The Dancing Masters

Problem with this movie is that nothing in the movie really feels connected to each other. The story feels messy and weak. On top of that the supporting actors were also quite horrible in their roles. No, this is not the best Laurel & Hardy movie. It still is good for some laughs certainly but overall it's a disappointing movie to watch. The movie already begins weak and unfunny. The movie does get better as it progresses but it never reaches the same level as any of the other Laurel & Hardy movies. Another disappointment was Stan Laurel. He didn't seem to play his character with as much joy as he used to do and his acting was to be honest poor at times. Still watchable but not really recommendable, even though the movie does have its moments. 6/10 http://bobafett1138.blogspot.com/

Dancing Masters, The (1943) ** (out of 4) Later day Laurel and Hardy has the boys working as dance instructors but they decide to help a friend try to sell a new invisible ray gun. This film wasn't as bad as I had heard but it's still one of the lesser films that the boys made. There are plenty of laughs throughout the film but for the most part the jokes fall flat on their face. We get several sequences, which we've seen in earlier L&H films and these include the entire ending when Laurel is trying to get injured so that they can collect some insurance money. The highlight of the film has to be seeing a young Robert Mitchum trying to sell the boys some insurance. Again, the film isn't that bad and it's mildly entertaining for 63-minutes but we've seen these jokes in better shorts before.

crazy storyline, disjointed scenes..but that never stopped them before. they run a Dance Studio and the opening scenes are good: Hardy kicking up his heels in a beautifully lit sequence, Stan defying gravity doing his trademark "Pelican dance". their best scene in years involves Robert Mitchum and hood buddy sellin' 'em insurance or ELSE! too bad, and how depressing, though, to watch opportunity after opportunity go by..and here they are even given a cast! Margaret Dumont! Charles Rogers! Daphne Pollard! (the lady who played Hardy's wife in THICKER THAN WATER)...even the guy who later did the voice for Mr. Ed! newcomer/model Trudy Marshall is a-OK, too. why not have Dumont the owner of the studio, constantly confused and exasperated by the decidedly unmethodical Stan and Ollie? all L & H fans should watch this once in a while, despite the flaws.

Though generally regarded as one of their weakest films, this has a fair quota of laughs. Stan's "dancing" at the beginning is amusing and Robert Mitchum has a good cameo "selling" the boys insurance. Best scene is where they try to hide from Margaret Dumont, eventually launching her husband into the swimming pool.

I just can't see for the life of me why these enjoyable latter Fox movies have gotten such a bad rap all these years, as they actually hold up well now and I think they've suddenly become appreciated in a new light with the advent of new superior-looking DVD releases. THE DANCING MASTERS has a bunch of things going on all over the place and the plot is not very focused. Laurel and Hardy are only dance instructors for the first 5 minutes, and then that's that as they get involved with a young man, his girl, and an invisible ray invention. Meandering plot lines don't matter in the least because we're here to laugh at Stan and Ollie, and everything they do in this one is pretty funny. They're on screen a lot and this is a joy. Look out for a young Robert Mitchum (who's uncredited early on in a scene). *** out of ****