IN THE NAVY

Bud Abbott, Dick Foran, Lou Costello

IN THE NAVY (1941). Director: Arthur Lubin. Colorized version. 

Russ Raymond (Dick Powell), singing star, wants to get away from his adoring fans and become anonymous in the Navy. Reporter Dorothy Roberts (Claire Dodd of Babbitt) is determined to get a photo of him for her magazine, somehow thinking this will be a big story. (Even Elvis getting a haircut for the Army wasn't that big a story!) Russ in his new identity encounters the film's true stars, Abbott and Costello, as sailors Smoky and Pomeroy. Chubby Pomeroy thinks of Patti of the Andrews Sisters as his girlfriend, but she may not be so inclined. Everyone sings! 

The Andrews Sisters

In the Navy is an amiable if minor A&C comedy with some amusing moments and pleasant tunes that are not that memorable all told. Bud and Lou do their usual schtick and do it well. Dick Foran is fine as their slightly grouchy superior officer and Powell does his best as straight man for the boys. Claire Dodd is professional but comparatively bland as the persistent reporter. Patti Andrews displays personality to spare, and she and her two sisters sing up a harmonizing storm. The highlight of the movie is actually some splendid tap-dancing from the Condos Brothers duo. Foran and the Andrews trio also appeared together in Private Buckeroo, where Foran gets to do a lot more singing. The Andrews Sisters did a pilot for a TV sitcom in 1951 but no network picked it up. 

Verdict: The boys have done better but this has its moments. **1/2. 

THE HORROR SPOOFS OF ABBOTT AND COSTELLO

THE HORROR SPOOFS OF ABBOTT AND COSTELLO: A Critical Assessment of the Comedy Team's Monster Films. Jeffrey S. Miller. McFarland; 2000.

A serious fan of the horror spoofs of the famous comedy team, Bud Abbott and Lou Costello, author Miller here looks at such films as Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein and Abbott and Costello Meet the Mummy along with other "horror" comedies from the team such as Hold That Ghost. Miller's writing is accessible, although he can't resist giving in to an "academic" approach at times (which borders on the pretentious). Fortunately, his enthusiasm for these films comes through on every page. Chapters consist of lengthy, annotated synopses, as well as critical and background production notes and analysis. Miller notes the changes that occurred in both the boys' pictures and their on-screen characterizations over the years. The book is also bolstered by primary interviews.

Verdict: Good show for Abbott and Costello enthusiasts. ***.

DANCE WITH ME, HENRY

Lou Costello and Mary Wickes

DANCE WITH ME, HENRY (1956). Director: Charles Barton.

The last film for the Abbott and Costello team -- and the very last film for Bud Abbott -- is a depressing and dull experience, more resembling a sitcom than anything else. Lou Henry (Lou Costello) is foster father to Shelley (Gigi Perreau) and Duffer (Rusty Hamer), and owns an amusement park with his partner, Bud Flick (Bud Abbott). Bud has gambling debts, which means that unsavory characters are coming to Lou's home hoping to find him and get money, a situation that doesn't sit well with social worker, Miss Bayberry (Mary Wickes), who threatens to take the children away. Later on Lou is accused of murdering the district attorney (Robert Shayne) when he's shot dead in the amusement park. There's also an unctuous priest (Frank Wilcox), a friendly cop (Robert Bice), and a rockster named Ernie (Ron Hargrave). Bud and Lou do their best with a third-rate script, but Wickes, strangely, seems defeated by the material or just couldn't get into playing a harridan. The children are talented and Hamer later wound up on Make Room for Daddy. Lou Costello followed this up solo with The 30 Foot Bride of Candy Rock, which was even worse.

Verdict: The last -- and possibly the least -- of A & C's feature films. *1/2.

ABBOTT AND COSTELLO MEET THE KILLER, BORIS KARLOFF

Percy Helton flirts with Lou in drag as a maid

ABBOTT AND COSTELLO MEET THE KILLER, BORIS KARLOFF  (1949). Director: Charles Barton.

Running out of monsters to exploit, Abbott and Costello simply decided to star in a comical murder mystery with Boris Karloff chief among the supporting cast. House dick Casey (Bud Abbott) and fired bellboy Freddie (Lou Costello) are up to their necks in intrigue when one of the guests at the hotel where they're employed is murdered. While Inspector Wellman (James Flavin) suspects Freddie because the dead man got him sacked, there are others who may have done the deed, including possible husband-poisoner, Angela (Lenore Aubert), Mike Relia (Vincent Renno), T. Henley Brooks (Roland Winters), desk clerk Jeff (Gar Moore), his sweetie Betty (Donna Martell), her father Crandell (Harry Hayden), and the sinister pseudo-swami, Talpur (Boris Karloff), who is fairly murderous but may not be the main killer of the story. Melton, the hotel manager (Alan Mowbray) is appalled by the whole business: "We don't permit murders at this hotel," he insists. Unfortunately, more dead bodies begin turning up in Freddie's bath tub and closet, and worse, they keep disappearing as well. There's an exciting climax in vast caverns with a bottomless pit, with impressive scenic design and special effects, but the second most memorable sequence has Great Old Movies favorite Percy Helton flirting with Freddie when he's in disguise as a maid! The boys are in fine form, as are Karloff, Helton, Mowbray and Flavin, and the rest of the cast seems to be having fun as well. This is a delightful black comedy and one of the team's best movies. Gar Moore later turned up in Curse of the Faceless Man and Lenore Aubert was in Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein which was also directed by Charles Barton.

Verdict: Quite entertaining and often very funny. ***.

ABBOTT AND COSTELLO GO TO MARS

Mari Blanchard and Lou Costello

ABBOTT AND COSTELLO GO TO MARS (1953). Director: Charles Lamont.

"He looks worse standing up than he does lying down" -- Allura, referring to Lou

Orville (Lou Costello), a handyman at an orphanage, winds up at a missile base and is mistaken for a professor of aeronautical science, although janitor Lester (Bud Abbott) isn't fooled. The bumbling pair look around Dr. Wilson's (Robert Paige) rocket ship and accidentally take off, landing near New Orleans during Mardi Gras where they think the celebrants are Martians. Two ex-cons rob a bank and stowaway on the ship, hoping Orville and Lester, whom they think are Martians, will take them back to their planet and away from the law. This time the rocket ship winds up on Venus, where the man-hating Queen Allura (Mari Blanchard of Twice-Told Tales) makes Orville her king to please her man-hungry subjects. There's a giant dog, but otherwise a dearth of special effects, except for when the rocket is flying through the Lincoln Tunnel and making the Statue of Liberty dodge and duck. One Venusian vehicle seems to have been borrowed from Forbidden Planet but that movie was made three years later! After the queen puts a curse on Lou, who dares to be attracted to other women, his kiss turns one young lovely into a wrinkled old crone! Martha Hyer is Dr. Wilson's secretary and girlfriend, Jean Willes is one of the queen's entourage, and while Anita Ekberg of Screaming Mimi should certainly stand out even in a crowd of moonlighting beauty queens, her presence in the picture as a guard isn't immediately evident. Abbott and Costello Go to Mars may come off like a spoof of such space-babe movies as Queen of Outer Space, which also takes place on Venus, but it actually pre-dates all of them [the first, Cat-Women of the Moon, was released the same year]. Were A & C starting a trend instead of following one, as they did with Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein? Whatever the case, this is not in the league of that movie, but it does have its amusing moments and the cast has fun. There's too much of those ex-cons, however, and the boys never do wind up on Mars.

Verdict: Amiable nonsense. **1/2.

LITTLE GIANT

LITTLE GIANT (1946).Director: William A. Seiter.

Bennie (Lou Costello) leaves his mother (Mary Gordon), gal Martha (Elena Verdugo), and farm and heads for the big city to find fame and fortune. An uncle gets him a job at a vacuum company where his unpleasant boss, Morrison (Bud Abbott) is secretly married to his secretary, Hazel (Jacqueline deWit). Morrison has a much nicer cousin, Chandler (also played by Abbott) who runs another branch of the same firm. Naturally Bennie has assorted misadventures trying to sell the firm's product. The best scene has him demonstrating a vacuum cleaner to Margaret Dumont, but why oh why isn't the sequence longer  -- I mean Lou Costello and Margaret Dumont! You would think they would have given the lady a little more screen time. Brenda Joyce makes a nice impression as a kind secretary, Ruby, who befriends the hapless Bennie.In a sub-plot wherein Hazel tries to get information from Bennie, the two sort of wind up in bed together!

Verdict: Good-natured, pleasant, and occasionally amusing as well. **1/2.

THE WISTFUL WIDOW OF WAGON GAP

THE WISTFUL WIDOW OF WAGON GAP (1947). Director: Charles Barton.

"Marriage is a three ring circus. First there's the engagement ring. Then the wedding ring. And then comes the suffering!"  

Duke Egan (Bud Abbott) and Chester Wooley (Lou Costello) are out in the wild west when the latter is accused of murdering drunken gambler Hawkins. Chester is told that he's now responsible for the Widow Hawkins (Marjorie Main) and her brood of several children of varying ages. Bud and Lou move onto the widow's farm, where Mrs. Hawkins tries to sweet talk Chester into marrying her. Because no one else wants to be responsible for the widow and her kids, Chester discovers that no desperado will shoot him -- and is therefore made the sheriff! It's fun seeing Lou Costello and the great Marjorie Main teamed together, though considering the pairing one would have hoped for a more side-splitting movie. Still, Wistful Widow is generally amusing and boasts one classic bit, wherein Lou is bedeviled by a frog in his soup! Abbott and Costello are both at the top of their game and Main is just marvelous. William Ching plays a good guy, and Gordon Jones, star of the first Green Hornet serial, is a saloon owner and stage coach robber.


Verdict: Cute picture for fans. **1/2.

IN SOCIETY

IN SOCIETY (aka Abbott and Costello in Society/1944). Director: Jean Yarbrough.

"Oh, you men are all alike. I clean and slave all day and you bring in all the dust. Oh, you men!"  -- Lou referring to Bud.

Bud and Lou are plumbers who are called in to plug a leak in a grumpy millionaire's bathroom while a masquerade party goes on downstairs. In the film's funniest sequence, the boys wind up flooding the whole bedroom! This is a cute minor comedy wherein the fellows accidentally get invited to yet another society bash hosted by Mrs. Winthrop (Irene Dunne lookalike Margaret Irving). Her snooty daughter, Gloria (Ann Gillis), has set her cap for handsome rich dude Peter Evans (Kirby Grant), but he only has eyes for Lou's crush, Elsie (Marion Hutton), a cab driver who takes the fellows to fix the leak and is mistaken for a guest at the first party. Then there's a gangster who wants the fellows to help him rob the mansions they service, and some nonsense about an expensive painting that is stolen from the gathering. Marion Hutton was the older sister of Betty Hutton and only made a few films. Her acting is unimpressive but her singing is another story. Ann Gillis also nicely warbles a tune, accompanied by The Three Sisters, an undistinguished lookalike imitation of the Andrews Sisters; they only appeared in this one movie. The songs in In Society are especially pleasant: "No bout adout it ( I mean no doubt about it)"; "Rehearsing;" "My Dreams are Getting Better All the Time;" "What a Change in My Heart." An old vaudeville bit regarding the Susquehanna Hat Shop is amusing but goes on a little too long. Arthur Treacher plays a butler with his customary panache.

Verdict: Not top-notch A & C but it's fun. **1/2.

THE TIME OF THEIR LIVES

THE TIME OF THEIR LIVES (1946). Director: Charles Barton.

In 1790 in King's Point, New York, Horatio Prim (Lou Costello) and Melody Allen (Marjorie Reynolds) are running to George Washington to tell him of Benedict Arnold's traitorous plans when they are mistaken for traitors themselves and shot. Many years later they are still haunting the nearby house when a group, including Dr. Ralph Greenway (Bud Abbott) comes for the weekend. Will they manage to find the letter Washington sent to Horatio which absolves him of guilt, allowing him and Melody to finally go off and be with their loved ones in heaven? While nowhere nears as funny as Hold That Ghost or Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein, this is still an appealing movie with good performances. Binnie Barnes as Millie and Gale Sondergaard as Emily add to the fun. In the Revolutionary war sequences that open the film Bud Abbott plays a nasty fellow named Cuthbert, Horatio's nemesis.

Verdict: Pleasant haunting. ***.

ABBOTT AND COSTELLO MEET THE MUMMY

ABBOTT AND COSTELLO MEET THE MUMMY (1955). Director: Charles Lamont.

Silly but amusing trifle has Bud and Lou dealing with a sinister cult in Egypt, as well as a tough dame named Madame Rontru (Marie Windsor) and a walking mummy named "Klaris." Lou has accidentally swallowed an important medallion and the madame is perfectly willing to cut it out of him if need be. Richard Deacon plays a cult leader and Peggy King is the delectable vocalist who delivers a number in a saucy style in a nightclub sequence. As the sexy if hard-bitten bad girl, Windsor plays the material with just the right touch. Inside the tombs Lou briefly encounters a giant lizard that looks as if it wandered in from One Million B.C. Zany but cute.

Verdict: Fun for the boys' many fans. **1/2.

WHO DONE IT?

WHO DONE IT? (1942). Director: Erle C. Kenton.

Bud and Lou are soda jerks who seize an opportunity to get into the radio writing business and wind up pretending to be detectives when someone is murdered during a broadcast. While some of Costello's shtick gets a little tiresome, by and large he and Abbott give good, funny performances. Unfortunately, the movie doesn't have much of a plot to get involved in, so it's entirely dependent on its routines, some of which work and some of which don't. The film's highlight is the bit with Costello trying to get in touch with a radio show that has just awarded him $10,000 -- depending upon his getting back to them within five minutes. At a phone booth in a drug store he tries to get the ditzy operator on the other end to connect him to Alexander 2222 -- as all sorts of people interfere. (This may have been an old A&C vaudeville routine; in any case it's a classic.) Mary Wickes is fun as a secretary that Lou tries to romance but she doesn't have enough to do, and William Bendix scores as a brusque cop who's even stupider than Costello. Patric Knowles and Louise Allbritton are the obligatory romantic couple, Jerome Cowan is a writer, and William Gargan is the police lieutenant.

Verdict: Some very amusing moments. **1/2.

HIT THE ICE

HIT THE ICE (1943). Director: Charles Lamont.

Bud and Lou are photographers who inadvertently wind up consorting with bank robbers and being accused of their crime. They and the real crooks hot foot it to Sun Valley, where there are further complications. Oddly, the best thing about the movie are the snappy numbers performed by Ginny Simms -- who sings as good as she looks -- who plays Marcia, and Johnny Long and his Orchestra (including the bizarre "Slap Happy Polka.") Mantan Moreland has a brief funny bit with Lou at a train station. Sheldon Leonard plays the head crook and Joe Sawyer and Marc Lawrence are gang members. Patric Knowles is a doctor and Elyse Knox the nurse who's looking after a supposedly sick Leonard. An interesting bit has Lou winding up in a single bed in-between a husband and wife after he crashes through a wall. What's interesting about it is that even in the following decade Lucy and Ricky had separate beds in their bedroom, not one.

Verdict: Primarily for A & C addicts, but easy to take if nothing special. **1/2.

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. ***.

PARDON MY SARONG

PARDON MY SARONG (1942). Director: Erle C. Kenton.

Bud Abbott and Lou Costello are city bus drivers who wind up driving their bus out of town for a wealthy yachtsman (Robert Paige) in a hurry, then -- wanted by the police -- become his crew, only to become lost in a gale. Along for the ride is a pretty gal played by a snappy Virginia Bruce. On a small uncharted island the group runs into natives and comes afoul of Lionel Atwill, who is trying to get his hands on a sacred ruby and brooks no interference from anyone. Pardon My Sarong starts out promisingly, with some funny routines by the boys, but once they go to sea the story becomes uninvolving and the gags are silly even by A&C standards. Bruce tries to liven things up but hasn't enough to do, and Lionel Atwill is completely wasted in a nothing part. Leif Ericson does a fine job as a native who's in love with a gal who falls for Lou, and Irving Bacon (Ethel's father on the classic "Ethel's Hometown" episode of I Love Lucy) is great as an exasperated gas station attendant. William Demarest is also good as a detective who tries to nab Bud and Lou. A nightclub scene features some talented Black entertainers: The Four Inkspots and Tip, Tap and Toe. Nan Wynn is the native girl who inexplicably falls for Costello. The film ends with Costello acting heroically in a way that is somewhat out of character for him.

Verdict: Some amusing bits but painfully stupid at times. **.

ABBOTT AND COSTELLO IN HOLLYWOOD

ABBOTT AND COSTELLO IN HOLLYWOOD (1945). Director: S. Sylvan Simon.

Some great gags and funny sequences tied to a plot in which barbers Bud and Lou decide to become agents when they see a Hollywood hopeful, Jeff Parker (Robert Stanton), being treated miserably by the system. Frances Rafferty is an actress who also wants to help Jeff, and Jean Parker a manicurist who hopes to become a star even as Lou hopes she'll give him a date. Carleton G. Young is the established star who's threatened by Jeff's abilities, and Donald MacBride is the bristling head of the studio. Lucille Ball appears briefly as herself. Highlights include a protracted scene wherein Lou is mistaken for a movie dummy; a bit where he tries to beat insomnia by listening to a soothing voice on a record; and the climactic chase on a roller coaster. Bud Abbott, an excellent straight man, has a nice scene where he gets all cracked up when he thinks his buddy Lou is dead.

Verdict: Not a classic, but entertaining and amusing. **1/2.

LOST IN A HAREM

LOST IN A HAREM (1944). Director: Charles Reisner.

Bud and Lou are trapped in a kind of Kismet-like world as they try and help a deposed Prince Ramo (John Conte) get back his throne from his evil uncle Nimativ (Douglass Dumbrille). Marilyn Maxwell is the singer Hazel Moon who has a love/hate thing going with Ramo. Sporadically amusing movie is not one of the better A & C vehicles, although there's a pretty nice dance number by slave girls to the strains of Scheherazade. Somehow Jimmy Dorsey and his band are also stranded in Port Inferno, and Murray Leonard plays a prisoner who does the old vaudeville routine "Slowly I turned ..." (which was later used for an I Love Lucy episode as well). Lou disguises himself as Teema (Lottie Harrison), Nimativ's chubby head wife, at one point.

Verdict: For diehard A & C fans only. **.

MEXICAN HAYRIDE

MEXICAN HAYRIDE (1948). Director: Charles Barton.

Bud and Lou are up to mischief down in Mexico, where Joe (Costello) has followed Harry (Abbott), who bilked him out of money and is now hoping to sell shares to a mine. At the arena, Bud realizes that the lady bullfighter Montana (Virginia Grey), is actually an old gal pal, Mary. Harry's sexy associate Dagmar (Luba Malina) tries to find out where Joe has hidden his money. And the law, as well as sinister old associates, are closing in. Fritz Feld is a scream as an elocution master who tries to help Costello with his speech, and a lot of humor is generated by the fact that Lou can't resist dancing every time he hears the Samba -- including in the bullring, where a very dramatic bull is after his hide. Costello also has a funny routine with the fast-talking Sidney Fields, and an amusing song and dance number with the zesty Malina. Lou's brother Pat Costello probably has a larger, speaking role in this than in any other A&C feature as a tough guy who's looking for Joe.

Verdict: Good-natured fun. ***

RIO RITA

RIO RITA (1942). Director: S. Sylvan Simon.

Bud and Lou think they're traveling by automobile trunk to New York but wind up in the Southwest, where they dally with a famous crooner, Ricardo Montera (John Carroll), his old girlfriend (Kathryn Grayson), an undercover agent, Lucette Brunswick(Patricia Dane), and a nest of Nazi spies headed by Tom Conway. Barry Nelson also has a small part. There are a few nice song numbers, a couple of laughs, and amiable performances by all. Some of the humor is a bit risque, especially when Costello -- under the tablecloth -- traverses a table full of old biddies and makes them all go "whooee," as well as a line Lou delivers to Bud about a cow girl: "She didn't get her calves together."

Verdict: Fun of a minor kind, with appealing players. ***.

ABBOTT AND COSTELLO MEET DR. JEKYLL AND MR. HYDE

ABBOTT AND COSTELLO MEET DR. JEKYLL AND MR. HYDE (1953). Director: Charles Lamont.

Bud and Lou are cast as American visitors to 19th century London who become bobbies so they can compare police methods (although it's hard to imagine any American Police department wanting them on the force). Meanwhile, a mad killer with a twisted face is on the loose. Craig Stevens is detective Bruce Adams, who has a hankering for pretty women's rights advocate Vicky Edwards (Helen Westcott). Vicky is the ward of kindly Dr. Jekyll (Boris Karloff) who, unbeknownst to her, has a hankering for her, and decides to use his evil Mr. Hyde persona to kill off handsome rival Bruce. Bud and Lou are, of course, in the middle of all this. There are amusing chase scenes and a very funny sequence when Lou is accidentally turned into a kind of giant mouse! The Women's rights advocates sing "Equal Rights for Women" while kicking up their legs! Karloff is excellent, almost giving a serious performance in the film.

Verdict: Lots of fun for A & C aficionados. ***.

LOU'S ON FIRST

LOU'S ON FIRST. A Biography by Chris Costello with Raymond Strait. St. Martin's Press. 1981. [NOTE: A more recent edition was published by Cooper Square Press in 2000.]

This is a very entertaining biography of Lou Costello of Abbott and Costello fame by his youngest daughter Chris. The book looks at his early life, the beginnings of his career, meeting Bud Abbott, the swift rise of Abbott and Costello, their many different films (although there is little if any film analysis) for different studios, with quotes from relatives and other people who knew and worked with him. Chris writes affectingly of the terrible tragedy -- the drowning death of Lou's little boy Butch a couple of days before his first birthday (the photo of the little fellow getting his first haircut is a heart breaker) -- that terribly impacted on him, his wife, and his life from that day forward. Lou's on First is not a whitewash, but neither is it a "Daddy Dearest;" Costello writes with real affection of her father, but doesn't cover up the gambling addiction that led to serious IRS troubles, and the loss of the heady lifestyle that the author grew up with. Costello also examines with compassion her mother's alcoholism, as well as the illness that laid her father out flat for almost a year and troubled him increasingly in later years; as well, she looks into the strained relationship that existed between Lou and Bud. In all, it's an affectionate portrait of a talented, exasperating, troubled and all-too-human human being.

Verdict: Excellent. ***1/2.