I think most fans - myself included - of Laurel & Hardy consider their earlier work (at the beginning of the 1930s) to be their best. The films they made later, like this one, suffered from being a bit too long-winded, and were always bogged down with slightly wearisome romantic sub-plots. Nonetheless, THE FLYING DEUCES is one of their most accessible feature-length productions, and a film that it's difficult to dislike.Much of the comedy here comes naturally and feels unforced. Watching the guys attempting to simply wash themselves in their room is a delight in itself. The plot makes sense, and when the pair are sent off to Africa to enlist with the Foreign Legion, the laughs don't stop coming. There's a fine song and dance routine, a lovely jail cell interlude (featuring James Finlayson, no less) and a classic chase-based climax. Little to dislike, really.

The story is based on a joke popular in that era-Oliver joins the French Foreign Legion to forget a girl he had fallen in love with but couldn't have (because she is married). He and Stan join the Legion, do some bumbling, and then learn that being in the French Foreign Legion doesn't pay much, so they elect to leave. Unfortunately they find they cannot, and are tried for desertion and sentenced to death. They try to fly away in a stolen airplane, though neither actually know how to pilot said plane.There are good bits-where Stan plays a set of bedsprings like a harp, and where they make their escape from confinement. But many of the other gags are hardly funny. Laurel and Hardy may have been the original "fat and thin man" comedy duo, but Art Carney and Jackie Gleason did a far better job.

That statement right above goes without saying that I haven't seen too many of Laurel and Hardy's films (I've also seen their Christmas nutcracker film, and one about making a movie or other, though the memory is now hazy for the most part on what I did or didn't see as a tot). But this is not just a classic from the duo, but one of the funniest comedies I've ever seen. It's refined slapstick, made up of facial gestures, anger, repetition, big life decisions like falling in love, suicide, joining the French foreign legion, and flying a plane without much control of a wheel. The director, Sutherland, also somehow crafts out the single funniest joke ever crafted around (as silly as it sounds) a mountain of laundry. It's not a very complex storyline, as Hardy falls for a girl, can't get her, feels down about it almost enough to jump into the river, but gets a word of advice right before it happens by a fellow traveler to join the foreign legion to forget about it. But they get in over their heads by joining, and want to quit, and soon become the biggest bumbling boobs to ever join up, leading to many chases, and that death-defying plane ride (or is it?)It's the kind of film that unless getting head-on into Laurel and Hardy's distinctive and influential comedy timing will only really be of interest if passed on down as a child. It's a great comedy though for all ages- if the term 'family comedy' might be a little too pat a description, but one that does have a central appeal as smart physical comedy- as it doesn't pander to anyone, and even has a sincerity to it. I still remember most fondly the song and dance number Laurel and Hardy do in a moment of a jam (Shine on Harvest Moon, I think it was called), and the supporting character work is also a fine plus. And, quite frankly, one of those quintessential wacky end scenes that keeps me smiling, and laughing depending on who I'm talking with about it, where a certain horse with a mustache and hat appears saying "another fine mess you got me into." A pick-me-up comedy of manners and pratfalls, it'll always have a place in my collection not only for nostalgic reasons (it was one of the first videos I ever owned), but for its stamina so many years later.

An independently-produced effort while contractual disputes with Hal Roach were on-going,THE FLYING DEUCES is possibly the best non-Roach Laurel and Hardy vehicle,because at least Stan Laurel was allowed some say on the plot and script content.The original draft was apparently woefully unsuitable(as were virtually all their wartime Fox and MGM features),and the story itself is pretty thin(an obvious reworking of BEAU HUNKS)and the production rather cheap.What saves the picture from mediocrity are some familiar names in the supporting cast like Charles Middleton and (especially) James Finlayson from the Roach studios,with others like Richard Cramer,Arthur Housman,Eddie Borden and Sam Lufkin in much smaller parts.With such performers in support it does at least give it the feel of a Roach film,with the addition of their favourite cameraman Art Lloyd behind the scenes another plus factor.That said,the comic material itself is not of a particularly high standard,maybe because of the initial weakness of the original story and draft,and the amount of pancake makeup they both wear cannot disguise they were beginning to age somewhat after their Roach studios peak.Despite funny gags and individual scenes,THE FLYING DEUCES is rather patchy,and one yearns for rather more of Middleton's stentorian tones(their simply isn't enough of him in the film)than Ollie's simpering over Jean Parker.Her on-screen husband Reginald Gardiner starts off in amiable conversation with the boys persuading them to join the Foreign Legion,but he turns decidedly unsympathetic and hostile once they've enlisted,especially when he finds out that Ollie is in love with his wife.Much comic potential is not explored because unlike BEAU HUNKS(which was not perfect but shorter and rather better),there are few jokes about their tribulations in the Legion itself;the best scenes are some charming,if slightly irrelevant, musical interludes,involving Ollie singing 'Shine On Harvest Moon' while Stan performs a nifty soft-shoe shuffle,Stan playing 'The World Is Waiting For Sunrise' on his prison cell bed mattress(Ollie taps his feet amusingly during this number!),and some funny business with their best ever foil James Finlayson.The rest frankly is something of a disappointment,but we can be thankful at least that Laurel and Hardy are still in character here,which was not the case in their films from 1941 onwards,because of big film studio interference and reluctance to give Stan Laurel artistic control.THE FLYING DEUCES is certainly no classic,but is still fairly enjoyable and a decent L & H film thanks to producer Boris Morros' decision to give Stan a degree of creative freedom.Now why didn't the producers at Fox or MGM do that?