Product Details

• Actors: Bud Abbott, Lou Costello, Dick Powell, Claire Dodd, Patty Andrews
• Directors: Arthur Lubin
• Writers: Arthur T. Horman, John Grant
• Producers: Alex Gottlieb
• Format: Black & White, Closed-captioned, HiFi Sound, NTSC
• Language: English
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: Universal Studios
• VHS Release Date: March 1, 1992
• Run Time: 86 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 630214227X
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #17,983 in Video (See Bestsellers in Video)

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  #18 in	Video > Classics > Classic Comedies > Slapstick
  #31 in	Video > Classics > Kids & Family - Classics - > Abbott & Costello

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com
After the huge success of Buck Privates (cleverly referenced in a spoofing credits sequence), Abbott and Costello traded army green for navy blue to play landlocked gobs sent to sea after six years in the service. The actual story belongs to Dick Powell, who plays a radio crooner who has ditched fame and fawning fans for the sailor's life, while an ambitious female reporter (Claire Dodd) shadows the singer and stows aboard his battleship to expose his secret. Meanwhile Bud Abbott continues to con the ever-gullible Lou Costello, and Costello woos Patty from the Andrews Sisters. Director Arthur Lubin overcomes bargain-basement production values (rear projection footage, toy boat special effects) with the snappy repartee and energetic by-play of his stars. Skit highlights include a typically crooked Bud Abbott shell game, a hysterical series of spit-gags (in which the boys keep cracking up on camera), Costello's mathematical proof that 7 times 13 equals 28, and the climactic toy boat fantasy of naval maneuvers gone mad, courtesy of Captain Costello. The Andrews Sisters sing four songs (including "Gimme Some Skin"), Dick Powell sings two, and the Condos brothers perform a delightful dance specialty act. The boys would once again overcome Lubin's lackluster direction in their next release, Hold That Ghost, which was actually shot before this film. --Sean Axmaker

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars ONE OF THE TEAMS BEST, August 10, 2005

By	BILLY ANTIMISIARIS "abbcos" (Karpathos, Greece) - See all my reviews

Russ Raymond (Dick Powell) is a hearthrob singer frustrated with his life in the spot light. To obtain a life of normalcy, he disappears and joins the Navy under his real name of Tommy Halstead. Dorothy Roberts (Claire Dodd) is a newspaper reporter trying to boost her career by finding the missing Russ Raymond. While in the Navy, Tommy becomes friends with Smokey Adams and Pomeroy Watson (Abbott & Costello). Smokey and Pomeroy help Tommy keep his hidden identity, while Pomeroy follows his infatuation with Patty Andrews (herself) of the Andrews Sisters. But because Smokey makes Pomeroy lie about himself in the letters, and when Patty comes to the Navy base, she's furious at Pomeroy. When Pomeroy, Smokey, Tommy, and the Andrews Sisters set sail for Hawaii, Pomeroy discovers there's a tomato (Dorothy) in the potato locker, and she's been snapping shots of Tommy the whole trip.

Whether Pomeroy's proving that 7 x 13 = 28 - three different ways, having Smokey help him play ship captain for Patty, or falling out of his hammock, this an Abbott and Costello classic.

ROUTINES & HILARIOUS MOMENTS

Lemon Bit
Money Counting Bit
Sons of Neptune
Hull of a ship
7 x 13 = 28
Lou drilling sailors in boat.

Trivia: When the picture was sent to the U.S. Navy for approval, the Navy refused to have its name associated with it because of the sequence at the end when Costello takes over a ship and does some decidedly un-military manoeuvers with it. The producers came up with the idea of having Costello accidentally taking a sleeping potion and dreaming the entire sequence. When this scene was shot and edited in, the Navy lent its backing to the picture.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent!!!, September 14, 2001

A Kid's Review

This is an excellent film, definetly one of Abbott and Costello's best, especially if you like the andrews sisters.
A well worth buy.

6 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars BUD AND LOU MAKE YOU SEASICK WITH LAUGHTER, September 1, 1999

By A Customer

The boys are sailors in the US Navy. Dick Powell plays a popular singing sensation who, in order to escape his fans, enlists in the Navy under his real name. A & C have many HILARIOUS highlights one which shows Lou proving to Bud that 7 x 13=28. And one which shows Lou having a nightmare (after having accindentaly taking a sleeping potion) in which he is the ship's captain and NEARLY DESTROYS it in a series of HILARIOUS manouers. The film also teams the boys with SHEMP HOWARD (of THE THREE STOOGES) who upstages them in every scene. Howard also appeared with the team in "BUCK PRIVATES" and "IT AIN'T HAY" with the same results.