George Mainwaring One of the weaker Laurel and Hardy shorts from 1931.Stan, Ollie and their wives (Anita Garvin and Isabelle Keith) are off on a vacation. They are almost ready to go when Ollie gets a phone call from his friend Cookie (Baldwin Cook) saying the lads down his club are giving a party in Stan and Ollie's honour. He reluctantly agrees to go along. He feigns illness, tells his wife he'll be fine in a day, Stan will look after him, then they will meet them on vacation. They somehow agree to this. Stan and Ollie get their outfits ready for the party, but due to a mix up of boots, Ollie can't get Stan's boot off. And will the wives get to their train on time...This is a great situation which worked so well in the previous short 'Blotto', lie to the wives to go out with the lads. 'Be Big' is in someways a forerunner to 'Sons of the Desert' which is probably Laurel & Hardy's greatest ever film together. Here was a similar situation, lie to the wives and using illness as an excuse. Also, the club Stan and Ollie are in during 'Be Big' is similar to that of 'The Sons of the Desert' and the Sons of the Desert theme tune also plays during whilst they are getting their costumes on.Yet the problem with 'Be Big' is that the gag of Stan trying to get the boot off Ollie lasts way too long. It takes up about half of the film and it's a three wheeler. This would have been a much better film had it had been a two wheeler. How many laughs can you possibly get from Stan trying to take a boot off Ollie? Apparently in some foreign language editions of this film, the boot gag goes on longer. That must have been borderline torture to watch.'Be Big' had a great situation, but the over-use of material spoilt the effort. There was no need for it to be a three wheeler. It is little wonder when watching this film Stan Laurel was reluctant to make a 'Laurel & Hardy' feature film. 'Be Big' is a case of the Stan & Ollie resting on their laurels (ba dumb tish).

MartinHafer Many of Laurel and Hardy's shorts were domestic comedies that concerned relatively mundane activities that somehow became hilarious due to excellent writing, direction and the acting of the team. This film is a great example, as the plot is paper-thin and yet the film made me laugh.The plot is an early incarnation of the plot that was later used in their best full-length film, SONS OF THE DESERT. Like this other film, the boys want to slip away for some fun with their lodge brothers and Ollie fakes an illness and convinces the wives to go off to Atlantic City without them. Probably the worst moment in the film was Ollies overacting--instead of a sick man, he sounds more like a walrus in heat! But no matter, the women believe the act and Stan stays back to take care of his friend. As soon as the ladies leave, Ollie tells Stan of the plan,...and dumb old Stan tells him he CAN'T go out because he's sick! Well, after finally helping Stan understand it was all a trick, they start to change into their lodge uniforms and believe it or not, it takes them half the film to do this, as Ollie accidentally puts on Stan's boots and cannot get them off. It IS very mundane stuff, but considering how much material they get from just this, it is truly an amazing film.Like SONS OF THE DESERT, the wives eventually see through the plan and make the boys pay--and boy do they pay!! It's a cute little short and while not their best, it's an excellent example of their work and well worth seeing.FYI--There is a French language version (LES CAROTTIERS) and Spanish language version (LOS CALAVERAS) of this film combined with LAUGHING GRAVY. Even if you don't know the languages, they are very watchable--especially after you see the English language versions.

bob the moo Laurel and Hardy and their wives are due to go away for a trip. However when Hardy's pals call him and tell him of a party in his honour he feigns illness and sends them on ahead of him and Laurel. But making excuses to his wife and getting away with it is only the start of the problem when it comes to actually getting ready to go out.In what seems to be more an exercise in patience rather than a short film, the duo go through the motions in a film that doesn't do them justice when viewed along with other shorts. The plot's high point is a sequence where Hardy tries to get Laurel's boot (which he has mistaken for his own) first onto his foot and then, realising his mistake, off his foot. This is the guts of the film and is easily the funniest bit – but it isn't very good. It goes on too long and, save the great work in delivery, isn't funny enough to carry the film in the way it is expected to.The duo try hard and both Laurel and Hardy do their well known thing to the best of their abilities but the material and the gags simply let them down. As real troopers they do their best and they are still worth watching the short for (I can't help but love Hardy's looks!) but they are not well served. The support cast (the wives) are good despite having little of consequence to do – it is nice to see Laurel and Hardy given wives who look pretty as opposed to battleaxe types (or themselves!)Overall I feel that Laurel and Hardy are always worth watching, but this would be a poor place to start. A short film that goes through the motions with no really good gags or high points.

The_Movie_Cat Not the finest moment for the duo, particularly on a technical level. The direction and editing are all over the place (often using long shots for reactions) and even in the newly restored version the sound quality is muddy.Basic plot seems to read as a try-out for Sons of the Desert, with Stan and Ollie duping their wives so they can go to a stag party. Though in the case of this short they never quite make it there. Most of the slapstick sequences feel oddly laboured and contrived (Ollie at one point taking over twelve minutes trying to get a boot off), not least because they're all backed up by an overstated musical score.I've got a new theory: the funniness of Laurel and Hardy is directly proportional to the length of Stan's hair. In the amusing Chickens Come Home-, made the same year, he sports a large quiff, yet here it's just medium length and not as extreme.Not awful, but Be Big! feels more like a formula filler rather than any great step forward in their career.