Box office receipts for Little Giant and The Time of their Lives were in decline so Abbott and Costello decided to reunite as a team, and produced this sequel to their first box office sensation. It opens with flash backs to that earlier film – Abbott and Costello accidentally joining the army, the duo going through hapless paces in a drill – before starting with some soldiers singing about returning home (there’s only one song, but it’d been a while since there was singing in an Abbott and Costello film). The majority of the story concerns Costello trying to smuggle a war orphan into the country, which results in them getting involved with a midget car designer. This character is the male juvenile; he sort of just pops up (the boyfriend of a female army officer) – it would have been better had he been an army pal of the lead duo.
There is surprisingly an aura of sadness about this movie – unlike the first one which was all about going off to a big adventure, this is about figuring out what to do with your life after the army and all the limitations and compromises that come with civilian life. It’s kind of sad that Abbott and Costello go straight back to doing the same job they did before the war; also poor old Nat Pendleton as their sergeant finds his career repeatedly damaged by the two. NB Don Porter has a small role as an officer – he looks like Lee Bowman, the romantic lead from the first film.
No comments:
Post a Comment