By the mid 40s Abbott and Costello were getting sick of one another so they decide to break up and try their luck separately – but still in the same movie. So they both appear here, but not as a team. This marked a bit of a low point in the careers of both men. It isn’t helped by having a lousy central idea: Costello tries to make it as a salesman in the big city. Whoopee. There’s also the fact Costello is always playing for sympathy – only 18 minutes in he asks his uncle for a job and his uncle says no, and Costello puts on this sad face… are we meant to feel sorry for him? They try a similar play for sympathy when Costello tries to sell a vacuum cleaner and gets knocked back – I mean, he’s a door to door salesman, why should we care? I think when Costello’s not being bullied by Abbott, he’s simply annoying. Abbott comes off better – he gets to play multiple roles, one in which he’s married (the villain).
Costello does an early routine with a motorist who abuses him, and while the man who plays the motorist is clearly a good actor doing his best, he’s not as good as Abbott – it’s hard to be a good straight man (the thing I most noticed was the voice: Abbott’s harsh raspy delivery). One scene the do dialogue over the phone – it’s like the were meant to do it in an office but the scene was rewritten so they didn’t have to act with one another. (The duo do perform one routine together – 13 x 7 = 28, the second time they’ve done this). There are some funny moments but it goes on and on, and Costello milks the sympathy far too much, and the last third (where Costello think’s he’s psychic then realises he isn’t) really drags.
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