Your blood may run cold, but you now find yourself pinioned to the story.

It's funny, it's tense, it features two great performances from two actors and the director expertly creates a web of odd tension where you actually don't know what is happening for the majority of the run time.

Strong acting helps the film overcome an uncertain premise and create characters that hold our attention absolutely.

One of the film's great tricks is that, for a time, you think it will go down a rabbit hole of unrealistic glorification.

I can only echo the other reviews below. I'm another who relied on the received wisdom that this was a terrible film. I regret that I didn't watch this years ago. Obviously it doesn't compare to the Roach films and some writing isn't true to them but it was perfectly enjoyable. Stan and Ollie are the focus of the film and they weren't written as fools unlike some of these later films (as I recall). I did however notice there's a weariness in Stan's eyes which may possibly have been his unhappiness behind the scenes with 20th Century Fox but who knows. There's a funny scene with their "dinner" and a lovely final scene. Well worth watching in my view. As any Laurel and Hardy fan knows the world will never see their like again....

I have to kick myself for assuming that all of the post-Hal Roach Laurel and Hardy films were poor or only slightly amusing at best. True, most of them were, but this one is a pleasing find in their later day credits.The actual "Big Noise" is a massive explosive, a bomb slightly bigger than a pool ball but smaller than a bowling ball. It can blow up an entire mountain (which somehow the police or newspapers never find out about) but poor Oliver doesn't see it. His head is covered by part of an old fashioned camera, making him look like an elephant. The boys are hired to guard the bomb invented by a wacky inventor who also invented an eye guard for people eating grapefruit. Of course, some criminals next door find out about the invention, and the boys screw everything up, leading to lots of hilarity.As the inventor, Arthur Space plays his part as if he were Karloff or Lugosi in one of their sillier horror films from PRC or Monogram-totally seriously! Recent "Our Gang" graduate Bobby Blake (later Robert, of "Baretta" fame in addition to a well-publicized murder trial) is adorable as Space's prankster son. There's some amusing uses of familiar songs, particularly "Did You Ever See a Dream Walking?" for Space's Bluebeard-ish like Aunt who's buried six husbands and wants to make Oliver her seventh), "Singin' in the Rain" (where Hardy accidentally finds a shower in Space's inventive model home) and "Mairzedoats", played by Laurel on his trusted accordion and later danced to by some talented fish. There's the usual series of pants-ripping gags, sights of Hardy constantly tripping over luggage and some great verbal humor, especially one surrounding who will stay up taking turns to guard the bomb. Of course, Laurel is never as dumb as he seems, so its always nice to see him pull one over on the unsuspecting Hardy.

Laurel and Hardy do theirs for the war effort. The film's funniest sequences are in a train cabin, at a dinner party (with very little you can call food) and despite this, the whole thing takes a wrong turn, with a truly head scratching end, that I can only imagine got a misplaced cheer by the wartime audiences.I know that Asian people and particularly Japanese were not very popular in the United States in the 40s, but to portray them as wrong as so many filmmakers did and in my opinion still do, leaves me a little bit nauseated.Of course, they were not the only ones given raw deals in Hollywood at that time, and I am glad that we live in a little more enlightened time.Anyway, this is, despite the ending, full of what made Laurel and Hardy one of the most beloved comedy teams of the 20th century. Logic takes a back step (the inventor is particularly out of it, isn't he? Why would he ever hire such a pair of bumblers in the first place?). It's all an excuse for madcap comedy.Despite my objection to that ending, this is somewhat entertaining. They could have done without the subplot about the gangsters, though.

For years, I avoided seeing Stan and Ollie in THE BIG NOISE, after reading in book after book that the film was the worst they ever made, and without value. However, finally, begrudgingly, I saw it--not once, but twice--and with pleasure!!! Not only is it by far not the worst of their post-Hal Roach films (The two MGMs are far duller, and the first few Fox entries are buried under tiresome plots.), but it certainly compares favorably with their lesser Roach features (like SWISS MISS)and shorts (Are there any fans of BE BIG and THE LAUREL AND HARDY MURDER CASE out there?). Yeah, the Boys reprise quite a few old routines in this film (Screenwriter Scott Darling apparently mining their filmography mercilessly.), but then that wasn't uncommon at Roach either. I rather liked the wacky inventions like the compressed full course meal and the automated room. The supporting cast is bright with welcome players like Esther Howard, Phil van Zandt, and Arthur Space. I'll admit that the high-flying "patriotic" ending leaves this 21st Century film-goer cold. But any film that has so much leisurely L&H byplay (stuff like hat switching, stubborn door locks, and so many Hardy camera looks of exasperation)is simply no bomb, by any reasonable measure. I'll go so far as to say that--against conventional wisdom--it just might be my favorite of the (admittedly sorry)later Laurel and Hardys.