A Chump at Oxford
| A Chump at Oxford | |
|---|---|
Theatrical release poster
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| Directed by | Alfred J. Goulding |
| Produced by |
Hal Roach Jr. Hal Roach |
| Written by |
Charley Rogers Felix Adler Harry Langdon |
| Starring |
Stan Laurel Oliver Hardy Wilfred Lucas Jimmy Finlayson Anita Garvin Forrester Harvey Peter Cushing Charlie Hall |
| Music by | Marvin Hatley |
| Cinematography | Art Lloyd |
| Edited by | Bert Jordan |
| Distributed by | DIC Entertainment (1991) |
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Release date
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February 16, 1940 |
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Running time
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42' 01" (streamliner version) 62' 41" (extended version) |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
A Chump at Oxford, directed in 1939 by Alfred J. Goulding and released in 1940 by United Artists, was the penultimate Laurel and Hardy film made at the Hal Roach studios. Originally released as a streamliner featurette at forty minutes long, the original streamliner version was slightly reedited and twenty minutes of footage largely unrelated to the main plot were later added for European distribution and, ultimately, American distribution. A later reissue version was further reedited, jumping from Stan and Ollie`s entrance into the employment agency to them sweeping the streets. A 20 minute version created for television distribution is entitled ALTER EGO. The longer version is the one most often seen today. The title echoes the popular film A Yank at Oxford (1938).
Stan and Ollie are down to their last six bucks and call a lift to a job agency to find work. A City Water Dept. truck driver offers them a lift and drenches them with water as a joke and leaves them behind. They finally arrive in a badly damaged car that has been towed away. At the job agency a call comes from Mrs. Vandeveer looking for a maid and butler to help at a dinner party she is holding that night. Ollie tells the receptionist they can fill the post and to leave it to them. They arrive and Stan is dressed in drag, pretending to be the maid "Agnes".
At the dinner party, Stan eats the nibbles he is supposed to be giving to the guests and tips the rest into Mrs. Vandeveer's lap. Ollie calls the guests to the meal with a hand held xylophone. He says "there is everything from soup to nuts folks; come and get it". Stan is told to take the cocktails; and instead of clearing them away, he drinks them and becomes drunk. Ollie gets the guests to sit down with the men on one side and the women on the other side of the table. Mr. Vandeveer tells Ollie to change the seating arrangement and Ollie begins to move the guests around for a while until Mr. Vandeveer gets impatient and tells them to sit anywhere they like at the table. Mr. Vandeveer then tells the drunken Stan to "serve up the salad without dressing" so Stan takes off his clothes and serves the salad in his underwear. Seeing this, Mr. Vandeveer angrily storms into another room to take a shotgun. Mrs. Vandeveer arrives, having changed her dress, and faints at the sight of Stan. Mr. Vandeveer returns, gun in hand, and chases Stan and Ollie out of the house. A single gunshot is heard and Mr. Vandeveer returns, followed by a policeman, who tells him, "why don't you be more careful; you almost blew my brains out?!" When the cop turns to leave, the seat of his pants have a large jagged hole ripped in them, revealing smouldering undershorts.
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