1h 30min | Comedy, Music, Musical | 2 February 1945
Director: Jean Yarbrough
Stars: Bud Abbott, Lou Costello, Peggy Ryan, Lon Chaney, Jr.
Louis Da Pron ... choreographer
In the Tap! Appendix for Peggy Ryan. PR (b. 1924) looks younger than 20+ here. LC says at one point while he's onscreen with PR that he feels like Donald O'Connor, her frequent dancing partner and costar, not in this film. I wonder if she always dances comedically; she has 29 credits, and only 7 remain after this (last in '53, is also among her Soundtracks credits; found it online). She has at least 2 production numbers, and I'm not referring to Let's Play House.
This is home of the oyster soup [stew] skit, where the oyster fights back. Lots of other good physical humor.
I watched the last few minutes multiple times because the end is so sudden. What happens: LC steals money from bookies, after a (long, fun) chase they land at the college, after a tussle with the baddies they keep the money. Really, the money should go back to the people who gambled, because the contest was forfeited... sort of. Anyway, the college needed the money (that's why LC stole it), and so he "ends" (you'll get that joke when you see it) as a hero.
This is the second movie in a row with pro-wrestlers central to the story (although only a portion of it here). I've seen them in movies earlier, but maybe they're getting popular now? Guys too old or infirm for the military? BTW, I don't remember a war reference here.
Universal, dir. Yarbrough; 6+
