Jitterbugs (1943)

Director:

Malcolm St. Clair

Writer:

Scott Darling (writer)

Release Date:

25 June 1943 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy

Tagline:

This is that movie about those people.

Plot:

The boys team up with a likable con man to help a pretty singer's mother who's been taken in by swindlers.

Plot Keywords:

Con Man | Singer | Zoot Suit | Swindle | Disguise

Cast

Stan Laurel	...	Stan
Oliver Hardy	...	Ollie
Vivian Blaine	...	Susan Cowan
Robert Bailey	...	Chester Wright (as Bob Bailey)
Douglas Fowley	...	Malcolm Bennett
Noel Madison	...	Tony Queen
Lee Patrick	...	Dorcas
Robert Emmett Keane	...	Henry Corcoran

Runtime:

75 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Sound System)

Certification:

Australia:G | Finland:S | Sweden:Btl

Filming Locations:

Palmdale, California, USA

Company:

Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation

Trivia:

According to Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy biographer Scott MacGillivray, the scene where Laurel tears up his gasoline ration cards elicited groans from wartime audiences who were coping with gas shortages.

Goofs:

Errors made by characters (possibly deliberate errors by the filmmakers): When Oliver Hardy is disguised as the Southern colonel he hands a prop to juvenile lead Bob Bailey and says, "Here, Bob." However, Bailey's character is named Chester Wright.

Quotes:

Oliver: Well, here's another fine mess you've gotten me into!

Movie Connections:

References Get 'Em Young (1926)

Soundtrack:

I Had the Craziest Dream

Delightful characterizations by L & H makes this film charming

Although lacking in much of the standard L & H humor, this film has other merits going for it. Ollie's impersonation of Southern gentleman Colonel Watterson Bixby of Amadillo County, Texas offers him the felicitous opportunity to play a character close to his own Southern upbringing. Once again in drag, Stan's characterization of Bostonian dowager, Emily Cartwright, offers him the joyous occasion of reusing his Lord Paddinton upper-crust accent tempered with a slight nuance of local Boston color. The scenes in which they appear are a sheer delight chiefly because they carry it off with such finesse and aplomb. Fans may be disappointed at the lack of the usual slapstick, but Stan and Ollie are so splendid in the roles within roles that they more than easily compensate for it. This film as well as "The Bullfighters", with its more tried and true formula, make these two outings the best of their Twentieth Century Fox excursion.