In Society (1944)
First, a bit of background history about Abbott and Costello during this time. Shortly after filming Hit the Ice, Lou Costello came down with a serious bout of rheumatic fever, which kept him confined to bed for over 6 months and shortly after recovering his infant son accidentally drowned in the family pool. This was the first Abbott and Costello movie to be released after both of these tragedies (although it was filmed after MGM’s Lost in a Harem), so it’s very surprising to see that he actually gives such a lively performance. Despite this, though, the film as a whole is not good.
Eddie Harrington (Abbott) and Albert Mansfield (Costello) are two plumbers who mistakenly receive an invitation to a high society gathering hosted by Mrs. Winthrop (Margaret Irving), who will be displaying a valuable painting called “The Plunger.” While there, they discover that a loan shark (Thomas Gomez) whom they’ve been acquainted with is planning to steal the painting and it is up to them to stop him.
So let’s start by talking about the comedic highlights. The best scene in this film involves a routine called “Bagel Street,” which is sort of “Crazy House” meets “Slowly I Turned.” The other two scenes of interest are a brief scene in which Costello mistakes “The Plunger” for an actual plunger and another brief scene in which Costello saves a man’s life and ends up scolded by both Abbott and the man he saved.
These scenes, as well as another scene that reuses the “Go Ahead and Play It!” routine from Buck Privates are the scenes in which Abbott and Costello feel the most like Abbott and Costello. The rest of the film is derivative of other comedians’ work. The missing painting plot is very similar to the plot of the Marx Brothers’ Animal Crackers (which also features Margaret Irving) while most of the fire truck chase is lifted directly from W.C. Fields’ Never Give a Sucker an Even Break. However, it is without a doubt the Three Stooges that this movie is most trying to replicate. Although the plumbing scenes are not directly lifted from A Plumbing We Will Go, Abbott and Costello’s mannerisms are more similar to the Stooges’ than they are to their own. Abbott seems more reliant on slapping than usual and there’s a particular scene involving Abbott getting a plunger stuck on his head that seems reminiscent of several scenes from Stooges shorts in which Moe inadvertently got hit in the face by his fellow Stooges’ clumsiness. Beyond the plumbing scenes, Stooges-type scenes are still noticeable, including a gag in which Costello gets his head stuck in a cabinet. Even the main plot of Abbott and Costello getting mistaken for high society guests is an idea that the Stooges sometimes employed in their shorts like Termites of 1938 and Tassels in the Air among others. I do have to wonder if it’s just a coincidence that the loan shark refers to Abbott and Costello as “two stooges.”
I love the Three Stooges, but their style just does not work for Abbott and Costello. While Costello was known for doing some physical routines that he usually succeeded at, it was this mixed with their verbal repertoire that involved lots of fast-talking that really made them stand out from others. By taking away many of these verbal routines, you basically get a half-rate version of the Stooges. Abbott, though occasionally showing frustration in his other work, does not have the ability to show frustration as much as Moe Howard; heck, Costello is better at showing frustration than Abbott. While Costello and Curly Howard do have a few similarities, Costello actually isn’t eccentric enough to match Curly.
The rest of the film is what’s to be expected from most of the Abbott and Costello Universal films. Boring musical numbers and a boring romance take up a significant amount of time. What’s especially bad about the romantic scenes here is that Costello’s character is also in love with the female romantic interest, yet despite knowing each other for so long she easily tosses him aside in favor of the high society character. Was this subplot supposed to be funny? If that’s the case, then I can give it credit that it fits the theme of the rest of this film: trying to be funny and failing.
All this combined with some really bad rear projection in several scenes results in a weak effort. Although I do appreciate Costello’s energy and think there are a few good scenes, I would recommend skipping this film.
4 out of 10
Eddie Harrington (Abbott) and Albert Mansfield (Costello) are two plumbers who mistakenly receive an invitation to a high society gathering hosted by Mrs. Winthrop (Margaret Irving), who will be displaying a valuable painting called “The Plunger.” While there, they discover that a loan shark (Thomas Gomez) whom they’ve been acquainted with is planning to steal the painting and it is up to them to stop him.
So let’s start by talking about the comedic highlights. The best scene in this film involves a routine called “Bagel Street,” which is sort of “Crazy House” meets “Slowly I Turned.” The other two scenes of interest are a brief scene in which Costello mistakes “The Plunger” for an actual plunger and another brief scene in which Costello saves a man’s life and ends up scolded by both Abbott and the man he saved.
These scenes, as well as another scene that reuses the “Go Ahead and Play It!” routine from Buck Privates are the scenes in which Abbott and Costello feel the most like Abbott and Costello. The rest of the film is derivative of other comedians’ work. The missing painting plot is very similar to the plot of the Marx Brothers’ Animal Crackers (which also features Margaret Irving) while most of the fire truck chase is lifted directly from W.C. Fields’ Never Give a Sucker an Even Break. However, it is without a doubt the Three Stooges that this movie is most trying to replicate. Although the plumbing scenes are not directly lifted from A Plumbing We Will Go, Abbott and Costello’s mannerisms are more similar to the Stooges’ than they are to their own. Abbott seems more reliant on slapping than usual and there’s a particular scene involving Abbott getting a plunger stuck on his head that seems reminiscent of several scenes from Stooges shorts in which Moe inadvertently got hit in the face by his fellow Stooges’ clumsiness. Beyond the plumbing scenes, Stooges-type scenes are still noticeable, including a gag in which Costello gets his head stuck in a cabinet. Even the main plot of Abbott and Costello getting mistaken for high society guests is an idea that the Stooges sometimes employed in their shorts like Termites of 1938 and Tassels in the Air among others. I do have to wonder if it’s just a coincidence that the loan shark refers to Abbott and Costello as “two stooges.”
I love the Three Stooges, but their style just does not work for Abbott and Costello. While Costello was known for doing some physical routines that he usually succeeded at, it was this mixed with their verbal repertoire that involved lots of fast-talking that really made them stand out from others. By taking away many of these verbal routines, you basically get a half-rate version of the Stooges. Abbott, though occasionally showing frustration in his other work, does not have the ability to show frustration as much as Moe Howard; heck, Costello is better at showing frustration than Abbott. While Costello and Curly Howard do have a few similarities, Costello actually isn’t eccentric enough to match Curly.
The rest of the film is what’s to be expected from most of the Abbott and Costello Universal films. Boring musical numbers and a boring romance take up a significant amount of time. What’s especially bad about the romantic scenes here is that Costello’s character is also in love with the female romantic interest, yet despite knowing each other for so long she easily tosses him aside in favor of the high society character. Was this subplot supposed to be funny? If that’s the case, then I can give it credit that it fits the theme of the rest of this film: trying to be funny and failing.
All this combined with some really bad rear projection in several scenes results in a weak effort. Although I do appreciate Costello’s energy and think there are a few good scenes, I would recommend skipping this film.
4 out of 10
It's been a long time since I've seen this one, but all I remember is this - the plumbing scenes made me laugh about as hard as I have for any Bud and Lou scene while the rest bored me. It was such a huge disparity. I like Bud and Lou but they churned out movies so much at Universal it almost felt like product. I may be in the minority where as a group, I prefer their work after WWII....less romantic subplot and musical numbers and then when you factor in the TV show, I definitely prefer post WWII.
ReplyDeleteI agree that the TV show was better than the majority of their feature films. If I recall correctly, their performances were a lot more lifeless in their later features, though, yes, it was nice that they reduced the musical numbers and romances. I think it's also important to factor in the radio show (the radio show also had musical numbers, though they were usually better than the ones in the Universal films, and it was structured better than the TV show. However, both were equally funny).
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