1h 26min | Comedy, Music, War | 28 November 1941
Directors: Arthur Lubin, Ralph Ceder
Stars: Bud Abbott, Lou Costello, Martha Raye.
Eddie Prinz ... staging of musical numbers
Total of 4 songs in the Soundtracks: 2 by MR with The Six Hits (no more Miss), 2+1 of MR's by Carol Bruce, and 1 of CB's also by Dick Foran. One of MR's songs is VERRRRY much like Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy. The proportion of song:story is very small.
MR plays twins with different personalities who don't make it clear to people that the sister exists. LC doesn't see the twins together until 55 min mark. And LC & BA are dating them. And then, to confuse us further, we have 2 men who look a lot alike, but the resemblance is not part of the plot.
The lunch counter struggle, Go Ahead and Order Something, was a classic routine according to the dvd Production Notes.
One joke is repeated: first we get a runaway torpedo on wheels with A&C both eventually riding it, and then we get a runaway biplane with A&C at the helm. In both cases we even get the runaway device clearing the interior of a building (the plane clears a hangar) by entering one door and exiting another. Seemed repetitive.
Then we get a man in jeopardy because his parachute deploys too soon after exiting the plane, and gets caught on the plane's tail. Between this and the runaway devices, I'm surprised the Army Air Corps didn't object to this film. Perhaps Buck Privates ('41) was deemed a highly successful recruiting tool, and they were willing to be portrayed badly? Or maybe this is disinformation for the (future) enemy, making them think we're incompetent?
This is another military promotion film, making air corps service look easy, fun and macho.
Universal, dir. Lubin & Ceder; 5+
