The Best of Abbott and Costello ? August 5, 2006
Posted by derek in : Reviews, Comedy , add a commentI used to love Bud and Lou as a child but their antics don’t connect with me the same way now. I have the first set of the Best of Universal DVD series : 8 OK films though they are all really three times as long as they should be : Bud and Lou’s best routines are set amidst quite a lot of dross. Some of those musical numbers in their early films are though delightfully typical of the time.
Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948) was their best film because of the extra attraction of the universal monsters : it was really good the way the threat was taken seriously and it has a great musical score. (2 1/2 stars out of 5)
I have never been able really to warm to Abbott and Costello as characters, they are very cartoonish, Lou Costello could be very funny, Bud Abbott though is not sympathetic, he comes across as actually rather nasty at times, too much the straight man simply not believable.
That was what was so great about Oliver Hardy he was more than a straight man, he could be genuinely funny and there was a warmth and humanity between him and Stan you simply don’t get with Bud and Lou. Of course their best routines are still funny, they were sound professionals but once they exhausted them Abbott and Costello were on a slippery pole downwards.
Looking at their Forties features I wonder how they would have got on making shorts like Laurel and Hardy, developing their comedy style on film, some fans swear by their 50s TV show.
Here are my reviews of the first Universal set.
Lets start with the best and work down :
Pardon My Sarong (1942) : really quite enjoyed this one, nice to see William Demarest as a foil though he disappears apparently drowned ! I think it would have been neat to have him pop up on the island at the end ! I think this works as well because there is a sense of threat with Lionel Attwill after a rare jewel. (2 1/2 stars out of 5)
Hold that Ghost (1941) : holds up quite well and like Sarong the boys are at the centre of the plot. In quite a lot of these films the dull romance seems to take over and Bud and Lou seem like a vaudeville turn interspersed into the action. (2 1/2 stars out of 5)
In The Navy (1941) : Best of the forces’ comedies I would say which are quite fascinating historically. The romantic subplot involving Dick Powell is better than the others and there is a wonderful routine where Lou becomes the captain of the ship ! Pity its just a dream ! (2 1/2 stars out of 5)
Buck Privates (1941) : Some great routines but the love story is awful. Some good numbers with the Andrews Sisters though. (2 1/2 stars out of 5)
One Night In The Tropics (1940) : A fairly forgettable musical which in true Hollywood style throws away its best song : Remind Me (Ella Fitzgerald did a great recording years later). It comes to life though for two great Abbott and Costello routines : Who’s On First ? and a bit where Bud not for the first time does Lou out of his money. (2 stars out of 5)
Keep Em Flying (1942) : The forces’ films were wearing a bit thin by this third run around. Only fun really is when Lou doesn’t realise he’s flying ! (1 1/2 stars out of 5)
Ride ‘Em Cowboy (1942) : Oh dear, I thought this was a real dull one until the final chase. The print though is crystal clear and a young Ella Fitzgerald sings. Typical Hollywood its a silly nursery rhyme and not something better. (1 1/2 stars out of 5)
Who Done It ? (1942) : A film with a mixed reputation : according to Leonard Maltin one of their best, according to Halliwell lacking atmosphere and good jokes. I think I agree more with the latter : the idea has potential but it seems a bit botched to me. I think it would have been better along the lines of a true whodunnit with a proper detective out of town. (1 1/2 stars out of 5)
A bit of a mixed bag I feel. Perhaps the extra element of the horror stars worked better for Bud and Lou than these early efforts I don’t know. They did I think lack the consistency to be truly great film comedians but they were funny, professional and very popular.
Sherlock Junior (1924) July 31, 2006
Posted by derek in : Reviews, Comedy , add a comment 
This is a very good film and very cinematic. It almost sums up Buster Keaton’s attitudes to his art. The fact that he was so interested in using “cinema” and the mechanics of it in his films. He didn’t resort though to camera trickery for its own sake as some lesser comedians did. The sequence in which he walks into the cinema screen is incredible even today. Keaton’s cameraman Elgin Lessley had to film the theatre set and cinema shots which cut to exteriors as two separate negatives on the same strip of film, matching them precisely. The dream movie sequence also feeds into Keaton’s love for satirising dramatic films of the period. On that level it works very well, it is quite exciting and dramatic how Buster defeats the bad guys and avoids being blown up by the fake pool balls. Some scholars have suggested that there may be footage missing from the film though I can’t confirm if this is true.
The framing material around the dream sequence isn’t quite as good in my opinion though I suppose that is hardly surprising. I found the leading lady Kathryn McGuire and the villain Ward Crane fairly dull in the real world footage. Keaton generally isn’t a laugh out loud comedian either, this film tends to impress me more than make me laugh. It is funny but Buster never rated on the laughometer as high as Chaplin,Lloyd or Laurel and Hardy did for me. Still there is much here of interest and still sequences which astonish like the famous story of Buster breaking his neck while doing one of the stunts. This occurred in the sequence where a train comes out from under him and he rides a giant water tower down to the track. The water had a huge force and forced Buster’s neck down on the railroad track. He was off work for a few days but didn’t find out till years later that he had fractured his neck.
At the time the film wasn’t very popular, the next feature The Navigator (1924) was more successful. While that is a good film it does drag a bit, the short running time makes Sherlock Junior a better film overall though Kathryn McGuire is a bit more lively and interesting in The Navigator.
In the Keaton canon I would rank Sherlock Junior (1924) quite highly because it definitely shows Buster as an innovative filmmaker and inventive comedian. I prefer The General (1926) and Our Hospitality (1923) because I believe they have more interesting characters, stories and are stronger comedically but Sherlock Junior (1924) is my choice for Buster’s third best feature.
(3 1/2 stars out of 5)