Jitterbugs (1943) - film review

Stan and Ollie are an itinerant two-man jazz band.  On the way to their next venue, their car runs out of petrol in the middle of nowhere.  A smooth-talking conman, Chester Wright, appears and in return for helping them out, the boys agree to promote his patent gas pill, which can supposedly turn ordinary water into gasoline.  The scam is quickly uncovered and Chester and his new friends are forced to beat a hasty retreat, with Susan Cowan, a young woman who has taken a shine to Chester.  When Chester learns that Susan has been swindled out of a large sum of money by a pair of big-time crooks, he decides to help her recover the money, with Stan and Ollie’s assistance...

Jitterbugs was the third of six films that Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy made for Twentieth Century Fox after their departure from Hal Roach Studios in the early 1940s.  The film at least has a half-decent plot (which is more than can be said of the other Fox features) but the humour looks as if it has been crow-barred in (along with some lacklustre and unnecessary musical numbers) and the old L&H magic is noticeable by its absence.

Although Stan and Ollie are virtually relegated to supporting roles in this film, they do get a chance to make us laugh, albeit not as loudly as in their earlier films.  This is the last time we see Stan in drag, Ollie is terrific as a southern colonel; their lively jam number near the top of the film is easily the highlight of their generally fallow years with Fox.  For once, the boys’ co-stars (Vivian Blaine and Robert Bailey) are more likeable than irritating, although it is still incomprehensible that such relative unknowns should take so much of the limelight whilst two of the greatest comic performers in history are sidelined into being a virtual support act.

© Brian Evans 2010

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