Lively, entertaining reviews of, and essays on, old and newer films and everything relating to them, written by professional author William Schoell.

Sunday, May 25, 2008

THE NAUGHTY NINETIES


THE NAUGHTY NINETIES (1945). Director: Jean Yarbrough.

Lou Costello is Sebastian Dimwiddle, a stage worker on a theatrical river boat, and Bud Abbott is romantic ham actor Dexter Broadhurst (however the boys' friendly/unfriendly relationship is the same as ever). The owner of the river boat, Capt. Sam (Henry Travers) comes afoul of a group of corrupt gamblers led by the serpentine Bonita Farrow (Rita Johnson). After a crooked card game Sam discovers that Bonita and her slimy pals own 75 % of the riverboat, and once on board they open a casino that fleeces all the customers. Naturally A&C do their best to get their captain out of the jam. The fellows do their "Who's on First?" routine, and there are other very amusing sequences. A note of black comedy is introduced in a scene when Sebastian thinks the cook is making hamburgers out of chopped up cats when he's really preparing catfish. When he sticks his fork in his hamburger, a cat under the table lets out a screech. Johnson is quite good as the lady ringleader, and Joe Sawyer, playing one of her henchmen, has a funny sleep-walking scene. Alan Curtis and Lois Collier round out the cast portraying, respectively, an associate of Bonita's and the riverboat's pretty singer, Caroline.

Verdict: Good-natured romp with some funny stuff in it. ***.

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