Air Raid Wardens is a 1943 film directed by Edward Sedgwick, starring Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy.
The film takes place in the immediate aftermath of American entry into World War II, in the generic Middle America small town of Huxton. In this one, Stan and Ollie, who have gone through a series of business failures because they're bumbling goofs, are currently trying to make a go of it with a bike shop. That's failing too, so with the outbreak of war the boys try to enlist. Naturally they are rejected by every branch of the armed forces, and when they come back they find a new arrival in town, Mr. Middling, turning their bicycle shop into a radio shop. Stan, Ollie, and Mr. Middling cheerfully agree to share the space.
Meanwhile, our heroes still want to contribute to the war effort, so they join the local civil defense group. They bumble around doing that too, annoying several of Huxton's citizens, including Mr. Norton who owns the bank.
What nobody knows is that Mr. Middling is a German spy, part of a spy cell that is plotting to blow up the local magnesium plant.
Tropes:
- Adolf Hitlarious: When Stan and Ollie encounter the German spy Heydrich, and he forces Stan to shoot an apple off Ollie's head in a manner reminiscent of William Tell , the apple lands in the mouth of Hitler's portrait.
- Comically Missing the Point: Ollie and Stan are frantically racing back to town in an old jalopy, with Ollie driving. Ollie gets something in his eye and tells Stan "Take the wheel!" Stan pulls the wheel right off the steering column, and they crash the car.
- Deep Cover Agent: Mr. Middling, the friendly radio salesman who is also a member of the Civil Defense patrol with Stan and Ollie, is a German spy.
- Everytown, America: Huxton, the sort of generic small town full of generically-accented white people that popped up in innumerable MGM films in this era.
- Four Eyes, Zero Soul: One particularly sinister Nazi who is named "Heydrich" is assigned to hold Stan and Ollie hostage at gunpoint. He is made creepier by the rimless glasses he wears.
- Home Guard: Civil Defense, aka the people who practice first aid in case the Germans bomb Iowa, enforce blackout rules, and such. Supposedly there were U.S. government representatives on the set of this movie to make sure it didn't show Civil Defense looking too silly, but it still looks pretty silly.
- Instant Messenger Pigeon: The boys find a messenger pigeon in the Nazi hideout. They put a message on its leg and tell the pigeon to fly to town and the Civil Defense headquarters and raise the alarm—look, Stan and Ollie aren't very bright. Instead, the pigeon flies to its nest, downstairs. The Nazis read the message and are alerted to Stan and Ollie's presence.
- Interactive Narrator: A narrator introduces the town of Huxton and most of the supporting characters in the opening scene. Most of them smile and nod at the camera.
- Intro Dump: The opening scene features a narrator describing the setting and introducing all the characters, ending with Stan and Ollie.
- Never Learned to Read: A whole comic sequence involves Stan signing with an X as he and Ollie receive their Civilian Defense gear. After Ollie insists that he sign his name, Stan has to drop to his knees, and use two hands...and he is still laboring on the N when the scene ends.
- Plunger Detonator: The Nazis bring this with them in order to blow up the magnesium plant. Civil Defense, thanks to Stan and Ollie's warning, stops them just in time.
- Punk in the Trunk: Stan and Ollie do this to themselves, jumping into the trunk of the bad guys' car so they can find out where their hideout is.
- Spy Fiction: Everybody's favorite lovable goofs, Laurel and Hardy, take on a gang of Nazi spies.
- Those Wacky Nazis: Stan and Ollie run afoul of German spies in Air Raid Wardens who attempt to blow up the town's magnesium defense plant and unsuccessfully attempt to send a carrier pigeon to town, only for the pigeon to return to the Germans.
- William Telling: The Nazi goon guarding Stan and Ollie gets bored. He puts an apple on Ollie's head and tells Stan to shoot it off. Stan does, and the apple flies straight into the portrait of Hitler hanging on the wall.
