Bonnie Scotland is a 1935 film directed by James W. Horne, starring Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy.
"Stanley McLaurel" and his friend Ollie arrive in Scotland because Stan has gotten word that he has received an inheritance from a Scottish grandfather that he's never met. The inheritance is rather disappointing, being just a set of bagpipes ("blown at Waterloo!") and an old snuffbox. The bulk of the McLaurel fortune actually went to a cousin of Stan's, lovely young Lorna McLaurel. Lorna isn't 21 yet, though, so the money goes in trust to a friend of her grandfather, Col. Gregor MacGregor. Greg is in the army and stationed with a regiment in India, so Greg's sister Vi insists that Lorna travel to India, since she is now Greg's ward. Lorna is not happy about this, as it means separation from her boyfriend, Allan.
Meanwhile, Stan and Ollie, now flat broke, are chucked out of their room at the boarding house after they trash it. In the process they also destroyed Ollie's only pair of pants. They go out in search of pants, arrive at what they think is a tailor's shop, and wind up blundering into enlisting in the army. They are sent off to India where they join Greg's regiment. They are accompanied by Allan, who has also enlisted as a means of getting to India so that he can see Lorna again. The regiment, as it turns out, is engaged in a war against a Muslim chieftain, Khan Mir Jutra.
Tropes:
- Bedlah Babe: The dancers who entertain Stan and Ollie and their companions (when visiting Khan Mir Jutra's court) have the standard halter top and gauzy pants ensemble.
- Brownface: A white man, Maurice Black, plays Indian Muslim warlord Khan Mir Jutra.
- Call-Forward: Stan, casting about for ways to avoid getting arrested and sent back to jail, says "We could go way, way out west, where they'd never find us." Two years later Laurel and Hardy appeared in one of their most famous movies, Way Out West.
- Catchphrase: After finding out about Stan's very disappointing inheritance, Ollie says "Well here's another nice mess you've gotten me into!"
- Diegetic Soundtrack Usage: As Stan and Ollie arrive at the village in Scotland, a blacksmith is hammering away at an anvil. He winds up reproducing the Laurel and Hardy theme song, "Dance of the Cuckoos".
- Evil Laugh: Khan Mir Jutra lets loose an over-the-top evil laugh after revealing to Stan and Ollie that he has ordered an attack on the British fort while Stan and Ollie are away, visiting him. (Khan Mir Jutra thinks Stan, Ollie, and their companions are the command staff at the fort, but what he doesn't know is that Col. MacGregor got wind of his plot and sent Oliver Hardy there to impersonate him.)
- I Never Got Any Letters: It's revealed that Lorna and Allan lost touch because Vi, Greg's sister, has been intercepting his letters to her and not mailing her letters to him.
- Instant Messenger Pigeon: A spy at army headquarters sends a pigeon back to Khan Mir Jutra.
- Left Hanging: The Love Triangle is never resolved! Greg, upon finding out that Lorna was separated from her boyfriend, nobly sends orders to retrieve him, but Allan is off at Khan Mir Jutra's palace with Stan and Ollie. Allan is last scene fighting the enemy soldiers (and the bees), and he never gets back with Lorna and the movie never shows which suitor she picks. Reportedly a lot of material was cut from this film before it was released.
- Magical Realism: It was a Running Gag in the series that Stan would demonstrate some bizarre ability that Ollie would try and fail to imitate. In this film Stan can lift his hat off his head by sticking his finger in his mouth and blowing.
- Plunger Detonator: The Muslims use one to blow a hole in the wall of the British fort.
- Scary Stinging Swarm: Stan and Ollie, running for their lives from Khan Mir Jutra and his guards, go barreling into the khan's apiary. They then start picking up beehives and throwing them at the khan and his men. This works, but eventually the swarm of bees comes after Stan and Ollie. The film ends as our heroes run out of the khan's fort and right into the oncoming British regiment, the bees in hot pursuit.
- Two Lines, No Waiting: Usually in Laurel and Hardy feature films there would be some sort of external plot, like a Heartwarming Orphan or a pair of young lovers. Stan and Ollie would get involved in resolving the other characters' problems, as a framework for their silly antics. Oddly, in this movie, Stan and Ollie are not involved in the Lorna-Greg-Allan story at all, and the two plot threads of the Love Triangle and the Laurel and Hardy comic hijinks play out independently of each other.
- Unexpected Inheritance: Stan's inheritance, although it proves disappointing and is only a vehicle to get the heroes to Scotland (and eventually, into the army).
