Must See Movie...

Load of rubbish!!

The acting in this movie is really good.

It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,

The racism of the movie outweighs the humor. No wonder this was never on TV when I was a kid. At one point, Hardy lectures a 10 year old black kid because he doesn't understand why he was not invited to white parties. The gist of the response is basically we are "equal" but separate. I don't go to black parties so why should you want to go to white ones. Go down to my office and look at the stuff there and learn about this, once you understand, I will give you a quarter. That scene is so painful to watch...and embarrassing. Look at it as a piece of history but those type of scenes kill the movie.There are a lot of these types of scenes in the movies from the 30s but I have never seen one that thought that they needed to answer this young boy's question. Unfortunately, it was never...well...someday, things will be different.

I have read the post before mine about this movie. Much I do agree with, but I wish to comment a bit more in defense of this movie. At the time, Hal Roach had a contract dispute with Stan. In short, Stan was offered more money then Oliver, and Stan said either pay us equal, or you don't have us anymore. That loyalty is amazing in any era. This movie was suppose to be for the both of them, but had to be re-written for just Oliver. Yes, the movie's writing suffers in many places, as it gets to be too silly, and even racist. However, the actual acting of Oliver, and Billie are truly wonderful, even if their lines were not. I view this movie as a rare treat, a historical footnote in the years of Laurel and Hardy. No, not a classic, nor anywhere near one, but entertaining? Yes. One can not compare this with any Laurel and Hardy movie. That would be unfair. They never knew if they would work together ever again at this point. True, at times I thought the concept of this movie was childish, but in an innocent entertaining way. As if to say we know it is silly, but it is just a silly movie. So no huge amount of thumbs up for this movie, but a nice treat for hardcore Laurel and Hardy fans. I will say though, thank God they got back together again! Ha! Two movies like this would have been a bit much to take Ha!

Plodding along clumsily through themes of race and class, 'Zenobia' is the movie equivalent of a television after school special that tries desperately to force feed its audience a plate of moral fiber for digestion. This morality feeding does not go down smoothly at all, even with a spoonful of humor provided by the antics of Oliver Hardy and company. Hardy is decent, but the humor in the film is never up to his standard and the preachings of the other plot lines is just incredibly lame.The irony of 'Zenobia' is that when it begins to preach, it comes of as comical, when it tries to be funny, it falls seriously flat. The problem I have in slamming this movie is that its heart seems to be in the right place, sort of. Besides, how can you hate an Oliver Hardy film?I spent most of my time laughing AT THE MOVIE. Hardy, a doctor by trade, explains race to his black child servant simply as being the difference between white pills and black pills. He mentions that the Declaration of Independence is made up of black, white, red and yellow pills. When Hardy asks the child if he understands, the child answers back, "No, Suh". What does Hardy mean? Is he saying that all pills are created equal? Hardy finally appeases the child's questions by bargaining a quarter to the child if he can memorize the Declaration of Independence. Well, that settles it. Now Hardy can go to the all white party where no colored people are allowed to attend.When Hardy gets to the party he is subjected to a bit of class-ism. Hardy squints a shade of disapproval, but is able to carry on happily enough until Zenobia the elephant crashes the party. Suddenly Hardy finds himself in a confusing lawsuit over the affections of an elephant or from an attempt to embarrass his daughter into not marrying into another family, or something, I'm not really sure.One thing is certain, this was the first film where the comedy duo consisted of Oliver Hardy being the skinny one.Pretty dire stuff. Stay away if you like comedy.

Oliver Hardy stars as a small-town doctor in Mississippi who hits on hard times when he insults the local rich woman (Alice Brady). Meanwhile his daughter (Jean Parker) is engaged to the rich woman's son (James Ellison). Brady will not have Parker as a daughter-in-law because the the family's low social standing. Hardy's wife (Billie Burke)invites everyone to dinner to try to smooth thing over. Disaster.When Hardy is summoned to come help someone who is sick, he races across town only to find that the patient is an elephant (Zenobia) in a traveling carnival. Zenobia's owner (silent comic great, Harry Langdon) helps Hardy figure out how to treat an elephant. Zenobia is so grateful, she falls in love with Hardy and refuses to leave his side. Langdon gets mad and sues Hardy (with the help of mean-spirited Brady). There is a good court room scene and the usual ending.The cast works well in this mild but pleasant comedy. Many will be disappointed by Langdon's standing in for Stan Laurel, but it's interesting to see Langdon in a talkie. Definitely a B film, but not without its good points.Hardy is very good in a comic role that allows him a little room to act. Burke and Brady are total pros, and Jean Parker is pretty and pleasing. Ellison is a blank.Hattie McDaniel plays the cook, J. Farrell McDonald is the judge, Olin Howland is the lawyer, Hobart Cavanaugh plays a patient, Philip Hurlic (as the kid) has a great scene, June Lang plays a rival, and Stepin Fetchit plays himself. William Bakewell can be spotted in a bit part.