Pack Up Your Troubles (1932 film)

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Pack Up Your Troubles

US lobby card
Directed by George Marshall
Raymond McCarey
Produced by Hal Roach
Written by H. M. Walker
Starring Stan Laurel
Oliver Hardy
James Finlayson
Don Dillaway
Music by Marvin Hatley
Cinematography Art Lloyd
Edited by Richard C. Currier
Distributed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Release dates
  • September 17, 1932 (1932-09-17)
Running time
 67' 45"
Country United States
Language English

Pack Up Your Troubles is a 1932 Laurel and Hardy film directed by George Marshall and Raymond McCarey, named after the World War I song "Pack Up Your Troubles in Your Old Kit-Bag, and Smile, Smile, Smile." It is the team's second feature-length picture.

Plot

In 1917, Stan (Stan Laurel) and Ollie (Oliver Hardy) are drafted into the American Expeditionary Force to fight in World War I. Their ineptitude during basic training antagonizes the drill sergeant and they are assigned to kitchen duties. They misunderstand the cook's instructions and empty the garbage cans into the general's private dining room. The cook (George Marshall), who is thrown in the stockade with them, curses their "snitching" and threatens them with violence after they are released. They escape his wrath when they are shipped to the trenches in France.

Serving close to the front line, they befriend soldier Eddie Smith, who receives a Dear John letter from his wife. When Eddie is killed in action, the boys determine to rescue Eddie's daughter (Jacquie Lyn) from her brutal stepfather and deliver her to Eddie's parents. They distinguish themselves in combat by losing control of a tank and accidentally forcing a German platoon into the open.

After the Armistice, Stan and Ollie venture to New York City to retrieve the girl and look for Eddie's parents. Using the city telephone directory, the task proves both monumental and problematic as the boys blindly attempt to visit each Smith until they find the grandparents. After taking punches from an annoyed prizefighter and disrupting a society wedding, they resort to telephoning first.

While operating their lunch wagon, the boys are approached by an unpleasant civil servant (Charles Middleton) who demands Eddie's child so that she can be placed in an orphanage. The boys refuse, and the man says he will return with the police to have the boys arrested.

They try to secure a loan with their lunch wagon to finance their escape to another city, but the banker smirks that he'd have to be unconscious to make such a deal. While laughing, he topples a bust onto his own head and knocks himself out. Taking this as approval, the boys take what they need from the bank vault.

Tailed to their apartment by the police, the boys unsuccessfully try to hide Eddie's daughter in a dumbwaiter. The police bring the three of them to the banker for identification, and it is discovered that he is the Smith they had been seeking. Following a happy reunion, the banker drops the charges and invites them as his guests for dinner. The cook storms out of the kitchen to tell his boss that he will not adjust the service on a moment's notice, and recognizes Laurel and Hardy as the "snitches". The cook chases them with a kitchen knife.

Cast (in credits order)

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