A Chump at Oxford (Comedy, Laurel & Hardy)

In A Chump at Oxford the incomparable team of Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy end up in an unlikely setting–Oxford University–in this Hal Roach-produced comedy full of the pair’s classic high jinks. Within a three-part story, the boys foil a bank robber while working as street cleaners and as reward, the bank president offers to pay for their education at Oxford.

They accept, and after the duo deals with endless pranks and ridicule from the other students, their fortune changes when a knock to Stan’s noggin jars his brain, causing him to think he’s actually the esteemed Lord Paddington, one of the most revered student-athletes in the history of the university.

Playing one of the Oxford students in A Chump at Oxford is British actor Peter Cushing, in one of his first film roles. Cushing would go on to appear in nearly 100 films, including many classic Hammer horror movies and Star Wars (1977).

Cast: Stan Laurel as Stan; Oliver Hardy as Ollie; Forrester Harvey as Meredith; Wilfred Lucas as Dean Williams; Forbes Murray as Banker; Frank Baker as Dean’s Servant; Eddie Borden as Ghost; Gerald Rogers as Student; Victor Kendall as Student; Gerald Fielding as Student; Charlie Hall as Student; Peter Cushing as Student; James Finlayson as Baldy Vandevere (uncredited); Anita Garvin as Mrs. Vandevere (uncredited); Evelyn Barlow as Minor Role (uncredited); Louise Bates as Minor Role (uncredited); Harry Bernard as Policeman (uncredited); Stanley Blystone as Policeman (uncredited); Tom Costello as Minor Role (uncredited); Richard Cramer as Minor Role (uncredited); Jean De Briac as Pierre (uncredited); Marjorie Deanne as Dinner Party Guest (uncredited); Herbert Evans as Professor Crampton (uncredited); Mack Germaine as Minor Role (uncredited); Alec Harford as Cab Driver (uncredited); Jack Heasley as Hodges (uncredited); Jewel Jordan as Minor Role (uncredited); Robert Kent as Minor Role (uncredited); Rex Lease as Bank Robber (uncredited); Ethelreda Leopold as Bank Manager’s Secretary (uncredited); Lois Lindsay as Minor Role (uncredited); Sam Lufkin as Water Wagon Driver (uncredited); George Magrill as Tow-Truck Driver (uncredited); Stan McKay as Minor Role (uncredited); James Millican as Chauffeur (uncredited); Edmund Mortimer as Dinner Guest (uncredited); Doris Morton as Minor Role (uncredited); Edgar Norton as Professor Witherspoon (uncredited); William H. O’Brien as Man in Unemployment Office (uncredited); Vivien Oakland as Receptionist (uncredited); Jack Richardson as Minor Role (uncredited); Ronald R. Rondell as Dinner Party Guest (uncredited); Elmer Serrano as Minor Role (uncredited); Bobby Tracy as Minor Role (uncredited); Al Thompson as Manhole Worker (uncredited)

Script: Felix Adler, Harry Langdon, Charley Rogers / Director: Alfred Goulding / Producer: Hal Roach / Cinematography: Art Lloyd / Editor: Bert Jordan / Music: Marvin Hatley / Art Direction: Charles D. Hall

USA / United Artists / 63 minutes / 1940