Customer Reviews

Abbott & Costello: Comin Round the Mountain [VHS]

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

As with most A&C films, this one included humor which can only be found in their movies. Being one of my favorites, "Comin' Round the Mountain" will have you laughing until your side hurts. It has a good story as well, laced, however, with many DUMB songs. I suppose having five or six singing pieces in a comedy was supposed to be popular back then, but it starts to get on your nerves after a while. I guess that's what they made the fast forward button for.

It's a very good one, however, and remains my favorite to this day. The funniest part would have to be the Voodoo gag in which the dialogue is as follows:

Costello: "What's she doing?"

AbbotT: "She's making Voodoo"

Costello: "I do?"

Abbott: "Voodoo!"

Costello: "I do what?"

It's full of laughs!

This could've and should've been one of A&C's funnier movies but whenever things get moving Dorothy Shay starts singing and the movie grinds to a halt. At least Costello mugs his way through most of the songs. The voodoo doll scene is by far the funniest and the scene where the hillbillies crawl into bed with Lou is a hit. Definitely worth a look for fans, but the songs are hard to endure.

I agree that this film has some fine gags in it, but it moves with the pace of a vaudville show. Bud and Lou will have a scene, then Dorothy Shay will sing a song, the Bud and Lou, the Dorothy........and so on and so on of about 75 minutes. It isn't an awful film, it just doesn't live up to the standards the boys set for themselves. For the most part they had grown out of this sort of pacing by around 1946, and this film seems to set them back quite a few steps. It took a few films before they'd find their stride again.

Forget "Who's on First". Do you want to REALLY laugh? Fast forward to the scene of Costello and country witch Margaret Hamilton (a real departure from her previous role in Wizard of Oz). They have a hilarious battle of Dueling Voodoo Dolls, with Abbott just scratching his head in bewilderment. Simply the Best!!!

I wish I could have been on the set when Costello and the mountain witch (Margaret Hamilton from The Wizard of Oz) face off and repeatedly jab pins into each other's voodoo doll. This is a rather weak film, but it's livelier than some A & C outings and the ending gag involving gold is a delight. You might say that "Park Avenue Hillbilly" Dorothy Shay sings too often, but the songs are amusing, and you will hear Abbott try to convince Costello that he and a 10-year-old girl will eventually be the same age.

The film begins with a comic song for cafe, society. The Great Wilbert pops up on stage. He is a magician who escapes from his chains. Wilbert may be the heir to a buried treasure back in Kentucky. So they return to the land of the Winfields and the McCoys. [Was this the inspiration for 'The Beverly Hillbillies'?] Dorothy sings another comic song. There is a funny skit about target shooting. Conflict over the results restart a feud. [This tells about popular culture of that time.] How many can share one bed? Wilbert learns about their marriage customs. Can love be created by a potion? "Voodoo." "Who do?" There is a joke about drinking that potion. Can a marriage end a feud between families?

The staged conflict goes on and leads to comedy at the old mine shaft. There is a quick and forced end to this drama. Did a need for money force Abbott and Costello into overexposure by too many films? [This is one film that seems less funny than when I first saw it.]

COMIN' ROUND THE MOUNTAIN (1951)
Universal-International Pictures
Release Date: July 26, 1951
Runtime: 77 minutes

Director:
Charles Lamont

Producer:
Howard Christie

Writing Credits:
John Grant
Robert Lees
Frederic I. Rinaldo

Cast:

Bud Abbott....Al Stewart
Lou Costello....Wilbert
Dorothy Shay....Dorothy McCoy
Kirby Grant....Clark Winfield
Joe Sawyer....Kalen McCoy
Glenn Strange....Devil Dan Winfield
Ida Moore....Granny McCoy
Shaye Cogan....Clora McCoy
Margaret Hamilton....Aunt Huddy
Guy Wilkerson....Uncle Sam McCoy
Bob Easton....Luke McCoy
Virgil S. Taylor....Jasper Winfield
Russell Simpson....Judge
Jack Kruschen....Gangster in Niteclub
O.Z. Whitehead....Zeke
Norman Leavitt....Zeb
Peter Mamakos.....Gangster in Niteclub
William Fawcett....Old Mountain Man
Harold Goodwin....Mountain Man
Barry Brooks....Gangster in Niteclub

Music by:
Milton Rosen
Paul Sawtell
Walter Scharf
Walter Schumann
Frank Skinner

Cinematography by:
George Robinson

Film Editing by:
Edward Curtiss

Art Direction:
McClure Capps

Set Decoration:
Fred Mclean

Costume Design by:
Lloyd Lambert
Jack Mosser

Assistant Director:
Al Westen

Sound Department:
Joel Moss
William Randall

Other Crew:
Joseph Gershenson....musical director

Plot Summary:

Al Stewart and Wilbert are magicians doing a stage act when they run into Wilbert's cousin Dorothy McCoy. Wilbert is the grandson of Squeez-box McCoy. They go back to the hills of Kentucky to and find that Squeeze-box had a hidden treasure. The boys find themselves in the middle of a family fued.

ROUTINES & HILARIOUS MOMENTS:
Lou tries to escape chains
Forefathers bit
You're 40 She's 10
Witch with the voodoo doll
Love potion

Bud and Lou play nightclub performers who get involved in a hillbilly feud. One of the film's BEST and FUNNIEST highlights features a cameo from Margaret Hamliton as mountain which. She and Lou get into a HILARIOUS duel of voodoo dolls with Bud scratching his head in bewilderment.