Review of Pack Up Your Troubles

In this L&H feature film, Eddie Smith is a combat buddy of thee boys, living in a trench. He has a little girl. Eddie gets a letter from his wife, saying she is leaving him, and leaving their daughter with some neighbors, until he comes home. Soon after, Eddie is captured, and never heard from again. When they get out of the service, the boys take it upon themselves to find Eddie's parents, and leave the girl with them. They find(how??) the girl , living with a couple who are always grumpy with the girl, and fighting with each other. The boys barge in and demand that they give them the girl to take to her grandparents. The wife mentions something about they get monthly payment for taking care of the girl, so I assume they are her legal guardians or foster parents. In contrast, the boys have no legal right to be harboring her. Thus, when they forcefully take her, they are legally kidnappers, even though she prefers them over her legal guardians. A little later, when they tell her they hope to unite her with her grandparents, she says she hopes they don't find them, because she likes them, especially, Stan, calling them uncles. Meanwhile, her legal guardians contact the welfare association(why not the police?). A welfare official comes to the guardian's apartment to ask where to find the boys. He says at their lunch wagon, down the street. He contacts them and demands that that they give her to him so that he can put her in an orphanage(Why not return her to her grouchy guardians, instead?). They say not over their dead bodies.(The city health department should also be after them for allowing a mob of cats to occupy their hunch wagon when they are not there!). While they are trying to avoid the welfare officer and enforcer, they have the monumental task of locating the girl's grandparents without a clue where they might be, nor what their first names are. They get a monumental phone book and start looking under Smith. This search only lasts about 10min. of film time, but seems to take up much more. Among others, they check out a professional boxer, who accuses them of being blackmailers. But, the most time is spent outside the home of a women who is being married that day at home. They ring the bell, and tell the doorman that they have Eddie's baby. The shocked doorman tells the father of the bride(played by Billy Gilbert). It so happens that the groom's name is Eddie, but not Smith. Nor is the bride's family name Smith. Nonetheless, the wedding party takes the news as gospel, without further inquiry, at that time. Gilbert goes into a rage, and calls off the wedding, while the bride faints. The groom's father chases him around the house. Turns out the Smiths used to live here, but the phone book is out of date...........With the Welfare Association looking for them, the boys figure they need to get out of town quickly, with the girl(So, how are they going to find her grandparents that way?). The girl pipes up that she hopes they don't find her parents, so she can stay with them. They need money to leave town, so they go to a bank for a loan. After talking to the president(and mistakenly offering him a hotdog, instead of a cigar, to smoke!), he looks at their lunch wagon, and says he would have to be unconscious to loan them $2000. for that as security. He rocks back in his chair, laughing so hard that he knocks a bust sculpture down from it's perch, which knocks him out. Next , we see the boys running out the front door, with the alarm bell ringing. Just how they obtained the $2000., to cause the alarm to ring, is not gone into? In any case, they are now bank robbers, as well as kidnappers. They run home, ahead of the police, and barricade the door. Nonetheless, the welfare officer returns with a policeman, and they get through the door, after the boys hide the girl in the dumbwaiter.(She goes down to the basement). Soon, the police relating to the bank robbery arrive. First, Stan, then Ollie, get in the dumbwaiter and land in the basement. However, they are soon captured. For some reason, they and the girl are taken to the bank president's house for identification. It just so happens that the president pulls out a photo of his son with the 2, in uniform. They ask if he is Eddie Smith's father, and he nods. They tell him this is Eddie's baby(Mighty strange that they didn't know he has a child!?) Soon, the president is treating them as VIPs. However, the cook runs through the dining room, chasing someone. The cook recognizes them as the 2 who took his jest to take the garbage to the genera(Jim Finlayson) seriously, thus landing all 3 in the guard house. Now, he has a long knife in his hand, and runs after them, out the door, to end the film......... I've pointed out quite a few holes in the screen play, which downgrades my rating. True, it has a fair number of slap stick and sight gag moments, in addition to vocal humor, and situation comedies, and a cute little girl to occasionally focus on. Thus, it is still worthwhile for laughs and sentiment........Available at YouTube. I watched the colorized version.