(1943)
3
Hans J. Wollstein
Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy's return to MGM, who had released their best Hal Roach comedies in the 1930s, reunites the team with former Roach director Edward Sedgwick and longtime foil Edgar Kennedy. That the resulting comedy isn't better than it is must be blamed on the period in which it was made. That most patriotic of Hollywood studios, MGM was not about to poke fun at home front security and the comedy comes to a screeching halt as Stan and Ollie soberly explain the need for blackouts. Unbeknownst to the team, a blackout has been called off and they proceed to pester poor Edgar Kennedy in what ought to have been a riotous encounter. The result is disappointing mainly because of MGM's failure to properly pace the scene, a fault that also bedeviled the company's Bud Abbott and Lou Costello vehicles. Despite its many flaws, Air Raid Wardens is still preferable to Laurel and Hardy's previous Fox efforts: Great Guns (1941) and A-Haunting We Will Go (1942).
cast-crew for Air Raid Wardens on AllMovie
Air Raid Wardens (1943)
