So much average

As somebody who had not heard any of this before, it became a curious phenomenon to sit and watch a film and slowly have the realities begin to click into place.

There are moments that feel comical, some horrific, and some downright inspiring but the tonal shifts hardly matter as the end results come to a film that's perfect for this time.

One of the film's great tricks is that, for a time, you think it will go down a rabbit hole of unrealistic glorification.

Another wacky Abbott and Costello(A&C) musical comedy, also costarring Robert Paige as Tommy: a wealthy playboy, and Virginia Bruce, as Joan, who has an initial adversarial relationship with Tommy, which turns romantic("They hate each other enough to get married", observed Costello).Tommy has illicitly hired a Chicago city bus to take himself an a bevy of gorgeous girls to Los Angeles. Costello, and his assistant, Abbott, are the drivers. Tommy will get his yacht ready for a coming race to Hawaii. The boys have a runin with Detective Kendall(William Demarest) just after they arrive, with some comical means of attempted escape, until they are captured. They are supposed to drive the bus back to Chicago, but instead accidentally drive it off a floating pier, thereby losing Kendall. They surface and are picked up by Tommy and Joan on his yacht, and are made deckhands, in spite of their lack of experience. They pick up a seal('sharky')along the way, who pops up every now and then through the rest of the film. They barely survive a terrible storm, losing all their sails. Fortunately, they come upon a small habitable island. They soon meet some natives, which they fear, and initially try to fight them. But, soon it's plain they like Costello for some reason, and the pair are conducted to the village. Meanwhile, Tommy and Joan are exploring on their own, and come across the cabin of an eccentric geologist, so he says,: Dr. Varnoff. The natives sing and dance for them. They demand that Costello wear a necklace with a special large jewel that is supposed to protect him from danger when he visits a mysterious temple on the side of the volcano. The last 5 men to go there never returned. He goes alone, but Abbott soon starts after him, in case he needs help. There, Costello , and sometimes Abbott, are chased all over the temple and surrounding jungle by 5 incredibly stupid goons, evidently sent by Dr. Varnoff, to steal the magical jewel. After they escape from these men, Costello spots Dr. Varnoff in a speed boat with Joan. He guesses that the doctor is up to no good, and swims toward the boat at a phenomenal rate. Eventually, he reaches the boat and has an eventful tussle with the doctor, eventually besting him. After this madcap adventure, Costello returns to claim his prize: the hand of the chief's daughter: Luana(Nan Wynn). He has to make up his mind whether to stay on the island with her or return to western civilization with his friends. The musical numbers were composed by several authors, the island songs being composed by Dan Raye and Gene de Paul. The Ink Spots sang several songs in the night club where Tommy brought his bevy of babes, upon their arrival in L.A.. The acrobatic dancing team of Tip, Tap, and Toe performed their amazing skill for one of these songs, one of the film highlights for me. ...Then, when the gang was on the island, two songs were sung by the beautiful Nan Wynn, accompanied by much dancing by both men and women(separately). "Lovely Luana" is a languid Hawaiian-styled ballad, while Vingo Jingo is a jazzy number. Perhaps too much time was spent on the dancing natives, for a primarily comedic film. If you like A&C films, this is one of their better efforts, despite its insane screen play. It's available in several A&C DVD collections.

Pardon My Sarong (1942) *** (out of 4) Good Abbott and Costello film has the boys on a tropical island where a thief (Lionel Atwill) is planing to steal a priceless jewel from the locals. The nearly 200 people in the theater seemed to enjoy this one pretty well. I've always found this to be a pretty good film even with the way too many musical numbers. The boys timing is right on the mark with the highlight being the spoof of Tarzan films at the end. Plenty of laughs throughout.Available on DVD through Universal.

This is a classic of its sort, and well-remembered. What the viewer needs to know about all comedy-duo films is that they are screwball sub-genre works. In order for a comedic team to be effective in any narrative, one of them or the other has to be behaving not normally but 'normatively'--in the way a normative human should act, at any given time... If both act out-of--character for an adult, the result will be unsustainable parody. This is my favorite Abbot and Costello feature as a writer because, for once the writers, including True Boardman, Nat Perrin and John Grant gave the team a good storyline about whose solid core they can construct their funny routines. The film is a revue with an excuse or a musical played for comedy; or it is a farce with music and comedy; but note that the pace is more leisurely than one would see today, yet the purpose of the film remains clear--to entertain. The entire story-line also is a satirical look at the white-god-in-Polynesia storyline; the "god" here is short, cherubic and gormless Lou Costello. The story begins with two lower-class types in early wartime needing to make off with a city bus, then stowing away on a chartered yacht, and ending up with the others aboard on a uncharted island. Never mind why this is necessary; without all three gimmicks, they would still be on mean streets somewhere scrabbling for dimes. The musical comedy that follows is fantasy, corn, maltreatment of Costello by Abbott, sight-gags, run-ins with beautiful girls, teasing the local bully, a villain nicely-played for laughs, and interactions with the other passengers including a pair of intelligent young-lovers-in-the-making. The plot concerns Costello ending by saving the sacred ruby of Mantua from the bad guys, plus some famous songs, hilarious comedy routines, tap dancing numbers, one very sexy dance number, and Costello's attempts not to be done in by the criminals. "Vingo Jingo" is wonderful, "Lovely Luana" and "Island of the Moon" are well-staged. And much more about this charmingly-photographed film entertains; it was never intended to be taken seriously, but it was intended to take up an hour and a half of escape from WWII--which it is what it still provides, regardless of what one is trying not to notice for a while. The film has many pretty girls, good actors and a variety of visual and musical treats. The production is first-rate by anyone's standards; it was expensive and looks it. Gowns by Vera West, Milton Krasner as cinematographer, art direction by Jack Otterson, set decoration by Russell A. Gausman, and music (both original by Frank Skinner plus new songs and songs that are known) make it a feast for the eye and the ear alike. in my opinion Director Erle C. Kenton also had a good cast to work with. In addition to the comedy leads in top form--they always looked better outdoors--the cast boasts Robert Paige and Virginia Bruce, Lionel Atwill as the villain, William Demarest, Nan Wynn, Leif Ericson extremely funny as the local bully, Samuel S. Hinds, Marie McDonald, Elaine Morey, The Ink Spots, Sig Arno, the dance team of Tip, Tap and Toe, George Chandler and others. This is a very-often-imitated film, and one rediscovered whenever it is shown on television by those unused to an era of professional entertainment; it is perhaps likely to delight anyone who simply starts watching it and finds out how much innocent fun a screwball comedy-musical can be, when set where the sarong is the customary mode of dress.

I wanted to see this film because my grandfather acted in it. His name is James Spencer. This film was very fun to see and watch the entertainment of the war years. I specially enjoyed the songs and dancing in this film. There is very little of that kind of entertainment in today's films. A great shame! "The Boys", Lou & Bud, were never better!