Violence/Gore: A man is electrocuted. A doctor is stabbed to death. Costello hangs his hat on a knife protruding from a dead man’s corpse. Costello nearly falls to his death. A man is knocked flat with a gun. Abbott and Costello take turns smacking a handcuffed police officer. Costello falls a lot. Abbott smacks Costello quite a bit. Costello believes himself shot and stabbed and a sufferer of halitosis.

Sex/Nudity: Costello courts an ugly woman. A young usher takes two girls to a radio show - what a player.

Best Line: Mary Wickes: “Aren’t you two soda jerks?” Bud: “Oh no. We just took this job yesterday.” Lou: “Yeah. We don’t even know what we put in your malted milk.”

Score:

Bud plays Chick Larkin and Lou plays Mervin Q. Milgrim, a couple of soda jerks with aspirations of becoming great radio actors/writers. In order to achieve this dream, Bud forces Lou to court an unappealing woman (the good-spirited Mary Wickes), who happens to be the secretary to the head of the radio networks. Meanwhile, the boys discover a murder has been committed inside a radio studio they’ve been loitering in front of, and in a moment of idiotic brilliance, Bud decides that if he and Lou can solve the crime, they’ll work a radio gimmick where they can sell their pitch as the only show with real detectives playing detectives. Naturally, the boys make a mess of things and break more than a few laws, but in the end they inadvertently solve the case, capture the villain, Lou falls in love with the unattractive woman, and Bud meanders out of the way so the portly Lou can get more screen time.

One of the better A&C vehicles, this ain’t Shakespeare, but it’s more than a pleasant time-killer. The radio setting allows for some intriguing if fairly incidental looks behind the scenes at what now is a dead art - the radio dramatic program.

HOUSE OF FRANKENSTEIN director Erle C. Kenton shoots some sections of the film with askew angles and mood lighting that creates a tense atmosphere, but in other segments shoots the material as flat as a generic ’50s sitcom. Then again, what’s the point of critiquing the style of the man who brought the world PETTICOAT POLITICS and LITTLE TOUGH GUYS IN SOCIETY?

Actually, Kenton does well with the boys, providing an interesting quasi-plot of a murder that acts as light dressing for a few choice skits. And there are a few humdingers this time, including Lou making a limburger sandwich, Lou dealing with a hostile operator while trying to call a radio station, and Lou’s attempt to get Bud to smack around a police officer he thinks is handcuffed, all while never allowing the Lou to over-mug. Bud, as usual, is brilliant - one of the best jerks in the history of B-picture comedies. Just watching him smack Lou delivers a thousand laughs.

As usual the supporting players are mostly fluff, but William Bendix of THE BABE RUTH STORY and THE LIFE OF RILEY has a bit part as a particularly dim cop, and Mary Wickes proves a good foil for the cherubic Lou.

DVD Extras: The film has been released on DVD as part of Universal’s excellent “The Best of Bud Abbott and Lou Costello.” The set consists of eight films spread out over two double-sided discs. This film’s extras include subtitles in English, French and Spanish, production notes, and a trailer from a later re-release.

AH