Buck Privates Come Home (1947)
With Abbott and Costello officially a team again, it seemed only natural that Universal would attempt to make a sequel to the film that made them famous, Buck Privates, as their comeback film. If you recall, I thought that Buck Privates was a film with hilarious routines and some great music numbers, but its unbalanced characters and ridiculous amount of time devoted to the romantic leads really bogged it down. Buck Privates Come Home was made at a time when Universal had gotten a better idea on how to incorporate Abbott and Costello into their own films. Does that mean it’s better than its predecessor? Well...let’s look at the story.
Slicker and Herbie have been discharged from the Army, but not before taking in a six-year-old French orphan named Evey (Beverly Simmons). When she is discovered, immigration officials attempt to send her back, but she’s determined to stay and hides out with Slicker and Herbie. Slicker and Herbie have to find a stable job so they can adopt Evey, so they take a position with Bill Gregory (Tom Brown), boyfriend of Sylvia Hunter (Joan Fulton), a Lieutenant in the Army who Evey befriended. Slicker and Herbie have to help Bill raise money to get his midget car back so he can enter a race, win a prize, and sell more cars.
The only real connection to the first film besides Slicker and Herbie is Nat Pendleton as Sergeant Collins. The romantic interests from the first film don’t appear at all (which is a good thing) and the Andrews Sisters are also nowhere to be seen (which is a bad thing). The story itself is more focused and interesting than the one in Buck Privates, but it’s also pretty unoriginal, coming across as a lesser version of Laurel and Hardy’s Pack Up Your Troubles. It’s not an exact copy or anything, but knowing that there’s a better version out there by another comedy duo doesn’t help its case, especially since Evey appears less frequently as the film goes along.
And that’s the major problem with Buck Privates Come Home: it’s unoriginal. The beginning literally reuses footage from Buck Privates (including the famous Army drill routine), the Nat Pendleton scenes are basically the Eugene Pallette scenes from It Ain’t Hay, and they even try doing two jokes about Costello almost enlisting in the Army again in the same film. What’s worse is that some of the original jokes don’t even work that well. There’s a scene involving Costello thinking he’s been shot, but it never goes anywhere and doesn’t feel as funny as it should. There’s also a scene involving a leaning table that ends up being pretty tedious and at times seems like a lesser version of the moving candle bit from Hold That Ghost.
That’s not to say Buck Privates Come Home is a bad film. When the jokes work, they work well. There’s a really funny gag involving Costello accidentally using a clothesline as a hammock at a really far height. There’s also another good bit involving Abbott attempting to use hypnotism on Costello as part of a con. My favorite scene is when they attempt to steal back Bill’s car without waking any of the guards. It’s a really good predicament and there’s an especially funny gag involving Costello hitting his hand with a mallet.
The supporting cast also does pretty good in their roles. Beverly Simmons, despite the few scenes she has, does well as the loyal friend to Herbie and Nat Pendleton especially gets to show off his comic talents, despite his scenes basically being based off of the Pallette scenes from It Ain’t Hay. That’s the one good thing about them reusing material; they actually get to show off Pendleton better with these kinds of routines than they could in Buck Privates. The car chase towards the end is also pretty fun.
Buck Privates Come Home may not be as bad in terms of its story as its predecessor, but it’s also more boring in terms of its comedy, so I’d still have to say Buck Privates is slightly better than this film. Buck Privates Come Home has some redeeming elements, but in the end, doesn’t stand out much from some of their other work.
Slicker and Herbie have been discharged from the Army, but not before taking in a six-year-old French orphan named Evey (Beverly Simmons). When she is discovered, immigration officials attempt to send her back, but she’s determined to stay and hides out with Slicker and Herbie. Slicker and Herbie have to find a stable job so they can adopt Evey, so they take a position with Bill Gregory (Tom Brown), boyfriend of Sylvia Hunter (Joan Fulton), a Lieutenant in the Army who Evey befriended. Slicker and Herbie have to help Bill raise money to get his midget car back so he can enter a race, win a prize, and sell more cars.
The only real connection to the first film besides Slicker and Herbie is Nat Pendleton as Sergeant Collins. The romantic interests from the first film don’t appear at all (which is a good thing) and the Andrews Sisters are also nowhere to be seen (which is a bad thing). The story itself is more focused and interesting than the one in Buck Privates, but it’s also pretty unoriginal, coming across as a lesser version of Laurel and Hardy’s Pack Up Your Troubles. It’s not an exact copy or anything, but knowing that there’s a better version out there by another comedy duo doesn’t help its case, especially since Evey appears less frequently as the film goes along.
And that’s the major problem with Buck Privates Come Home: it’s unoriginal. The beginning literally reuses footage from Buck Privates (including the famous Army drill routine), the Nat Pendleton scenes are basically the Eugene Pallette scenes from It Ain’t Hay, and they even try doing two jokes about Costello almost enlisting in the Army again in the same film. What’s worse is that some of the original jokes don’t even work that well. There’s a scene involving Costello thinking he’s been shot, but it never goes anywhere and doesn’t feel as funny as it should. There’s also a scene involving a leaning table that ends up being pretty tedious and at times seems like a lesser version of the moving candle bit from Hold That Ghost.
That’s not to say Buck Privates Come Home is a bad film. When the jokes work, they work well. There’s a really funny gag involving Costello accidentally using a clothesline as a hammock at a really far height. There’s also another good bit involving Abbott attempting to use hypnotism on Costello as part of a con. My favorite scene is when they attempt to steal back Bill’s car without waking any of the guards. It’s a really good predicament and there’s an especially funny gag involving Costello hitting his hand with a mallet.
The supporting cast also does pretty good in their roles. Beverly Simmons, despite the few scenes she has, does well as the loyal friend to Herbie and Nat Pendleton especially gets to show off his comic talents, despite his scenes basically being based off of the Pallette scenes from It Ain’t Hay. That’s the one good thing about them reusing material; they actually get to show off Pendleton better with these kinds of routines than they could in Buck Privates. The car chase towards the end is also pretty fun.
Buck Privates Come Home may not be as bad in terms of its story as its predecessor, but it’s also more boring in terms of its comedy, so I’d still have to say Buck Privates is slightly better than this film. Buck Privates Come Home has some redeeming elements, but in the end, doesn’t stand out much from some of their other work.
6 out of 10
Comments
Post a Comment