The Bohemian Girl
This was Thelma Todd's last screen appearance before her controversial, suspicious death at age 29. She died on December 15, 1935, nearly two months before The Bohemian Girl (1936) was released. In an attempt to avoid associating the film with the notoriety surrounding the event, the plot was altered and many of her already-filmed scene clips were re-filmed and re-designed, differently. Her only featured scene that remains in the film is her musical number, "Heart of the Gypsy", near the film's beginning; even in this scene her singing voice is dubbed.,Stan and Ollie are covered in snow and sleeping in a cart. When Arline calls them into the caravan for breakfast, they go in with no snow on them.,Stanley: Well, blow me down with an anchovy.,When originally released theatrically in the UK, the BBFC made cuts to secure a 'A' rating. All cuts were waived in 1988 when the film was granted a 'U' certificate for home video.,Featured in The Crazy World of Laurel and Hardy (1966),Heart of a Gypsy
(1936)
by Nathaniel Shilkret and Robert Shayon
Sung by The Gypsies (uncredited)
Also Sung by Thelma Todd (uncredited),When I watched this again on a Video Treasures VHS tape, I also rewatched the home movies provided and narrated by Stan Laurel's daughter, Lois, as she told of her father and Uncle Babe Hardy's trip to Europe during the early '30s to crowds nearly everywhere as we see some amusing antics they supposedly ad-libbed in front of their fans. We then see color footage of Stan at his home during the '60s admiring his honorary Oscar-which his daughter says he wished he had received with Babe when he was still alive and which he referred to as "Mr. Clean"-and making fun of it by putting glasses in front of it. As for the movie proper, Stan & Ollie are very funny-as always-and Stan especially is hilarious when he accidentally gets drunk trying to bottle some beer! The straight plot involving them as gypsies and their cohorts almost threatens to take over at some points especially when those cohorts start singing but most of it is tolerable, at best. So on that note, The Bohemian Girl is worth a look for L & H fans. P.S. This was Our Gang member Darla Hood's only time she performed with the boys on film. She's mostly held by Oliver Hardy though when she recounted her time with the boys, she had this to say to Leonard Maltin & Richard W. Bann in their book, "The Little Rascals: The Life and Times of Our Gang": "They were so marvelous, Hardy was a bit more serious, and reserved, but Laurel apparently just loved children, and he'd always pick me up, and hold me, play games. I remember one time I wanted to sit and make mud pies, and he sat right down on the ground with me and helped me mold my mud pies!" Thelma Todd had a large role originally but after she tragically died on December 16, 1935-five days after the preview-she was only at the beginning with her dubbed song. As a result, Zeffie Tilbury-who would subsequently appear as an elderly friend of Our Gang in Second Childhood-was added as a gypsy queen, Antonio Moreno would now be paired with Mae Busch-making her characterization a little uneven having to be both romantic to him and still mean to hubby Ollie & his friend Stan, and Felix Knight-Tom-Tom in L & H's Babes in Toyland-sang a song originally meant for Moreno. By that way, that freak ending was funny but it was also a bit abrupt!,