Very Cool!!!

Good start, but then it gets ruined

The plot isn't so bad, but the pace of storytelling is too slow which makes people bored. Certain moments are so obvious and unnecessary for the main plot. I would've fast-forwarded those moments if it was an online streaming. The ending looks like implying a sequel, not sure if this movie will get one

An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

I guess it depends on your fondness for Abbot & Costello as a team but for me this is without question the best film the team ever made with Buck Privates a close second.The pair share hardly any screen time together due to the demands of the script and also apparently because of behind the scenes tensions between the team. It all works to the film's advantage since it gives a freshness to their material. It also helps that both are paired with compatible partners, Abbot more than one. Marjorie Reynolds' kindly patience with the sweet but dithering Lou adds a great deal of charm to their scenes, and makes him less buffoonish, as wronged ghosts frustrated by their inability to prove their innocence. In the modern section Bud has a fine bunch of co-stars with two standouts: Gale Sondergaard doing a fun riff on Mrs. Danvers from Rebecca and the delightful Binnie Barnes cracking wise at every opportunity. The cast is great but they are fortunate to have a decent script with a nice set up to work with. The gentle humor of the tale is a pleasant change from the usual silliness of most A&C films which while initially amusing can wear thin pretty quickly.

Costello as an inept ghost from revolutionary times and Abbott as a psychiatrist, of all things. This is likely the most unusual of the A&C comedies. Actually, the results are more like a Reynolds and Costello comedy than the usual A&C pairing. Instead, Abbott's more like one of the cast rather than a headliner, while the two have few scenes together. I gather the pair were feuding at the time, which may have something to do with the departure from the usual.Still, the movie's both funny and inventive. Reynolds and Costello are two wandering spirits from George Washington's time condemned to haunt an estate until they can clear themselves of bogus charges of treason. Needless to say, Costello makes a laughably inept ghost—he just can't seem to get that disappearance wiggle down right. Nonetheless, he and Reynolds play off one another nicely with her getting the "straight man" role in fetching fashion.There's a number of inside jokes with references to Rebecca (1940) and Bogart & Bacall (just whistle if you want me). And in a casting master stroke, there's the icy Gale Sondergaard (Emily) on hand to give everyone the shivers. I really like the last sequence with its touch of humorous irony that's fitting for the supernatural hijinks that've gone before.This is definitely not formula A&C, but may be their most inventive and among their loony best.

THE TIME OF THEIR LIVES (Universal, 1946), directed Charles Barton, is an Abbott and Costello comedy with originality, in fact, one of the very few where they break away from their routine style of limited story tied together with tried and true comedy routines. With the team heading the cast, it's Lou Costello's film all the way with the top-billed Bud Abbott having less screen time but taking an important part as two different characters from two different generations. After six years of team work on screen, THE TIME OF THEIR LIVES is a welcome change of pace for them. It's uncertain how audiences of the day responded to Bud and Lou in a period piece/fantasy film, but the result from today's classic movie lovers rank this the most interesting and favorable Abbott and Costello comedy thus far. Being a ghost story, a theme commonly found during the 1930s and 40s, with TOPPER (1937) and/ or THE CANTERVILLE GHOST (1944) as notable selections, THE TIME OF THEIR LIVES might have had Abbott and Costello having the time of their lives as mischievous ghosts haunting the living, but this movie goes a step further in having Costello as the ghost(who kisses his girlfriend by pressing his lips together like a fish) with Abbott being the live one whose life becomes one big scare. "Why do they always pick on me?" he demands to know. He's sure to find out, no question about that.Part I: The prologue, set during the American Revolution September 23, 1780, opens in Danbury Manor located in Kings Point, New York. Horatio Prim (Lou Costello), a patriotic tinker, loves Nora O'Leary (Anne Gillis), a Danbury housemaid, with whom he intends to elope. Holding a letter of recommendation by General George Washington, Nora takes it to show Mistress Melody Allen as a means for her help with their elopement. However, all this changes as Horatio's rival, Cuthbert Greenway (Bud Abbott), the Danbury butler, tends to marry Nora and get Horatio out of the way. When Nora overhears Tom Danbury (Jess Barker) to be working with Benedict Arnold and plotting against General Washington, she is caught and abducted with Horatio's letter taken and placed in a secret compartment in a clock. Melody Allen (Marjorie Reynolds), Tom's fiancée, also learning of the treason, rides out, with Horatio, to warn Washington. Spotted by American soldiers who have already learned of Danbury's plot, Horatio and Melody, mistaken as traitors, are shot and killed. Their bodies are placed in the well, with Major Putnam (Robert Barrat) condemning their immortal souls earthbound to Danbury Acres "til the crack of doom" unless evidence proves them innocent (the evidence hidden in the clock). All seems hopeless for Melody and Horatio, having materialized as ghosts, only to witness patriots burning down Danbury Manor. Part II: The year, 1946. The spirits of Horatio and Melody still roam the grounds of Danbury Manor. The mansion, having been restored by Sheldon Gage (John Shelton) with most of the original furniture intact, brings forth his fiancé, June Prescott (Lynne Baggett), her Aunt Mildred (Binnie Barnes), and Dr. Ralph Greenway (Abbott), a New York psychiatrist and descendant to Cuthbert Greenway, as his guests. After experiencing some supernatural haunts, it is Emily (Gale Sondergaard), the psychic maid, through a "ghost to ghost broadcast" séance, who reveals the truth of the earthbound spirits wanting help to prove their innocence.While Abbott and Costello obviously failed with their initial "split teaming" comedy of LITTLE GIANT (1946), THE TIME OF THEIR LIVES (title not to be confused with a James Cagney comedy, THE TIME OF YOUR LIFE, 1948) makes up for it for obvious reasons. Played straight throughout, THE TIME OF THEIR LIVES succeeds with its developed story, great use of special effects, spooky sequences, funny slapstick by Costello and witty dialog recited by Binnie Barnes. Both atmospheric and funny, the script even manages to throw in the traditional car chase commonly found in Abbott and Costello comedies, with the ghostly Costello driving the police, particularly the "slow burn" Lt. Mason (Donald MacBride), out of their minds. Other key elements include Costello tampering with modern appliances such as the telephone and radio, along with a dark and gloomy séance headed by Emily communicating with the dead, with some surprises thrown in.THE TIME OF THEIR LIVES further proves Abbott and Costello capable of working successfully either a team or as separate characters. Costello, remaining true to form with his bumbling character, has a new counterpart, wonderfully played by Marjorie Reynolds in one of the few times on screen where she's used to good advantage. Thanks to frequent television revivals over the past few decades, and availability on both VHS and DVD formats, THE TIME OF THEIR LIVES has earned the reputation it deserves as being one of finer comedies starring Abbott and Costello. No smart guy-dumb guy partnerships this time around. In fact, this even became the first A&C comedy presented on American Movie Classics (1990-91). In later years it was resurrected to a new generation of movie lovers on other cable channels, especially Turner Classic Movies (2004-05). For a spook-tacular time, be sure to see Abbott and Costello, mainly Costello, having the time of their lives. (***)

There are some genuinely amusing moments throughout THE TIME OF THEIR LIVES and the idea of setting an A&C comedy in the Restoration period is an unusual one, to put it mildly. But not all of it is as spontaneously funny as you might wish it to be, although fans of the duo will probably not complain.A decided asset is a good cast, including MARJORIE REYNOLDS as Lou's ghost-mate intent on finding a missing letter from George Washington that will prove that she and LOU COSTELLO are not traitors. That's the whole premise of the story in a nutshell--and the cast does what it can with the one-liners to keep things moving. BINNIE BARNES has some sharp lines that she delivers with style and GALE SONDERGAARD excels as a spooky housekeeper. JESS BARKER is wasted in a minor role and ANN GILLIS tends to overact as Lou's temperamental sweetheart but within the framework of an over-the-top comedy, it doesn't matter much.Fans of the team will enjoy the change of setting and there are enough sight gags based on Lou's invisibility gimmick that will keep his fans entertained. BUD ABBOT does some more serious emoting than usual and does surprisingly well without slapping Costello around, for a change.Summing up: An unusual A&C comedy that their fans should enjoy--including some surprisingly good special effects.