soxer) as Mayme Charlton
- Frank Fenton (Mexican Hayride) as Charlton
- James Bush (A-Haunting We Will Go) as Hartman
- Philip Van Zandt (Citizen Kane) as Dutchy Glassman
Editorial review of The Big Noise courtesy of Amazon.com
Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy play janitors for a detective agency who pose as super-sleuths when they’re hired to protect inventor Alva P. Hartley (Arthur Space). Moving bag and baggage into Hartley’s gadget-laden house, Stan and Ollie must first contend with the inventor’s bratty son Egbert (Bobby Blake, aka Robert Blake) and much-married Aunt Sophie (Esther Howard). More problems ensue when Hartley’s next door neighbors Charlton (Frank Fenton), Hartman (James Bush), Dutchy (Phil Van Zandt) and Mayme (Veda Ann Borg) reveal themselves as the crooks they really are. Entrusted with Hartley’s latest invention, super-bomb called ‘The Big Noise’, Stan and Ollie skeedaddle to Washington, just one step ahead of the criminals.
Escaping the villains, the boys take flight in a balky airplane, only to find that they’re the targets for Army gunnery practice. Our heroes save themselves-and the day-when they use the bomb to destroy a Japanese submarine. Long regarded as the worst of Laurel & Hardy’s feature films, The Big Noise has in recent years been championed by several of the team’s fans, not least because the admittedly patchy storyline incorporates several of their classic routines from such earlier 2-reelers as Habeas Corpus, Wrong Again and Berth Marks. Arguably the film’s best scene finds Stan and Ollie trying to gorge themselves on a ‘banquet’ consisting of dehydrated food capsules. …