A Chump at Oxford, starring Stan Laurel, Oliver Hardy | clown ministry | Reviews

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A Chump at Oxford is one of Laurel and Hardy‘s best films, on many levels. The basic premise is that Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy are hired as the maid and butler, respectively (yes, Stan is in drag, recreating the character of ‘Agnes’ from Another Fine Mess) for a dinner party - which they promptly ruin—a very funny scene, especially when someone asks Stan to serve his salad undressed :) Stan and Ollie are then reduced to street sweepers, who inadvertantly foil a bank robbery, and are rewarded by the president of the bank with the finest education that money can buy—at Oxford University in England! The boys journey to Oxford, are ‘pranked’ by some of the students (including a very young Peter Cushing) - all is set right, the pranksters are expelled, and it is revealed that Stan used to be—a leading professor and athlete at Oxford, until he hit his head years ago, resulting in his muddle-headed Stan character. Sure enough, he is hit on his head and regains his rightful character of Lord Paddington. A very role reversal happens, with Stan pushing around Ollie as his valet, "Fatty."
A very funny movie, with excellent comedy and humor, and the role reversal is hilarious, and well worth the price of admission. Interestingly, Lord Paddington is the first character that Stan Laurel had portrayed since 1927 other than his well-known "Stan" character. Be sure to check out the funny movie quotes from A Chump in Oxford.

Editorial Review of Laurel and Hardy’s A Chump at Oxford, courtesy of Amazon.com

This wild Laurel and Hardy film casts the pair as street cleaners who stop a bank robbery. As their reward, they are both given full-ride scholarships to Oxford (which seems a bit odd, since it was the middle of the Depression). When they arrive at the British institution of higher learning, however, they become the objects of extensive pranks by the other students, who are upperclassmen in more ways than one and look down their noses at the working-class buffoons. Except for one thing: Stan, as it turns out, was one of Oxford’s most distinguished and accomplished scholars before a blow on the head turned him into the easygoing dimwit we know and love. Another knock on the noggin turns him back into the veddy British lord, who promptly sets the other students straight. Some very funny business with the boys and a stuffy dean, whose quarters they invade. --Marshall Fine