Flying Deuces is the only Laurel and Hardy film to exist in the public domain, which explains the ridiculous number of releases it's had over the years - frequently using inferior prints of the film. As a die-hard Laurel and Hardy fan, of course it's always good to see Stan and Oliver in action, but this isn't the best place for newcomers to start. It's an extension-cum-remake of their half-hour feature Beau Hunks, with a heartbroken Ollie joining the Foreign Legion (with Stan in tow) in order to forget a lost love. All the expected ingredients are here, including a charming musical interlude with Ollie singing 'Shine On Harvest Moon', sterling support from hatchet-faced Charles Middleton and the ever-irascible James Finlayson, some decent enough slapstick and escalating incidents - and one of the duo's most bizarre but oddly touching finalés - but the pacing is slack and the middle section drags terribly. Still, it's better than any of the features they made for 20th Century Fox in the early forties, and since it's easy to find a copy, there's no excuse for not giving this one a whirl.