IMDb RATING
6.1/10
1.2K
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Two bumblers, failures as businessmen and air raid wardens, stumble across a nest of Nazi saboteurs bent on blowing up the local magnesium plant.Two bumblers, failures as businessmen and air raid wardens, stumble across a nest of Nazi saboteurs bent on blowing up the local magnesium plant.Two bumblers, failures as businessmen and air raid wardens, stumble across a nest of Nazi saboteurs bent on blowing up the local magnesium plant.
Stephen McNally
- Dan Madison
- (as Horace McNally)
Robert Emmett O'Connor
- Charlie Beaugart
- (as Robert Emmet O'Connor)
Philip Van Zandt
- Herman
- (as Phil Van Zandt)
Frederick Worlock
- Otto
- (as Frederic Worlock)
Sam Ash
- Air Raid Warden
- (uncredited)
King Baggot
- Townsman at Meeting
- (uncredited)
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaSupposedly, Civil Defense representatives were present as advisors during the filming to ensure none of the gags in the movie would cast a negative light on the efficiency of their organization.
- GoofsThe car they were driving as they drove off the road and hit a tree toward the end of the film had no tires or steel bands on the wooden spoke wheels of the car. It would have been very difficult to actually drive a car in that configuration.
- ConnectionsEdited into Myra Breckinridge (1970)
Featured review
In 1940, L&H quit Hal Roach after twelve years of partnership that yielded some of the finest comedies ever made. Their departure for 20th Century Fox was meant to be a step towards more creative control and freedom in the process of making films; alas, the opposite was the case. Their first two films under the new production company showed that L&H should, by Fox's definition, appear in front of the cameras and leave cutting, directing etc. to the professionals. Consequently, these two films were pale shadows of their great Roach-produced companions. Desperately, L&H sought a newer rainbow at MGM but were to be disappointed again. Even the best scenes in this film, "Air Raid Wardens", like two tit-for-tat sequences with their old colleague Edgar "Slowburn" Kennedy, lacked the spontaneous and improvised look of similar scenes´in, say, "Bacon Grabbers". Likewise, other slapstick moments in ARW like a poster-hanging bit have a rather mechanical look and are destroyed by poor editing. Yes, Stan's creative genius was sadly missing behind the camera.
Furthermore, the whole patriotic atmosphere of the plot doesn't fit L&H's style one bit.
And still this excuse for a comedy, although far, far from features like "Way Out West" or "Sons Of The Desert", emerges as one of the better post-Roach films after all; firstly, in contrast to most of the other later films, the romantic subplot is pretty much in the background and Stan & Ollie remain the main attraction. Secondly, there are at least a few scenes which REMIND you of L&H's better days; there are no such scenes to be found in "A-Haunting We Will Go" or "Nothing But Trouble", for example.
So "Air Raid Wardens" is hardly a pain to sit through but is so vastly inferior to their Roach films that you regret once more that they left him for good in 1940.
Furthermore, the whole patriotic atmosphere of the plot doesn't fit L&H's style one bit.
And still this excuse for a comedy, although far, far from features like "Way Out West" or "Sons Of The Desert", emerges as one of the better post-Roach films after all; firstly, in contrast to most of the other later films, the romantic subplot is pretty much in the background and Stan & Ollie remain the main attraction. Secondly, there are at least a few scenes which REMIND you of L&H's better days; there are no such scenes to be found in "A-Haunting We Will Go" or "Nothing But Trouble", for example.
So "Air Raid Wardens" is hardly a pain to sit through but is so vastly inferior to their Roach films that you regret once more that they left him for good in 1940.
Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
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- Also known as
- Bombenkerle
- Filming locations
- Production company
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
- Runtime1 hour 7 minutes
- Color
- Aspect ratio
- 1.37 : 1
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