Abbott and Costello in an adaptation of a Damon Runyon story and the film makes a fair stab at Runyon atmosphere: there’s song and dance routines involving roller skating waitresses and tap dancing black deliverymen, the cops are Irish, gangsters are colourful and horses ready to win the big race; it feels like an ensemble piece with the action centering around a wacky street family; one gangster even refers to himself as “a Damon Runyon character”.The plot concerns a twelve year old who drives a horse and buggy around New York; she’s got a sick father and a horse and she keeps singing songs about it. Her horse dies so Costello kidnaps one to make up for it – only the horse is “Tea Biscuit” the most famous in the country. Cecil Kellaway plays the father in an oirish style and Eugene Pallette is funny as an efficiency expert who keeps running into Costello and being tormented by him.
There’s a spectacular music number, ‘Contagious Rhythm’ and there is a ten minute-long chase/race sequence on horseback. The male romantic lead is a good looking guy but not much of an actor; he has a really boring plot about having to put on a show. Actually “plot” is putting it a bit strong: it’s an excuse for a bunch of musical numbers at the end, which feel tacked on. It’s appropriate, in a way, for a film that feels inconsistent and choppy.
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