Gasbags (1941)

Very very predictable, including the post credit scene !!!

This is a must-see and one of the best documentaries - and films - of this year.

A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

It's a movie as timely as it is provocative and amazingly, for much of its running time, it is weirdly funny.

GASBAGS is a film outing for The Crazy Gang, a bunch of middle aged men who delighted British audiences with their silly, slapstick humour during the 1940s. This one also manages to be a propaganda effort that spends the whole time having a laugh at the Nazis. The preposterous plotting involves a fish and chip van which is accidentally transported to Nazi Germany, where our heroes must attempt to escape. Unfortunately I found this very difficult to sit through, let alone enjoy. The humour is of the most juvenile ever, the actors go way over the top in the line of duty, and only the occasional decent song and bit-part actor (Wally Patch, Irene Handl) make it the least bit watchable.

The Crazy Gang were a British institution loved by everyone till their retirement in 1963,me included.I appreciate that their humour may not travel,but then you could say the same about Milton Berle who is unknown here.This may not be their best film but it is still pretty good.So far as taste is concerned what about To Be Or Not To Be making fun of the Gestapo,or That Nazty Nuisance making fun of Hitler.

This is the second Crazy Gang movie I've seen and it is a bit funnier than THE FROZEN LIMITS. What makes this one a bit different is that it's set during WWII and it's in the public domain, so it can be watched for free.While the Crazy Gang is a pretty obscure group for those outside the UK, they were popular on stage in a short series of films. Their films are next to impossible to find here in the States, so I doubt if I'll ever see another.The film begins with the six Crazies serving with the Brits--manning a barrage balloon. However, for severely neglecting their duty, they are in very hot water. But, before they can be punished, their blimp gets away--along with them. When it finally lands, it's in Germany and the boys are sent to a prisoner of war camp. While this setting is far from funny, they soon volunteer to be doubles for Hitler. The boys think they can then escape--the Nazis think they'll soon get assassinated since they know of a plot to kill their demented leader. Will the Gang be killed or escape or will something else happen--tune in to see for yourself.Like the last film I saw of theirs, the humor is awfully broad and silly--almost like Three Stooges films, but without all the slapping. Because of this, kids might enjoy it more and anyone wanting sophisticated comedy should look a bit further! Still, the film is high energy and although some jokes fall flat, they come so quickly that there is bound to be something to make you laugh. Worth a look, but far from a great comedy and not quite as good as Abbott and Costello's wartime flicks.

This wartime farce concerns the Crazy Gang -- you may think of them as a precursor of the 'Carry On' series, if you like -- who get involved in World War Two, which for them means running a fish and chips shop off a barrage balloon, floating accidentally into Germany, being interned in a concentration camp, acting as Hitler doubles and escaping. Don't worry if it makes no sense, it's the Crazy Gang, meaning about eight music hall performers taking every opportunity to engage in pratfalls, puns, cowardice and risqué jokes. The Crazy Gang starred in something short of a dozen movies in the late 1930s and early 1940s, a sort of all-star supporting comics' series.The director of this and other movies in the series was French-born Marcel Varnel, a specialist in high-speed farce for Gaumont and Gainsborough until his untimely death. When he worked with Will Hays and his group of comics -- Moore Marriott appeared in both series -- he produced some very fine situational farces. Here, in this looser-plotted work, with every comic fighting for screen time, the result is something that would have been a very popular home film in Britain, but which does not, alas, travel well in time or space to a modern American viewer like me.