Having always been a longtime fan of Laurel and Hardy I can say I saw almost all of their movies (silents, feature films and even some of the shorts they made when they weren't yet a pair) and THE BIG NOISE was one of my last movies left to watch. I also wanted to watch it because it has a dubious reputation, and it also ended in the Harry Medved book ''The fifty worst movies of all time''. So is THE BIG NOISE that bad as its reputation suggests? Not that much. Now, it's NOT the best movie with Laurel and Hardy, but is far from ATOLL K (their lowest point).
At the beginning Laurel and Hardy work as janitors and part-time detectives and they are called at night by a weird scientist that calls them at night for extreme surveillance on a tiny bomb that can blow entire cities! Unfortunately two of the scientist's neighbours are crooks and try to have the bomb at all costs for their evil plans. So after a meal of microscopic proportions (designed by the scientist himself) Laurel and Hardy go on a cross country trip with the bomb for avoiding that it gets stolen. After re-enacting a scene from the 1929 short BERTH MARKS but making it even longer, they end up using the bomb for its purpose (from a radio controlled plane).
So, is it terrible? No. Laurel and Hardy are older and some of the gags are recycled, I agree, but they still manage to crack a smile from most die-hard fans. And they manage to carry the plot well, considering also the setting. The supporting cast is decent, with Arthur Space and Robert - here still Bobby - Blake that are good scene stealers in the first part.
The bottom line is that the movie isn't that great but it didn't seemed dreadful or painful to watch, which a bit disappointed me because I was thinking before watching it that the film would made me cringe.
At the beginning Laurel and Hardy work as janitors and part-time detectives and they are called at night by a weird scientist that calls them at night for extreme surveillance on a tiny bomb that can blow entire cities! Unfortunately two of the scientist's neighbours are crooks and try to have the bomb at all costs for their evil plans. So after a meal of microscopic proportions (designed by the scientist himself) Laurel and Hardy go on a cross country trip with the bomb for avoiding that it gets stolen. After re-enacting a scene from the 1929 short BERTH MARKS but making it even longer, they end up using the bomb for its purpose (from a radio controlled plane).
So, is it terrible? No. Laurel and Hardy are older and some of the gags are recycled, I agree, but they still manage to crack a smile from most die-hard fans. And they manage to carry the plot well, considering also the setting. The supporting cast is decent, with Arthur Space and Robert - here still Bobby - Blake that are good scene stealers in the first part.
The bottom line is that the movie isn't that great but it didn't seemed dreadful or painful to watch, which a bit disappointed me because I was thinking before watching it that the film would made me cringe.