Konterr Brilliant and touching

Solidrariol Am I Missing Something?

StyleSk8r At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

Brenda The plot isn't so bad, but the pace of storytelling is too slow which makes people bored. Certain moments are so obvious and unnecessary for the main plot. I would've fast-forwarded those moments if it was an online streaming. The ending looks like implying a sequel, not sure if this movie will get one

Wizard-8 "The Big Noise" is considered by many fans of Laurel and Hardy to be the worst movie the comic duo did. Even Laurel and Hardy themselves didn't think very highly of this effort of theirs. I haven't seen every Laurel and Hardy movie, but from what I've seen I think I can safely say that this is definitely below average for this comic team. To be fair, the movie is not without humor, having a few comic touches that are genuinely amusing. And Laurel and Hardy do contribute some energy with their performances. But the laughs are few and far between. There are many attempts at comedy that will make you think, "Someone thought this was funny?" And the scene in the train car bed goes on for an agonizingly long time (and has some strange homosexual overtones showing the boys struggling and wrestling endlessly in the bed.) The movie is never aggressively bad, but you will instantly forget it once it reaches the end.

Michael_Elliott Big Noise, The (1944) ** 1/2 (out of 4) I was a bit shocked that Leonard Maltin's Movie Guide gave this film a BOMB because I thought it was the best of the later day L&H films. Laurel and Hardy play detectives hired to protect a new bomb made for the war but of course nothing goes as planned. While this is a far cry from their Hal Roach days, I thought there were plenty of nice laughs throughout the film to the point where I'd certainly watch this again. A lot of the gags here were "remakes" of stuff done earlier in their career but they still made me laugh.

JoeKarlosi Another of the infamous "Fox Laurel & Hardy" latter comedies, and in the running for one of the most enjoyable of the bunch in my book. Here, the older but no less amusing duo are hired to guard a bomb christened "The Big Noise" by its zany inventor. Some old tried and true classic funny routines are trotted out and revamped, with generally satisfactory results. Stan and Ollie seem like their old selves again in this, thankfully getting more screen time together.After enjoying this I just had to post a positive show of support and say that I think it's vastly underrated. This was echoed on the DVD's commentary track by author Randy Skretvedt, who actually apologized for trashing it once upon a time in his book entitled LAUREL AND HARDY: THE MAGIC BEHIND THE MOVIES, and now admits that during the '70s and '80s, this was a rough film to see in good quality or in its entirety, and so a lot of critics relied only on memory and reputation. THE BIG NOISE has been one of the most unjustly maligned movies in history (Michael Medved even had the gall to list it among the "Worst Films Ever Made" in his dispensable GOLDEN TURKEY AWARDS book). Luckily, the tide is presently turning for the better as moviegoers and Laurel and Hardy aficionados everywhere are finally giving the movie its due. *** out of ****

westegg As recently suggested by others, THE BIG NOISE has suffered in reputation for years, usually sight unseen. As a lifelong L & H fan, I finally saw it for the first time via the new Fox set (a very well done package), and it is more than acceptable a part of L&H's legacy. Of course it can't match their heyday, but among the Fox films it is much more Stan & Ollie's show than the initial Fox entries. The whimsical fadeout is by far one of the most delightful moments of their entire career, which is something.Give this film some slack, and you'll have a good enough time with it. I'm glad Fox has made this one available.