Abbott and Costello in Hollywood (1945) (DVD)
Director: S. Sylvan Simon
** 1/2 Rating
This movie was the last of three movies made while A&C were on loan to MGM, but under contract to Universal. The other two films being Rio Rita and Lost in Harem. These three films are probably at the very bottom in terms of my favorite A&C movies. It would seem that the boys and MGM should have never undertaken this partnership. In fact, the poor box office draw of this movie would cause MGM to end this partnership and never produce a A&C movie again.
A&C in Hollywood begins with two barber/agents, Buzz Kurtis (Bud Abbott) and Abercombie (Lou Costello), who work at a Hollywood salon. While on a house call to a neighboring movie studio (which I did not know salons did), they run into an old coworker, Claire Warren (Frances Rafferty), and the future villian of the movie, Gregory LeMaise (Carlton Young).
LeMaise, who fame is almost gone, asks Warren to go to lunch with him. When she says no, he gets angry and approaches his agent, Norman Royce (Warner Anderson), trying to get her fired. A&C witness the whole scene and Royce decides to fire LeMaise on the spot. He has just seen a young man, Jeff Parker (Robert Stanton), audition and feels he's better for the part. This causes LeMaise to change his mind about Warren and soon Royce hires him back. A&C switch careers and decide to be Parker's agent and winn him a musical role.
The DVD version that I own has two of the three movies made at MGM on it, Rio Rita still only available in VHS format. Abbott and Costello in Hollywood/Lost in Harem is a pretty awesome double feature and though they were watched together, the Lost in Harem review is still to come. A&C in Hollywood is probably the best one of the team's MGM career. What I really enjoy about this movie is the trouble Lou gets into on the MGM studio lot. I was a little disappointed that although they are in the MGM lot, we only get to see the second-tier stars like Rags Ragland, Preston Foster, Jackie "Butch" Jenkins, and Lucille Ball. Raise your hand if you know who any of them are besides Lucille Ball...you're not alone. I guess Clark Gable, Lina Turner, and Judy Garland didn't get an invite. Wall to wall laughs, but still lacking in the humor they have at Universal.
Highlight of the movie's A&C routines is the aptly titled "Insomnia". I don't want to ruin it for you, but I still crack up laughing when I watch it to this day.
Abbott and Costello in the Foreign Legion (1950) (DVD)
Director: Charles Lamont
** 1/2 Rating
A& C in the Foreign Legion was filmed five years after the above reviewed movie (A & C in Hollywood). By this time, Bud and Lou's films were geared more towards their kid audience. While some were obvious kid films i.e. Jack and the Beanstack, other like Foreign Legion merely have more kid humor.
A&C in the Foreign Legion begins with wresting managers Bud Jones and Lou Hotchkiss (they didn't even change their name for this movie) setting up a fight where one of the men will take a dive. Both men usually take turns winning/losing in each fight, but Abdullah (Wee Willie Davis) has decided he will no longer lose. He quits and escapes to the Middle East, where his family lives. A&C, needing him to come back and fight or be killed by a backer, follow him. They land in the middle of a crazy plot involving slave girls, railroads, and murderous sheiks. Will they get their man and how will they ever get out of the Foreign Legion?
This film is part of volume four of the steller film collect "The Best of Bud Abbott and Lou Costello" and the only format in which these films should be viewed. This film was made after Costello had undergone gall bladder surgery, so it lacks a lot of the slapstick comedy people came to expect from Costello. He used a stunt double for many of the scenes, but was still able to do his own wrestling stunts. The first scene where Costello stands in for each wrestler and basically gets his butt kicked showcases this and is one of the funnier parts of a lack luster film. The mirage scene and Lou's fight with a denture wearing fish are pretty low brow even for A&C's standards. Plus, if I remember correctly, the denture wearing fish bit has already been done by The Three Stooges.
All that aside, the best part of the film is the way A&C, though horrible soldiers, manage to get involved in adventure after adventure and even manage to stop the plot hatched by Sheik Hamud and Legionnaire trailor Sergeant Axmann. Douglass Dumbrille, Sheik Hamud, also played a similiar role in A&C's Lost in a Harem and if you've seen that, you'll have a general idea of what this film is about. Basically a time passer, but not a bad one.
Best Line of the Movie: "She's either a very ugly woman, or a very pretty monster."
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