The Best of Abbott & Costello Volume 1
Nor are there any other of the special featurettes normally associated with movies today such bloopers, deleted scenes, behind-the-camera documentaries. Therefore, The Best of Abbott & Costello Volume I must rest solely upon the strength of the actual movies. Have you ever stopped to think about how many DVDs you would probably never buy if they didn’t have cool special features?
Fortunately, most of the movies on The Best of Abbott & Costello Volume 1 can stand on their own. The primary exception is the lead-off movie, and Bud & Lou’s first teaming on film, One Night in the Tropics. The reason that this movie is less than standard A&C fair is because it’s really not a Bud & Lou movie at all. They are merely supporting comic relief in a larger romantic comedy story that just isn’t very entertaining.
There is the big plus of hearing the Who’s on First routine, but it is very truncated. Fortunately, the entire routine would eventually show up in a later movie The Naughty Nineties. One Night in the Tropics is certainly not a bad movie and I would even say it’s not the worst Abbott & Costello movie ever, but it is most notable in their canon for being their introduction to film audiences.
The next movie on the disc is really the one that should be considered the first real Abbott & Costello movie and it’s also one of their classics. It may be far less than coincidental that Bud & Lou achieved great popularity just as World War II was about to suck America into its grip. During times of great stress, the popularity of comic films usually peak; the sillier and more escapist the comedy the better. Buck Privates was the first in a series of movies that would find Bud & Lou in the military.
This was made before Pearl Harbor so there’s no story about going off to war; in fact, WWII isn’t even mentioned. Buck Privates set the foundation for the rest of the early Abbott & Costello movies: A romantic plot not involving the boys, singing numbers and Bud & Lou doing some routines. This one is very funny, especially the craps game and drill instructions routine. It also introduced the song Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy.
The boys join the navy in the next film title, appropriately, In the Navy. Although you won’t hear any Village People songs, you will hear the Andrews Sisters sing. And sing. And sing. Like many of their earliest films, this one is overweighted with musical numbers. And does anyone else think the Andrews sisters look like men in drag? Apart from the singing numbers and the uninvolving plot, In the Navy is memorable for three of the funniest routines the boys ever did.
The three card monte routine involving vegetables is guaranteed to make you laugh out loud. The Sons of Neptune routine is just plain silly slapstick that is highlighted by the sight of Lou Costello getting tickled in real life during a scene in which his mouth is full of water. The true gem in this movie, however-and a scene that may be partially responsible for my inability to do math-is the routine in which Costello proves that 7 times 13 equals 28. Seriously. He proves it.
As their movie career started to falter later on, the boys made a triumphant comeback by making a series of comic horror films starring the classic Universal monsters. The fact is that the guys made a handful of great supernatural movies and the first one was Hold That Ghost. Although not strictly a haunted house movie in the sense that there is ever really doubt about the existence of a ghost, it still manages to have some ghoulish fun. And this time the fun doesn’t grind to a halt every ten minutes for a musical production. This one is fast and funny and I just wish Joan Davis had made more appearances. Her chemistry with Lou Costello is amazing. Keep an eye out for the hilarious dancing sequence she and Lou do.
After the ghost flick, it was time for the boys to opt for the last military career available. In Keep ’em Flying Bud and Lou join the Army Air Corps. This one keeps very much to the successful formula of their first two military movies and the plot is far more interesting than In the Navy, though the A&C routines aren’t as good. Again, there are too many musical numbers, but it is worth watching for the hilarious subplot involving Bud and Lou dating identical sisters with completely opposite personalities. The sisters are both played by Martha Raye and it all makes for funny stuff.
Abbott & Costello head out west for Ride ’em Cowboy. Still too many songs, but at least this time we get an amazingly young Ella Fitzgerald instead of the Andrews Sisters. Watch this one for the poker game routine and the little plot line involving Lou having to marry an indian princess.
Pardon My Sarong is one of the most surreal comedies of the 40s. The plot begins with a bus driving routine and ends up on the South Seas island. The best routine is the Stinker gag, but there are so many little funny bits in this movie, and the musical numbers are enjoyable as well, that it’s just a great fun movie from beginning to end.
The last film on Volume 1 of The Best of Abbott & Costello is also the one that led them to the next phase of their film career, the one in which they began to take center stage and the romantic plots were mainly eschewed, as well as the musical numbers. IWho Done It? also set the pattern for most of the movies made during this stage.
Bud & Lou playing blue collar slobs who somehow get mixed up in mayhem or suspense. In this one, the two play soda jerks who manage to get involved in a murder. This time around the guys are at the center of the plot as they become suspects who must solve the murder. The comedy routines are still there, though, and the Alexander 2222 is a masterpiece. Also of note: Watch Bud & Lou as they run past the car and give a comedy routine about sports they hear on the radio a thumbs-down.
The Best of Abbott & Costello Volume 1 certainly doesn’t rank as the best collection of Bud & Lou movies, but it’s a great place to start. You get to watch as the boys develop confidence and power. The volume begins with their appearance as decidedly secondary players and ends with their first movie in which it seems Universal had confidence in them to carry an entire movie based solely on their comedic talents. Which were enormous?
