Abbott and Costello made most of their films for Universal but MGM asked them over for three during their first heyday. Their MGM movies have a little more gloss but are basically similar to their Universal movies. This has the duo wind up on a ranch in Texas, at which point you might think “didn’t they do the cowboy thing in Ride 'Em Cowboy… but actually apart from a song involving singing cowboys this is more a spy spoof, with the ranch being the base for some Nazi fifth columnists. To kill time before we find that out, Abbott and Costello are unconvincingly appointed house detectives by Kathryn Grayson, and they try to ensure Grayson winds up with John Carrol and not a femme fetale. It’s not a very strong story – actually, it’s really weak - but it serves to keep them busy in between routines and songs.
The boys are full of enthusiasm in this one, and I really liked the setting of the ranch, which is a resort with plenty of singing, floor shows and what-not. It’s fun that Abbott sends Costello to seduce the femme fetale, and it was also a good twist that the femme fetale is actually a secret agent, with Barry Nelson’s secret agent turning out to be a bit of a whimp (he winds up dead). Grayson is sweet but doesn’t have that much to do apart from be jealous and sing – the femme fetale character is far more interesting and Carrol would probably be better of with her. This is one of the more violent Abbott and Costello’s – people wind up dead, Costello knocks out a henchman deliberately, Costello even arranges for the baddies to be blown up at the end.
John Carrol plays the romantic lead, a Latin crooner. You know, just thinking about it MGM seemed to have a large number of positive Latino male characters over the years (often played by Fernando Lamas, Ricardo Montalban) – yes, they often played a stereotype but it was a positive stereotype. Tom Conway offers some icy villainy.
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