WE HAD LONG ago screened this little curio of a hybrid one reeler. We say that it is a little film that owed its lineage to several different genetic sources. Our view is also shaped by its parents; being Mother Nature & Father Time.
PERHAPS IT IS a fine example of the old saying: "Too many Cooks spoil the Broth." The very blending of the varying talents and styles of Laurel & Hardy with the very dry and self-deprecation of Pete Smith's narration's being blended with the industrial & patriotic message that was the crux of the movie.
ADDED TO THIS curious blend is the uninspired use of color and the static camera's eye with the very plain backdrop of a parked auto in the 20th Century-Fox Studio's parking lot. Although the action is very brief, it soon wears thin and really drags. That the action is worked out from the thinnest of a premise.
ALTHOUGH THAT WAS the method that was most successful in bringing the World the best of the now Classic L & H silent and sound shorts; as well as being a chief ingredient in their Hal Roach features, this was not the 1920's or '30's and the team was now caught up in the studio contract system. This was a definite bane to that genre of comedies.
AS FAR AS any suspicion that the team did this for any financial remuneration seems to be specious at best. We must remember that it was World War II that was raging and affected everything. This was most likely a product of a donation of time and services from L & H, Pete Smith, 20th Century-Fox and MGM to the War effort, much in the same way that the JERRY LEWIS LABOR DAY TELETHON supported the Muscular Dystrophy Association.
