Laurel and Hardy: In Oxford
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | In Oxford |
| Original title | A chump at Oxford |
| Country of production | United States |
| original language | English |
| Publishing year | 1940 |
| length | 62 minutes |
| Age rating | FSK 6 |
| Rod | |
| Director | Alfred J. Goulding |
| script |
Charley Rogers , Felix Adler , Harry Langdon |
| production | Hal Roach |
| music | Marvin Hatley |
| camera | Kind of Lloyd |
| cut | Bert Jordan |
| occupation | |
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| chronology | |
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Successor → |
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In Oxford (original title: A Chump at Oxford ) is an American film by Laurel and Hardy from 1940. The film premiered on February 16, 1940, the Austrian theatrical release was on March 11, 1949, while the German premiere 1950 was. In the course of time he received a wide variety of German titles, including “Knowledge is Power” or “Dick and Doof as Students” in Germany and “Leap into happiness” in Austria.
action
Stan and Ollie get a job as servants in the middle-class home of the Vanderbild couple from an employment agency. Because Mrs. Vanderbild demands a couple of servants, Stan has to dress up as Ollie's wife. Because of their practical inability, however, they destroy a Vanderbild dinner with numerous respected people and are chased out of the house with a gun on the first evening. Then they get a job as street sweepers. By chance they thwart a bank robbery when they leave a banana peel on the floor, over which the fleeing bank robber trips and can be arrested. The bank director rewards them with a free scholarship to Oxford . Stan and Ollie therefore travel to England.
On the very first day, they are victims of a prank: some of their fellow students send them to the Oxford maze , from which they only come out the next day and where a ghost played by the students drives their jokes with them. They are then presented with Dean Williams' room as theirs . When Williams discovers Stan and Ollie in his bed and the prank is exposed, he has the five students involved in the prank de-registered . The students then seek revenge against the "traitors" Stan and Ollie. When Stan looks out of the window and it falls on the back of his head, he suddenly appears as a master student Lord Paddington, who was once considered a genius in all matters at Oxford, but then mysteriously disappeared. Stan mutates into an esteemed man who generously employs Ollie as his butler. In the form of lord, in which he has immense physical strength, Stan can also thwart the students' plan of revenge.
When it gets too much for Ollie, he angrily packs his things to move back to America. Just then a window falls over Stan again, and he regains his original memory and intelligence, whereupon Ollie hugs him.
background
- The script was written in April / May 1939, the shooting lasted from June to September 1939. In addition to the three other scriptwriters, Stan Laurel also wrote it himself.
- The film is a loose parody of the film The Rascal from America ( A Yank at Oxford , 1938), released a year earlier , such as the angry students' pursuit of Stan and Ollies. The original English title "A Chump At Oxford" alludes to it.
- Since long-time Laurel and Hardy director James Parrott died in May 1939 as a result of his longstanding drug addiction, Laurel's old friend Alfred J. Goulding (1896–1972) took over the direction.
- From the maze, only the backdrop of the exit was built, everything else was painted on a wall and combined with the backdrop.
- Originally the film was only about 43 minutes long. The current first 20 minutes, which show Stan and Ollie as butlers, were a remake of the 1927 film From Soup to Nuts and were ultimately cut into the film. That remake was initially planned as a short film and would have been the first short film since 1935.
criticism
“Laurel and Hardy are back! This is happier news than any good news that newspapers publish. A Chump At Oxford is one of her best films, which some blasphemers consider to be more enjoyable than Chaplin's. Their clowning is pure. They do not pretend to want to improve an incorrigible world, and they never had the ambition to play Hamlet too ”
German versions
- The first German version was created in 1950 at Uranus GmbH in Munich. Hans Eggerth was responsible for the script and dialogue. Axel Schacht spoke with Laurel and Wilfried Seyferth Oliver Hardy. The version came to the cinema as a student under the title Dick und Doof .
- In 1968, Berliner Synchron created a second dubbed version entitled Knowledge is Power . Franz-Otto Krüger wrote the book and also directed it. Walter Bluhm spoke in this version to Stan and Gerd Duwner Ollie. The music for the German version was provided by Conny Schumann and Peter Schirmann. Other roles include Franz-Otto Krüger (James Finlayson), Brigitte Grothum (Anita Garvin), Friedrich W. Bauschulte (Jean de Briac), Friedrich Schoenfelder (Forbes Murray), Rainer Brandt (Gerald Fielding), Peter Schiff (Peter Cushing) , Paul Wagner (Wilfred Lucas) and Hugo Schrader heard (Forrester Harvey).
- The third dubbed version of Beta Technik appeared as a two-part series with the titles Das embarrassing Gastmahl and Der Lümmel im Kinderwagen . The film was written and directed by Heinz Caloué and the music was provided by Fred Strittmatter and Quirin Amper Jr. Walter Bluhm spoke again to Stan and Bruno W. Pantel took over Ollie. Hanns Dieter Hüsch gave introductory and introductory comments. Other roles include Eva-Maria Lahl (Vivien Oakland), Hartmut Neugebauer (Harry Bernard), Klaus W. Krause (James Finlayson), Lis Verhoeven (Anita Garvin) and Thomas Braut (Jean de Briac).
- The fourth version was created for the series Laugh with Stan and Ollie again at Beta Technik. This time the script and dialogue direction were in the hands of Wolfgang Schick , who used the second version by Franz-Otto Krüger. Theo Lingen gave a short introduction and Walter Bluhm and Michael Habeck spoke to Stan and Ollie. The music was again provided by Fred Strittmatter and Quirin Amper Jr.
Sources and literature
- Laurel & Hardy: In Oxford , DVD 2003, section “Production Notes” and “Information on the German Dubbed Version” (written by Norbert Aping)
- Norbert Aping: “The thick and stupid book. The history of Laurel & Hardy in Germany ”, Schüren Verlag 2004.
Web links
- At Oxford in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Laurel and Hardy: In Oxford in the German dubbing index , 1st version
- Laurel and Hardy: In Oxford in the German dubbing index , 2nd version
- Laurel and Hardy: In Oxford in the German dubbing index , 3rd version
- Laurel and Hardy: In Oxford in the German dubbing index , 4th version