great gun take u back to war day and a period when people be have to tighten their belt because time be hard . the great comedy drought of 41 saw joke in movie place on a ration of just one per 75 minute . unfortunately great gun last for 74. notwithstanding the brief step away to rko in 1939 with the fly deuce and this be the first of the duo nine post roach movie . to be fair and while most of them be wretched and this one isn not so awful and despite the almost total absence of anything approach a gag . while laurel and hardy have begin to decline since hit an all time peak in 1937 ( way out west ) and this be still only four year on and and just a year after the reasonably amuse a chump at oxford . so it be that and despite have no back up on the writing front and be act off the screen by a crow and they still manage to find some last residual laugh in the tank . highlight have to be the parade line up where they order the general to take their photo . ollie cry to stan of give it a little dignity briefly recall some of the glory day and a do stan early self parody [ we haven not eat for three day ] yesterday and today and tomorrow . in the main and though and stan and ollie be live on reputation alone . the guest cast ( the lead of which be pick because theyre photogenic and and virtually none of them display comic timing ) react against l and h a if theyre a couple of bozo and but not because the duo be act in any way strange . even just be glance stand perfectly normally in a line up will produce outrage and some crank up incidental music to cement the gag . yes and stan and ollie be rarely see do anything genuinely funny in a film past 1940 and but be lead to believe they be by goodwill and past knowledge alone . yet what if someone have never see a laurel and hardy film before this . surely it would fall down as two averagely amuse men lark about in third rate vignette join together in an approximation of narrative . if this be the first laurel and hardy film you would see you would never know what the fuss be about and something lose on fox who promote their stan and ollie output on home video with a trailer announce four of their best love movie . isn not that against the trade description act . the humour be sometimes a little unsettling and too . when a sergeant have his face blacken in an explosion and stan and ollie pretend not to recognise him and stan suggest look and they have assign u a porter . much hilarity ensues and after which the general demand and what be you try to do and put on a minstrel show . for their 20 and 30 output it be a naïve gesture and a world away . but this be far too close to home not to be uncomfortable nowadays and particularly a the joke come not from stan ignorance but from cognisant racial mockery . maybe i be read too much into it and just a 99 % of the joke about the boy seem to be solely relate to how thick they be . ( maybe they will put me in the intelligence corp . brother and youre with him and right now . ) thankfully and as poor a this be ( and there a reason that a crow down your underpants never become a comedy staple ) stan and ollie be the more or less the focus all the way through and rather than play support in their own movie . joke like ollie check the time and spill his drink down his shirt seem old now and but be possibly reasonably new then ( and still consider good enough to be homaged 43 year later in the young one ) . have say that and the film drag on lifelessly for the whole second half and so the best that can possibly be say be that it bearable .