Be Big! (1931)

User Rating:

6.5/10   

Director:

James Parrott

Writer:

H.M. Walker (writer)

Release Date:

7 February 1931 (USA)

Genre:

Short | Comedy

Tagline:

Mr. Hardy is a man of great care, caution and discretion. Mr. Laurel was married too.

Plot:

On their way to the train station with their wives for a vacation in Atlantic City, Stanley and Oliver...

Plot Keywords:

Vacation | Stag Party | Hammer | Laurel And Hardy | Husband Wife Relationship

Cast

Stan Laurel	...	Stan
Oliver Hardy	...	Ollie
Anita Garvin	...	Mrs. Laurel
Charlie Hall	...	Bellboy
Isabelle Keith	...	Mrs. Hardy
Baldwin Cooke	...	Cookie
Jack Hill	...	Railway station passerby
Ham Kinsey	...	Railway station passerby
Chet Brandenburg	...	Cabdriver
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Jean De Briac	...	Dress extra
Gracie Doll	...	Midget Performer
Tiny Doll	...	Midget Performer
Harry Earles	...	Midget Performer

Runtime:

28 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Sound System)

Certification:

UK:U

Company:

Hal Roach Studios

Trivia:

This film, along with Laughing Gravy (1931), were simultaneously produced in Spanish language versions, and the two shorts were edited together into one continuous film Los calaveras (1931). Laurel and Hardy read their lines from cue cards on which Spanish was written phonetically. At the time of early talkies, dubbing was not yet perfected. The same was done for a French language version, Les carottiers (1931).

Quotes:

Cookie: No man is bigger than the excuses he makes to his wife. So... BE BIG.

Movie Connections:

Edited into Los calaveras (1931)

"No man is bigger than the excuses he can make to his wife."

Not the finest moment for the duo, particularly on a technical level. The direction and editing are all over the place (often using long shots for reactions) and even in the newly restored version the sound quality is muddy.

Basic plot seems to read as a try-out for Sons of the Desert, with Stan and Ollie duping their wives so they can go to a stag party. Though in the case of this short they never quite make it there. Most of the slapstick sequences feel oddly laboured and contrived (Ollie at one point taking over twelve minutes trying to get a boot off), not least because they're all backed up by an overstated musical score.

I've got a new theory: the funniness of Laurel and Hardy is directly proportional to the length of Stan's hair. In the amusing Chickens Come Home-, made the same year, he sports a large quiff, yet here it's just medium length and not as extreme.

Not awful, but Be Big! feels more like a formula filler rather than any great step forward in their career.