A Chump at Oxford | |
---|---|
Directed by | Alfred J. Goulding |
Written by | Charley Rogers Felix Adler Harry Langdon |
Produced by | Hal Roach Jr. Hal Roach |
Starring | Stan Laurel Oliver Hardy Wilfred Lucas Forrester Harvey Peter Cushing Charlie Hall |
Cinematography | Art Lloyd |
Edited by | Bert Jordan |
Music by | Marvin Hatley |
Distributed by | United Artists |
Release date |
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Running time | 1:00:57 |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Box office | $230,297 [1] |
A Chump at Oxford is a Hal Roach comedy film produced in 1939 and released in 1940 by United Artists. [2] It was directed by Alfred J. Goulding and is the penultimate Laurel and Hardy film made at the Roach studio. [3] [4] The title echoes the film A Yank at Oxford (1938), of which it is a partial parody.
Stan and Ollie are street sweepers who, while taking a lunch break outside a bank, accidentally foil a bank robber's escape. The grateful bank president offers them jobs, but Ollie admits that they haven't enough education to succeed. The bank president pays for scholarships at Oxford University in England, where they are victimized with elaborate hazing by prankish students.
The servant assigned to Stan and Ollie recognizes Stan as the long-lost athlete and scholar Lord Paddington. Many years before, the scholar received a bump on the head which claimed his memory. He wandered away from the university, never to be seen again. Stan and Ollie dismiss the story and continue their misadventures. When Stan manages to bump his head, he immediately transforms into Lord Paddington, complete with upper-crust diction and condescending manner. Hardy, astonished, is permitted to stay on as Paddington's "lackey."
The students who had hazed Stan and Ollie now face expulsion, and they form an angry mob determined to run Stan and Ollie out of Oxford. They do not reckon on Paddington, who singlehandedly routs the mob. Paddington looks out the window, and the window frame slips and bumps his head. Stan returns, oblivious to what has happened.
Also seen in the extended version:
A Chump at Oxford was originally conceived as a streamliner featurette. The completed film ran 42 minutes in length. Roach's distributor, United Artists, rejected the featurette and insisted on a full-length feature film, [5] forcing Roach to add 21 more minutes of action. The added scenes, partially reworking the silent film From Soup to Nuts (1928), show Laurel and Hardy trying to find work at an employment agency, and accepting temporary jobs as maid and butler at a society party. The party becomes a shambles, and the sequence fades out. The next scene fades in where the original storyline began, with Laurel & Hardy as street sweepers.
The shorter version was shelved, [6] and the longer version was released to theaters and later to television; this 63-minute print is the version most often seen today. The shorter version was ultimately released to theaters in 1943. A later reissue was further reedited, jumping abruptly from when Stan and Ollie enter the employment agency to when they are sweeping the streets. A 25-minute version created for television distribution is entitled Alter Ego.
As Lord Paddington, Stan Laurel employs an upper-class received pronunciation accent, the only time when he affected a voice different from "Stan" on film.
In a contemporary review for The New York Times , critic Bosley Crowther wrote:
Let's not mince words with custard pies—or what theoretically amounts to the same: The slapstick clowning of Laurel and Hardy in Hal Roach's 'A Chump at Oxford' ... is about as silly and unintelligent as a lecture in double-talk, and also about as funny as clowns can be these days. After all. the secret of slapstick resides in incongruity, and what could be more incongruous than these dead-panned stumblebums—ex-street cleaners in this case—turned loose amid the gray towers and ivy-covered walls of peaceful Oxford? ... The idea is to laugh, not to think. You'll get the idea, all right. [7]
The Hollywood Reporter noted: "Laurel and Hardy are back, not quite at the peak of their two-reeler form in Chump at Oxford but this 63-minute comedy is considerably better than the last half-dozen efforts of the team. [These recent films forced the team to share the footage with romantic subplots.] The boys are given their heads in a story that is entirely about them, and they take it to town in a manner that will unquestionably please their loyal following." [8]
Laurel and Hardy were a British-American comedy team during the early Classical Hollywood era of American cinema, consisting of Englishman Stan Laurel (1890–1965) and American Oliver Hardy (1892–1957). Starting their career as a duo in the silent film era, they later successfully transitioned to "talkies". From the late 1920s to the mid-1950s, they were internationally famous for their slapstick comedy, with Laurel playing the clumsy, childlike friend to Hardy's pompous bully. Their signature theme song, known as "The Cuckoo Song", "Ku-Ku", or "The Dance of the Cuckoos" was heard over their films' opening credits, and became as emblematic of them as their bowler hats.
Oliver Norvell Hardy was an American comic actor and one half of Laurel and Hardy, the double act that began in the era of silent films and lasted from 1926 to 1957. He appeared with his comedy partner Stan Laurel in 107 short films, feature films, and cameo roles. He was credited with his first film, Outwitting Dad, in 1914. In most of his silent films before joining producer Hal Roach, he was billed on screen as Babe Hardy.
Harold Eugene "Hal" Roach Sr. was an American film and television producer, director and screenwriter, who was the founder of the namesake Hal Roach Studios.
Stan Laurel was an English comic actor, director and writer who was one half of the comedy duo Laurel and Hardy. He appeared with his comedy partner Oliver Hardy in 107 short films, feature films and cameo roles.
Pardon Us is a 1931 American pre-Code Laurel and Hardy film. It was the team's first starring feature-length comedy film, produced by Hal Roach, directed by James Parrott, and originally distributed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in 1931.
Zenobia is a 1939 comedy film directed by Gordon Douglas and starring Oliver Hardy, Harry Langdon, Billie Burke, Alice Brady, James Ellison, Jean Parker, June Lang, Stepin Fetchit and Hattie McDaniel. The source of the film was the 1891 short story "Zenobia's Infidelity" by H.C. Bunner, which was originally purchased by producer Hal Roach as a vehicle for Roland Young.
Helpmates is a Laurel and Hardy Pre-Code short film comedy. It was directed by James Parrott, produced by Hal Roach and released by Metro-Goldwyn Mayer on January 23, 1932.
The Finishing Touch is a 1928 short comedy silent film produced by Hal Roach, directed by Clyde Bruckman, and starring Laurel and Hardy. It was released on February 25, 1928, by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.
From Soup to Nuts is a silent short subject directed by E. Livingston Kennedy starring comedy duo Laurel and Hardy. It was released on March 24, 1928, by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.
Jitterbugs is a 1943 Laurel and Hardy feature film produced by Sol M. Wurtzel and directed by Mal St.Clair.
Another Fine Mess is a 1930 short comedy film directed by James Parrott and starring Laurel and Hardy. It is based on the 1908 play Home from the Honeymoon by Arthur J. Jefferson, Stan Laurel's father, and is a remake of their earlier silent film Duck Soup.
The Bullfighters is a feature film starring comedy duo Laurel and Hardy, the sixth and final film the duo made under 20th Century Fox as well as the last released in the United States.
Blotto is a 1930 American pre-Code comedy film directed by James Parrott and starring Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy. The short was produced by Hal Roach and originally distributed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.
Be Big! is a Hal Roach three-reel comedy starring Laurel and Hardy. It was shot in November and December 1930, and released on February 7, 1931.
The Hoose-Gow is a 1929 American short comedy film starring Laurel and Hardy, directed by James Parrott, and produced by Hal Roach.
Laughing Gravy is a 1931 short film comedy starring Laurel and Hardy. It was directed by James W. Horne, produced by Hal Roach and distributed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.
Come Clean is a 1931 American pre-Code short film starring Laurel and Hardy, directed by James W. Horne and produced by Hal Roach.
The Live Ghost is a 1934 American comedy short film starring Laurel and Hardy, directed by Charles Rogers, and produced by Hal Roach at his studios in Culver City, California.
County Hospital is a Laurel and Hardy short film made in 1932. It was directed by James Parrott, produced by Hal Roach and distributed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Ollie is in hospital with a broken leg, Stan comes to visit and ends up getting Ollie kicked out; on the way home Stan crashes the car.
Hal Roach's Streamliners are a series of featurette comedy films created by Hal Roach that are longer than a short subject and shorter than a feature film, not exceeding 50 minutes in length. Twenty of the 29 features that Roach produced for United Artists were in the streamliner format. They usually consisted of five 10-minute reels.