One Night in the Tropics (1940) Review

So let’s start talking about Abbott and Costello. Most general audiences should know at least their most famous routine: Who’s On First?, and, hey, that’s not a bad thing for them to be remembered for. It is a perfect example of just how perfectly the two worked off of each other. This, as well as many of their other famous routines, was not specifically written for them, having originated in burlesque. It was the way they worked off of each other, though, that really made it their own. Their speed was remarkably fast in these routines, yet you never get the feeling it’s being rushed, because their timing was that perfect. Not that they were necessarily the best comedy team in terms of character, though; often you do get the feeling that the two would be better off without each other, due to Costello’s incompetence and Abbott’s tendency to con his friend. Compare this to Laurel and Hardy, who you often feel they depend on each other and often drop hints that they truly do care for each other in the way two siblings may deeply care for each other. It may be this problem, in addition to many other factors, that their movies are not as highly regarded today.

Generally, if you are trying to get more into Abbott and Costello’s style of comedy, fans will usually recommend that you watch either The Colgate Comedy Hour or The Abbott and Costello Show and it’s easy to see why. The Colgate Comedy Hour was a variety program that featured a regular rotation of hosts each week, with Abbott and Costello among that rotation, while The Abbott and Costello Show was about...well, nothing; Jerry Seinfeld even cited it as the inspiration for his own TV series. Both of these formats allowed for Abbott and Costello to do what they did best: do funny dialogue and visual routines that allowed them to show off their wonderful timing without having to focus on character development and carrying a narrative. Abbott and Costello often reused the same routines from burlesque over and over again, so many routines from their films would turn up here, giving little reason to watch the films.

It does, though, seem unfair to write off all of Abbott and Costello’s movies. Sure, there are often forced romances, story problems, and characterizations that did not lend themselves well when it came to slightly more serious storytelling, but they did also feature a much younger comedy team who were still learning the ropes in the movie industry and some of these films did take much more different approaches than the standard Abbott and Costello format. Since most of these were made for Universal, some of them also had the benefit of featuring the famous Universal Monsters, sometimes even featuring the actors who were most associated with the roles like Bela Lugosi and Lon Chaney, Jr. My goal with this series is to determine which films are actually unique and interesting enough to be worth checking out and differing those from the ones that just inserted Abbott and Costello in a mediocre movie. So, without further ado, let’s start by discussing Abbott and Costello’s first ever feature film appearance as a duo, One Night in the Tropics!

The trailer for One Night in the Tropics:

One Night in the Tropics was based off of a book called Love Insurance by Earl Derr Biggers, the same author who created the Charlie Chan series. It was adapted twice before this. The first one, released in 1919, was also called Love Insurance and it even featured A. Edward Sutherland, the same man who later directed One Night in the Tropics. The second version was released in 1924 and was called The Reckless Age. So this idea seemed to be pretty popular with audiences back then, considering it received three different film adaptations. Unfortunately, at least judging from this, the idea does not hold up too well.

After a bad run-in with his fiancée’s aunt, Steve Harper (played by Robert Cummings) agrees to take a policy from his friend, Jim Moore (played by Allan Jones) called “love insurance,” which will pay out $1 million if Steve does not marry his fiancée, Cynthia (played by Nancy Kelly). Things get complicated when Steve’s ex-grilfriend, Mickey (played by Peggy Moran) comes back into his life while Jim finds himself falling for Cynthia.

So you may be asking yourself, what do Abbott and Costello have to do with this? Well, it turns out they work for the nightclub owner who underwrote the policy and he has them make sure that the wedding goes through. The duo receive third and fourth billing, respectively, though it is clear that they are mainly there as the comic relief.

So the story is...not good. The whole idea of the “love insurance” policy is way too stupid of an idea, one that’s made clear by Jim’s father and Steve even makes it clear that he doesn’t care about the money, so it seems like a very pointless deal to make on both ends if the marriage doesn’t go through. It’s not like actual insurance where the client will normally need the money, it’s literally a case of only paying out $1 million if one marriage that didn’t remotely cost that much to put together doesn’t go through. What’s Jim’s selling point? “I’ve never lost a bet.” That’s another problem; these two are supposedly these really good friends, yet the only thing the two really seem to enjoy doing together is making bets, specifically one at the very beginning of the film.

As for the romances, who could forget such classic lines as Steve saying, “Oh, Cynthia” or “My darling, Cynthia?” He constantly repeats these lines towards the beginning and it gets really annoying. I guess you could argue that this makes his case to be with Mickey instead of Cynthia, since he can’t really think of much about Cynthia’s personality, though even then both sides are pretty generic. A lot of the romantic moments rely on songs that can be pretty slow and tedious. There’s just way too many of them and not enough variety in song styles.

Unsurprisingly, the best moments are when Abbott and Costello are on screen. I must say that I do find it interesting to see them in supporting roles as opposed to being the stars. It’s very intriguing to see them playing the henchmen that do their boss’s dirty work for him; and speaking of their boss, that’s another cool thing too. He’s played by William Frawley, best known today as Fred Mertz on I Love Lucy and he is the perfect choice for this role; I honestly wish he would have appeared more often with Abbott and Costello; he would have been great in roles as their superior.

Abbott and Costello do several routines that are scattered throughout the film during brief breaks from the main storyline. Included among them is a shortened version of their classic “Who’s On First?”, so they were clearly trying to put their best foot forward with this film. The farthest they ever really get is to third base in this version (though the pitcher briefly comes up) and is not nearly as entertaining as the much stronger versions seen on both The Colgate Comedy Hour and The Abbott and Costello Show. However, this version would also probably play better for less patient general audiences and there is the addition of a stone-cold cab driver who somewhat intimidates Costello. I also really enjoyed the “hotel suit” exchange that came just before this; this was probably my favorite moment in the whole film.

Another standout moment to mention is the $365 routine. Sometimes you really have to appreciate some of the writing that went into these routines; this one in particular required a good deal of thought in both writing and mathematics and is basically enhanced by a team with strong comedic timing.

One thing that interests me about these film routines are how they may sometimes play out slightly different in tone than in the TV versions later on, giving a reason to check them out for comparison. For example, I’ll bring up the “two tens for a five” bit. Now, here’s The Colgate Comedy Hour version: 

Costello’s realization at the end of the routine here plays out as someone on the verge of a nervous breakdown, whereas in One Night in the Tropics, it instead plays out more as slight befuddlement. Personally, I prefer the version in Tropics, as I feel the reaction here on Colgate is just a bit too cruel, but it’s still cool to have both versions to choose between.

Another interesting feature of this is that Abbott and Costello actually use their real names in this. They only did this in one other film, Abbott and Costello Meet the Mummy (though they were listed with different character names in the credits by mistake). I prefer this since I think the character names are pointless; I can understand for films like Little Giant or The Time of Their Lives, but for most of them they are generally playing the same characters and I would rather hear Costello shouting out “Hey Abbott!” like he did on radio and TV.

The rest of the cast tries their best and are talented performers in their own right, but they’re not able to overcome a very poorly planned out script. I will give the rest of the film that it has some nice scenery and that I felt one of the dramatic moments worked: when Jim is left alone by everyone else the night before the wedding. There also was at least one non-Abbott and Costello moment that I found funny: when Jim’s father answers the phone but can’t hear unless he has his glasses on.

Overall, One Night in the Tropics does have its moments, but the plot is just such a convoluted mess that it’s hard to recommend it even as a historical curiosity. It’s far from the worst thing they ever did and there are some interesting ways that they handled the routines, but in the end, One Night in the Tropics does not lead to a very entertaining night.

5 out of 10