All Movie Guide

One of the best Bud Abbott and Lou Costello films, Buck Privates not only marks the film that put them on the map of stardom but also contains, as do many of their films, some of their classic vaudeville material. While these routines are hilariously funny, they work better mostly because of the situations the boys find themselves in. Bud and Lou enlist in the army to avoid being sent to jail and soon are in boot camp under the command of the police officer who was set to arrest them. While the rigors of military discipline naturally provide all sorts of opportunities for hijinks and pratfalls, the film holds up because it doesn't overdo them and actually has an interesting secondary plot involving a well-heeled dandy trying to use his family's influence to get out of service and his former valet, now also vying for the attention of the same woman. This may seem to be a diversion but it allows for a breather between the madcap routines that take over the film and provide the belly laughs. Veteran comic actor Nat Pendleton gives Abbott and Costello a run for their money as their drill sergeant, and the Andrews Sisters have a prominent role as themselves, appearing in many of the musical numbers that crop up throughout. Although the combination of all of these bits has a cumulative effect to make the film feel a little over-stuffed, by limiting the appearances of Bud and Lou on-screen it makes their performances that much more effective and avoids the fate some of their later films suffer in which they wear out the welcome of their good-natured characters. Stooge Shemp Howard has a small role as a cook. Dan Friedman

All Movie Guide

Hold That Ghost was the second of Abbott and Costello's starring films, but was held back from release in favor of their third picture, the more "topical" In the Navy. In Ghost, Bud and Lou play a couple of service-station owners who happen to be hanging around when gangster Moose Mattson (William B. Davidson) is killed. According to the terms of Mattson's will, whosoever is present when "the coppers dim my lights for the last time" will inherit his estate, which consists of a deserted mansion in the middle of nowhere. Crooked attorney Russell Hicks, who knows that Mattson has hidden hundreds of thousands of dollars somewhere in the lodge, dispatches sinister Charlie Smith (Marc Lawrence) to escort Abbott and Costello to the house, with instructions to "take care" of the trusting boys once they've arrived. Charlie charters a bus to take A&C out to the mansion; also on board, going off to various other destinations, are handsome Dr. Jackson (Richard Carlson), lovely Norma Lind (Evelyn Ankers) and professional radio screamer Camille Brewster (Joan Davis). It is inevitable that this disparate group is stranded along with Abbott and Costello in the forbidding mansion on a dark and stormy night. Charlie Smith is promptly murdered by parties unknown; throughout the rest of the film, Charlie's body pops up at the most inopportune moments, reducing the already tremulous Costello to a quivering mass of jello. The plot is merely an excuse to showcase Abbott and Costello's superbly timed cross-talking routines, a riotous impromptu dance performed by Costello and Joan Davis, and, of course, the legendary "moving candle" bit, which may well be Costello's funniest-ever screen scene. Hold That Ghost was originally designed and previewed as a 65-minute programmer title Oh, Charlie, but Universal decided to expand the length and throw in a few guest stars to secure top-of-the-bill bookings. This is why Hold That Ghost begins and ends with barely relevant musical numbers featuring Ted Lewis and the Andrews Sisters. Hal Erickson

All Movie Guide

The third of Bud Abbott and Lou Costello's starring films, In the Navy was released second; Universal had just made a bundle off Abbott and Costello's Buck Privates, and the studio wanted another "service" comedy put into circulation in a hurry. Abbott and Costello share over-the-title billing with Dick Powell, who plays a popular radio singer. Eager to avoid his screaming fans, Powell enlists in the Navy under an assumed name, hoping to serve his country incognito. Girl reporter Claire Dodd chases after Powell, hoping to secure a photo of the fugitive "idol of millions." So much for the "straight" plot; what are Abbott and Costello up to? Well, Costello plays a ship's cook who wants to impress Patty Andrews of The Andrews Sisters. With his pal Abbott's help, Costello poses as an admiral -- and in so doing nearly destroys the entire American fleet. This climactic sequence ran into trouble when the U.S. Navy decided that it didn't want to be held up to ridicule by showing the bumbling Costello ordering its ships around. To save the climax -- the most expensive portion of the film -- the scriptwriters wrote a new coda, passing off Costello's "admiralty" as a dream sequence. The best Abbott and Costello routines have little if anything to do with the plot: our favorite (indeed, everyone's favorite) is Costello proving to Abbott that 7 X 13 = 28. Those viewers who prefer music to comedy will be thoroughly satisfied by the vocal contributions of Dick Powell and The Andrews Sisters, as well as a lively dance number offered by the Condos Brothers. Hal Erickson

All Movie Guide

Having joined the army in Buck Privates and the navy in In the Navy, Bud Abbott and Lou Costello signed up with Air Force in Keep 'Em Flying. Abbott and Costello play Blackie and Heathcliff, carnival workers who are fired from their jobs along with their pal, reckless stunt pilot Jinx Roberts (Dick Foran). When Jinx joins the Army Air Corps-the better to be nearer pretty USO singer Linda Joyce (Carol Bruce)-Blackie and Heathcliff loyally join up as well, obtaining low-echelon ground crew jobs. While Jinx tries to cure Linda's brother Jim (Charles Lang) of his fear of flying, Heathcliff pursues a romance with wisecracking waitress Gloria Phelps (Martha Raye), never quite catching on that Gloria has an identitical-twin sister (also Martha Raye). A bit too plot-heavy for its own good, Keep 'Em Flying is at its best when concentrating on Abbott & Costello, who in addition to performing their patented cross-talk routines participate in a zany runaway-torpedo chase and a gratuitous but amusing episode in a spooky carnival funhouse. As a bonus, Costello gets to do a bit of "straight" acting, and he's quite good at it. Deleted scenes include a comedy magic act (later restaged in Abbott & Costello's Lost in a Harem) and a wild episode at a skating rink (reworked two years later in Hit the Ice). Hal Erickson

All Movie Guide

The third film version of Earl Derr Biggers' novel Love Insurance, One Night in the Tropics stars Allan Jones as a hotshot insurance salesman who sells a policy to his best pal Robert Cummings. Cummings will earn $1 million if he fails to marry his fiance Nancy Kelly. Half of the policy is underwritten by tough gambling-house owner William Frawley, who panics when Cummings heads for a Caribbean isle in pursuit of Peggy Moran. As for Kelly, she wants no part of Cummings once she finds out she's a pawn in his policy. Well, who cares? The real attraction of One Night in the Tropics is the comedy team of Bud Abbott and Lou Costello, here making their feature film debut in the roles of Frawley's flunkeys. Though they never get in the way of the plot (worse luck!), Abbott and Costello have plenty of time to perform several of their best routines, including "Mustard," "Jonah and the Whale," and a tantalizingly brief excerpt of "Who's on First?" Outside of A&C's contributions, the film boasts several pleasant if forgettable tunes by Jerome Kern and Dorothy Fields. Though not a big box-office success, One Night in the Tropics garnered such positive reviews for Abbott and Costello that the team was rewarded with its own vehicle, the 1941 cash cow Buck Privates. Note: many TV prints of Tropics are struck from the 69-minute reissue of the late 1940s, in which the "straight" plot was pared to down to give more emphasis to Abbott and Costello. The original 82 minute version was recently restored for videocassette release. Hal Erickson

All Movie Guide

One of the most often revived of Abbott & Costello's early-1940s films, Pardon My Sarong casts Bud and Lou as Chicago bus drivers Algy Shaw and Wellington Pflug. At the behest of millionaire playboy Tommy Layton (Robert Paige), Algy and Wellington hijack their own bus and speed off to California so that Tommy won't be late for an important yachting race. Our heroes are hotly pursued by bus-company troubleshooter Kendall (William Demarest), while Tommy's trail is dogged by rival yacht-owner Joan Marshall (Virginia Bruce). Eluding Kendall when they inadvertently drive their bus into the ocean, Algy and Wellington are rescued by Tommy and Joan, who through a plot wrinkle have been forced to share the same yacht. After several days of drifting aimlessly across the Pacific, the yacht ends up on a remote South Sea Island, where Algy and Wellington flirt capriciously with the local native girls. Through a fluke, Wellington is served up as a sacrifice victim and ordered to enter a sacred volcanic mountain-which happens to be the hideout for jewel thief Varnoff (Lionel Atwill) and his gang. The story wraps up with a zany Sennett-like chase, with Wellington attempting to rescue the kidnapped Joan from Varnoff's speedboat. Filled to overflowing with hilarious sight gags, cross-talk routines and throwaway lines, Pardon My Sarong scores on two levels: as a devastating send-up of Dorothy Lamour jungle epics and as a first-rate vehicle for Bud Abbott and Lou Costello. One one quibble: the film certainly could have done without the scene in which Bud invites Lou to commit suicide! Hal Erickson

All Movie Guide

With only a minimal romantic subplot and no music whatsoever, Who Done It? is pure, undiluted Bud Abbott and Lou Costello, and a good mystery on its own to boot. Bud and Lou star as Chick Larkin and Mervyn Milgrim, a pair of soda jerks who aspire to become radio detective-show writers (their latest epic is "The Midget Gets the Chair-or, Small Fry"). Invited by their radio-scrivener pal Jimmy Turner (Patric Knowles) to attend a broadcast of the "Murder at Midnight" program, Chick and Mervyn are on hand when network president Colonel Andrews (Thomas Gomez) is murdered just before delivering a vital patriotic message. While waiting for the official police to show up, Chick and Mervyn decide to try to solve the case on their own, thereby securing their reputations as writers. The boys manage to convince everyone-even the real killer-that they're genuine gumshoes, only to be exposed when the real cops, Moran (William Gargan) and Brannigan (William Bendix) arrive on the scene. Ultimately, the murderer is revealed, leading to an exciting rooftop chase, with poor Mervyn suspended between two skyscrapers on a slender electrified wire. The comic highlights of Who Done It? are too numerous to mention here, but they include Mervyn's misadventures in the radio-transcription room, his confrontations with a wise-guy page boy (Walter Tetley), his "Not watts, volts!" exchange with the exasperated Chick, and an athletic interlude with those world-famous tumblers, the Flying Bordellos (sic!). Best bit: Upon winning a quiz program, the boys eagerly turn on their prize, a portable radio -- only to turn it off in disgust when Abbott and Costello sign on the air ("Every time you hear those guys, it's 'Who's on First-What's On Second!'") Hal Erickson

Product Details

• UPC: 025192468223
• Source: UNIVERSAL STUDIOS
• Region Code: 1
• Aspect Ratio: Pre-1954 Standard (1.33.1)
• Presentation: B&W
• Sound: Dolby Digital Mono
• Language: English
• Subtitles: English, Français, Español
• Time: 11:01:00
• Sales Rank: 4,196

This set contains DVDs which may be available separately:

• One Night in the Tropics
• Buck Privates
• In the Navy
• Hold That Ghost
• Keep 'em Flying
• Pardon My Sarong
• Who Done It?
• Ride 'em Cowboy

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