Laurel and Hardy: The Miracle Pill
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | The miracle pill |
| Original title | Jitter bugs |
| Country of production | United States |
| original language | English |
| Publishing year | 1943 |
| length | 75 minutes |
| Rod | |
| Director | Malcolm St. Clair |
| script | Scott Darling |
| production |
Sol M. Wurtzel for 20th Century Fox |
| music |
Leigh Harline , Lew Pollack |
| camera | Lucien N. Andriot |
| cut | Norman Colbert |
| occupation | |
| |
The miracle pill (original title: Jitterbugs ; also known as Dick and Doof and the miracle pill ) is an American comedy film directed by Malcolm St. Clair with the comedian duo Laurel and Hardy in the lead role.
action
Stan and Ollie form a two-man orchestra traveling the United States in a trailer. In the middle of the desert the fuel runs out and they are forced to stop. They are saved by the alleged inventor Chester Wright, who claims to have invented a pill that turns water into gasoline. In fact, he's just a harmless cheat who swaps the water bottles for the gasoline bottles - Stan and Ollie, however, can't figure out the trick. Chester joins the two. After Stan and Ollie performed a concert in the next town, they praised the miracle pills of Chester with full conviction in front of the enthusiastic crowd. Meanwhile, in the crowd, Chester meets the beautiful young singer Susan. Soon afterwards, however, the dizziness with the miracle pills is exposed, whereupon Stan, Ollie and Chester have to flee the city. Chester accidentally forgot Susan's wallet that she entrusted to him while dancing. He's about to go back, but Susan has long been attached to the end of the trailer.
Chester soon finds out that Susan's mother was recently cheated out of $ 10,000 by a man named Henry Corcoran. To get the money back, Ollie rents Colonel Watterson Bixby in the same hotel as Corcoran, Stan plays the alleged Colonel's factotum and Chester the secretary. Corcoran is led to believe the Colonel is very wealthy and a notorious womanizer. Corcoran then puts his girlfriend Dorcas on Ollie, but Dorcas initially thinks Stan is the alleged Colonel and flirts with him. After a few entanglements, Chester was able to take off a total of $ 5,000 from Corcoran, but Corcoran assured him that the other $ 5,000 was paid by his partner Malcolm Bennett.
To get the other $ 5,000, Susan hired herself to sing on Bennett's Showboat. Stan has to dress up as Susan's wealthy aunt and pretends to want to advance her niece's show career. Therefore, a 10,000 dollar show was to be created, in which the aunt would finance one half and Bennett the other half. Bennett plans to take the entire $ 10,000 and go with the money - but Stan and Ollie are already one step ahead of the scammer. In the end, Chester can take the entire $ 10,000 and goes away with it. Bennett quickly finds out he's been cheated and arrives with the help of his pals Stan, Ollie, and Susan. The three prisoners believe that Chester betrayed them.
Angry gangster Tony Queen, who loaned Bennett the money for the scam that went wrong, now takes control of Bennett's showboat. While Stan and Ollie have to work in the engine room, Susan is forced to appear as a singer, receiving unwanted advances from Tony Queen. Stan and Ollie manage to escape the engine room when a malevolent gangster takes Chester's miracle pills, mistaken for medicine. The two can also take out Tony Queen with the help of the miracle pills. The ship tears itself off the line due to the commotion and travels through the harbor at high speed, scraping just past other ships several times. Finally, Tony appears with the police to arrest the gangsters. He had left the hotel to transfer the $ 10,000 to Susan's mother immediately. Chester and Susan reconcile while Stan and Ollie jump into the sea to escape the remaining gangsters.
background
The English original title Jitterbugs is derived from the dance of the same name, which is more or less synonymous with the swing dance popular in the 1940s . The three songs sung by Vivian Blaine in the film are The Moon Kissed the Mississippi , If the Shoe Fits You, Wear It, and I've Gotta See for Myself . The songs were composed by Lew Pollack , the lyrics were written by Charles Newman .
Although Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy were generally dissatisfied with many of their 20th Century Fox films, Oliver Hardy later named Jitterbugs one of his five favorite films. During the Second World War, however, the audience's dissatisfaction is said to have been caused by the comedic scene in which Stan tears his gasoline cards apart - during World War II there were supply problems with gasoline, which affected many Americans. The film was shot in Palmdale, California, among others .
synchronization
- The first German dubbed version was created in 1965 at the IFU in Remagen . Stan was spoken by Walter Bluhm while Arno Paulsen did the ollie. The dialogue book was written by Eberhard Storeck , the dubbing direction was done by Horst H. Roth.
- The second dubbed version was created in 1975 under the direction of Wolfgang Schick , who reused and edited the old dialogue book by Storeck. Walter Bluhm lent Stan his voice again while Michael Habeck spoke to Ollie .
Reviews
The lexicon of international films wrote: “Of the weak films that the comedian duo produced for 20th Century-Fox, the comparatively best.” The American film historian Leonard Maltin also wrote that it was one of the better works from the comedian duo's late work . He highlighted the performance of Vivian Blaine as well as the scene between Oliver Hardy and Lee Patrick in the role of the seductress Dorcas. Cinema spoke of a “charming late work” by the comedian duo.
Web links
- Laurel and Hardy: The miracle pill in the Internet Movie Database (English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ Jitterbugs (soundtrack) in the Internet Movie Database
- ↑ Jitter bugs in the trivia of the Internet Movie Database
- ↑ Jitterbugs at Turner Classic Movies (Notes)
- ↑ Die Wunderpille (1965) in the synchronized files
- ↑ Die Wunderpille (1975) in the synchronized files
- ↑ The miracle pill at two thousand and one
- ↑ Jitterbugs at Turner Classic Movies
- ↑ The miracle pill at Cinema