Jitterbugs
| Jitterbugs | |
|---|---|
Theatrical poster
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| Directed by | Malcolm St. Clair |
| Produced by | Sol M. Wurtzel |
| Written by | Scott Darling |
| Starring |
Stan Laurel Oliver Hardy Vivian Blaine Robert Bailey Douglas Fowley Noel Madison Lee Patrick Robert Emmett Keane |
| Music by |
Lew Pollack Leigh Harline |
| Cinematography | Lucien N. Andriot |
| Edited by | Norman Colbert |
| Distributed by | 20th Century Fox |
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Release date
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Running time
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74 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
Jitterbugs is a 1943 Laurel and Hardy feature film produced by Sol M. Wurtzel and directed by Mal St.Clair.
Stan and Ollie are musicians travelling across the country as "The Original Zoot Suit Band". On route to their next gig, their car runs out of gas and they are rescued by Chester Wright, an inventor who has perfected a pill which will turn water into gas (in reality he is a small-time con man who simply switches a water canister with a canister of gas when the duo aren't looking).
The trio make a plan to travel to the next town "Midvale" and after using Stan and Ollie's music to attract a crowd Chester takes the opportunity to sell his "miracle pill" to the masses and make a fortune. As Stan and Ollie play, Chester makes the acquaintance of a young choir singer named Susan. The trio's sales pitch is initially a success but their scam is soon uncovered when a customer returns after having poured the "gasoline" into the fuel tank of his car and ended up in a nasty accident. Chester prevents the angry mob from attacking Stan and Ollie by posing as a police officer arriving on the scene to arrest Stan and Ollie. Susan jumps on the back of the trio's trailer after realizing Chester still has her purse that she asked him to hold. As Susan and Chester get to know each other, Susan tells Chester that her mother was recently conned out of a large amount of money by a gang who want to use the money to bet on a big horse race. Chester has a hunch that he may know the gang and with the aid of Stan and Ollie agrees to help Susan get her mother's money back.
The group returns to the town and posing as out-of-town businessmen, check in to the same hotel where Henry Corcoran, the leader of the con men, is staying. In plain view of Corcoran, Ollie (Going under the name "Colonel Watterson Bixby") pretends to deposit $20,000 in the hotel safe to make the gang think that Ollie is incredibly wealthy. Corcoron instructs his girlfriend Dorcas to seduce Ollie in his hotel room but she accidentally ends up in Stan's room instead. When Ollie enters the hotel room, a drunken Stan thinking that it is Corcoron, hides under the couch and becomes increasingly more intoxicated while he is hiding. Corcoron finally enters the room and Ollie pretends to be an undercover police officer sent to arrest Corcoron for swindling Susan's mother out of her money. Thinking he is about to be sent to jail, Corcoran agrees to give the stolen money back but reveals he only has half of the $10,000 and his partner, a man named Bennett, has the other half. Corcoron attempts to shoot Ollie and Chester but is pulled to the ground by Stan and thrown in the closet by Ollie and Chester.
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