| Be Big! | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Directed by | James W. Horne |
| Written by | H.M. Walker |
| Produced by | Hal Roach |
| Starring | Stan Laurel Oliver Hardy |
| Cinematography | Art Lloyd |
| Edited by | Richard C. Currier |
| Distributed by | Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer |
Release date |
|
Running time | 27:55 |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
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.
Laurel and Hardy find themselves on the cusp of a journey to Atlantic City alongside their wives. However, their plans take an unexpected turn when Ollie receives a phone call from Cookie, a lodge acquaintance, inviting them to a stag party in their honor. Despite their initial reluctance to attend, Ollie becomes enticed by the enticing details provided by Cookie.
In a bid to participate in the event, Ollie feigns illness, prompting him to send their wives ahead while he and Stan commit to joining them the next morning. As they prepare for the lodge event, the duo encounters challenges, including a struggle to remove one of Stan's boots from Ollie's foot. However, their ruse is thwarted when the wives return unexpectedly, leaving Stan and Ollie in a state of panic.
Faced with limited options, Stan and Ollie seek refuge in a Murphy bed, their apprehension palpable as they await the inevitable confrontation. Armed with shotguns, their wives take aim at the bed, resulting in its collapse from the second story onto the front lawn.
Uncredited:
Be Big! was filmed in two extended foreign-language versions immediately upon completion of its English incarnation. These foreign versions combined the story of the English original with that of Laughing Gravy , another short from the same year.
Les Carottiers was the French version; it replaced Isabelle Keith with Germaine de Neel as Mrs. Hardy and Jean De Briac in Baldwin Cooke's role of "Cookie." The Spanish version, Los Calavaras, featured Linda Loredo as Mrs. Hardy.
Laurel and Hardy delivered their French and Spanish lines phonetically from cue cards in both foreign versions. Anita Garvin played Mrs. Laurel in all three films; she mouthed her foreign lines phonetically, on-camera but off-mic, while a voice actress just off-camera spoke into a "hot" mic. [1]
The opening titles on the film credit James Parrott as director and Art Lloyd as director of photography, but all contemporary publicity and promotional materials name James W. Horne as director and Jack Stevens as photographer. [1]
Besides serving as a dress extra Jean De Briac was also Laurel's and Hardy's dialogue coach on the French-language version, Les Carottiers (in which he also played Cookie).
This was Anita Garvin's last appearance in a Laurel and Hardy short; since 1927's Why Girls Love Sailors , she had appeared in over a dozen L&H short subjects. She would return in 1938 for their feature Swiss Miss and again in 1940 in A Chump at Oxford.
With most of the running time taken up about trying unsuccessfully to change out of each other's riding boots, Be Big! is sometimes regarded as one of the team's weakest short films, with Randy Skretvedt saying; "The film's chief flaw is an excruciatingly protracted sequence which has Stan trying to pull his boot from Hardy's foot; it runs 13 minutes and seems like 20. Fun is fun but there are limits.", [2] while Glenn Mitchell stated that the film was "...generally regarded as an overlong exploration of a single gag. Some idea of its pace may be gauged from the fact that a British 8mm distributor was able to condense the action into an effective single reel!" [3]
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.
Harley M. Walker was a member of the Hal Roach Studios production company from 1916 until his resignation in 1932. The title cards he wrote for Harold Lloyd, Charley Chase, Our Gang and Laurel and Hardy comedies "have entered legend, both for silent films, and as opening remarks for the earlier talkies." He was also an officer of the Roach Studio corporation.
Laurel and Hardy were a motion picture comedy team whose official filmography consists of 106 films released between 1921 and 1951. Together they appeared in 34 silent shorts,A 45 sound shorts, and 27 full-length sound feature films.B In addition to these, Laurel and Hardy appeared in at least 20 foreign-language versions of their films and a promotional film, Galaxy of Stars (1936), produced for European film distributors.
Big Business is a 1929 silent Laurel and Hardy comedy short subject directed by James W. Horne and supervised by Leo McCarey from a McCarey (uncredited) and H. M. Walker script. The film, largely about tit-for-tat vandalism between Laurel and Hardy as Christmas tree salesmen and the man who rejects them, was deemed culturally significant and entered into the National Film Registry in 1992.
We Faw Down is a synchronized sound short subject film directed by Leo McCarey starring comedy duo Laurel and Hardy. It was released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer on December 29, 1928. While the film has no audible dialog, it was released with a synchronized orchestral musical score with sound effects. It was remade in part with their film Sons of the Desert in 1933.
A Chump at Oxford is a Hal Roach comedy film produced in 1939 and released in 1940 by United Artists. It was directed by Alfred J. Goulding and is the penultimate Laurel and Hardy film made at the Roach studio. The title echoes the film A Yank at Oxford (1938), of which it is a partial parody.
Hats Off is a lost silent short film starring Laurel and Hardy. The team appeared in a total of 107 films between 1921 and 1951.
Unaccustomed As We Are is the first sound film comedy starring Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy, released on May 4, 1929.
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.
Their Purple Moment is a silent short subject directed by James Parrott and Fred Guiol starring comedy duo Laurel and Hardy. It was released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer on May 18, 1928.
That's My Wife is a 1929 synchronized sound short subject film produced by the Hal Roach Studios and starring Laurel and Hardy. While the film has no audible dialog, it was released with a synchronized orchestral musical score with sound effects. It was shot in December 1928 and released March 23, 1929, by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.
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.
Why Girls Love Sailors is a 1927 American comedy short silent film directed by Fred Guiol for Hal Roach Studios. It stars Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy before they had become the comedy team of Laurel and Hardy. It was shot during February 1927 and released July 17, 1927, by Pathé Exchange. It was considered a lost film until the 1980s.
Berth Marks is the second sound film starring Laurel and Hardy and was released on June 1, 1929.
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.
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.
Hog Wild is a 1930 American pre-Code Laurel and Hardy film, directed by James Parrott.
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.
Randy Skretvedt is an American film and music scholar, author, lecturer and broadcaster. His 1987 book Laurel and Hardy: The Magic Behind the Movies is the reference standard for Laurel and Hardy fans. In 2016, Skretvedt put the book through a massive update and enhancement, retitling it LAUREL AND HARDY: THE MAGIC BEHIND THE MOVIES and publishing it through Bonaventure Press as an oversized 8-1/2 x 11 hardcover book, increasing the text by 50% and quadrupling the number of pictures included. Early supporters of the Kickstarter campaign for this edition also received a custom audio CD of selected excerpts from Mr. Skretvedt's interviews with Laurel and Hardy colleagues and co-workers.