weezeralfalfa About half the action in this musical comedy supposedly takes place at the Sun Valley ski resort in Idaho. However, all of the action actually takes place in various California locations. Two years earlier, Fox had released the very popular musical comedy "Sun Valley Serenade", much of which was filmed at Sun Valley. The theme song was "It Happened in Sun Valley", which I chose as my review title.As in nearly all of the early Abbott and Costello(A&C) films(excepting "Who Done It) there are a number of songs, probably too many, all concentrated in the latter half, supposedly in Sun Valley. Willowy, and beautifully elegant, Ginny Simms is the primary soloist, often abetted by The Four Teens(who looked to be older than teens) and/or a larger chorus, and with Johnny Long's Orchestra supplying the melody. All the songs are well suited to Ginny's style, and all were composed by the team of Harry Revel and Paul Francis Webster. This duo also composed the songs for the previous A&C film "It Ain't Hay". If you would like to see and hear Ginny in Technicolor, I can recommend "Night and Day" or "Broadway Rhythm". For Ginny's character, 'It happened in Sun Valley', as she became engaged to orchestra leader Johnny Long by film's end, disappointing Costello who thought he was going to be the groom. I thought the verbal comedy was especially strong here. I take notes for my reviews, and my notes for this film were especially copious, which usually means I found it interesting.The screen play begins with gangster Silky Fellowsly in the hospital, with his only apparent symptom a vacillating fever(induced by a pill he takes). He's hoping to slip out of the hospital unnoticed, rob a nearby bank, and slip back into his bed without anyone noticing(quite an achievement!) That way, he has an apparent alibi for not being at the scene of the robbery. Unfortunately for him, his nurse noticed his absence, but by the time she got the doctor to confirm it, Silky was back in his bed, so the doctor didn't believe he disappeared. Before the robbery, A&C entered his room(why?)with their cameras. They talk about shooting(photographing) people, so Silky assumes that they are the 2 hit men from Detroit that are supposed to show up for the robbery(Apparently, the real hit men never showed up). The miscommunication between Silky and the boys is hilarious. Examples: Silky:" What do you do for a living?" Lou: "We shoot people". Silky: How do you shoot them?" Lou: "We stand them up against a wall". Lou: "That gives me time to shoot a couple other people first". A&C still think their role in the robbery is to take pictures of the gangsters when they emerge from the bank, which they do. However, A&C become the prime suspects, as they enter the bank(why?) and find everyone gaged and tied up in the vault. "They're all tied up in the back" explains Abbott to the policeman when he inquires where everyone is. Accidentally, Costello hits the burglar alarm button, and police swarm. But, both the robbers and A&C manage to get on the train for Sun Valley. The boys don't even attempt to disguise themselves, despite good drawings of them having appeared in the paper! Silky's doctor and nurse also get on the train, as do Ginny and Johnny Long's band. The nurse tries to make a play for the doctor, but he doesn't respond, so she is mad. A&C are hired as waiters and Costello has quite a time trying to deliver orders on skates. He 'hits the ice' many times. Abbott does much better. Meanwhile, they attempt to recover at least some of the stolen money by blackmailing the gangsters with said photos of them exiting from the bank. They refuse to show the photo, but the gangsters reluctantly take their word for it, until Lou is knocked out and they find the worthless photo on his body. A&C find the satchel with the money in it in a ski cabin. They try to make a getaway on their dog sled, but only Ginny gets away(At the cabin, she seemingly changed from being the gangsters' moll into aiding A&C). The boys then don skis they find in a shed and get a head start on the gangsters, who are not far behind them on skis. Of course, Costello, especially, has a perilous journey on his skis. At one point, he lands on top of Abbott. Then, a bear is on the back of his skis for a while. He ends up inside a giant snowball, with Silky, the other 2 gangsters having been knocked out by hitting a tree. Yes, it's all silliness, often disjointed, and unbelievable, but that's what A&C films are all about. If you can't accept that, better not watch them. For that reason, they are best suited for kids.

lugonian HIT THE ICE (Universal, 1943), directed by Charles Lamont, certainly has the distinction of being another one of many ice skating musicals starring Olympic skating champion, Sonja Henie. Though Henie doesn't appear, much of the icing goes to Universal's top comedy team of Bud Abbott and Lou Costello. While there are good songs and some ice skating involved, HIT THE ICE also has the distinction of other fine things presented that truly indicate why Abbott and Costello movies were so successful during the World War II years. Though they don't really hit the ice, they surely were hitting their stride.The story opens at Fulton Hospital where Harry "Silky" Fellowsby (Sheldon Leonard) occupies a room feigning feverish illness in order to establish an alibi as he and his fellow mobster pals, Phil (Marc Lawrence) and Buster (Joseph Sawyer) sneak out of the hospital to rob the bank across the street. While Bill Burns (Patric Knowles) is doctor in the case, his nurse, Peggy Osborne (Elyse Knox) suspects foul play. As the gangsters await for the arrival of a couple of gunmen from Detroit, Doctor Burns meets up with a couple of friends from his childhood days, Flash Fulton (Bud Abbott) and Tubby McCoy (Lou Costello), now photographers hoping to get some pictures for the newspaper where they hope to obtain employment. Inviting the boys to come along on an emergency call via ambulance, naturally when Flash and Tubby unintentionally encounter Silky and his gang at the hospital, they are mistaken for the boys from Detroit. Unwittingly assisting the gangsters in the bank robbery, it's Flash and Tubby who are accused with their photo sketches placed on the newspaper's front page. As the dual attempt to prove their innocence and return the bank money by following the gangsters via train to Sun Valley, Silky and his gang keep watch on Flash and Tubby believing they hold actual photos of them at the robbery. In the meantime, as Silky hides the loot in his mountain cabin, Burns, now a resident physician at Sun Valley accompanied by his ever suspicious nurse, Flash and Tubby, working as waiters, soon meet up with another friend from their boyhood days, orchestra leader Johnny Long (Johnny Long), whose vocalist, Marcia Manning (Ginny Simms), might have some connection with Silky and his gang. Then the fun really begins.Aside from great comedy routines in the true Abbott and Costello fashion, including some clever verbal exchanges (one resembling their classic "baseball" routine), pack and unpack, Costello's "all right" piano playing to a recording (a scene usually edited from broadcast TV channels to allot for extended commercial breaks, and a routine later recreated in an episode to their 1950s TV series, "The Abbott and Costello Show"), and the handkerchief and punch-me gag, there's the usual time-out song interludes to showcase some musical talent, in this case, the vocalization of the gorgeous Ginny Simms. Songs scored by Harry Revel and Paul Francis Webster include: "I'm Like a Fish Out of Water" (no connection to the same title tune from the 1937 Warner Brothers musical, "Hollywood Hotel"); "I Like to Set You to Music" (sung by Ginny Simms, The Four Teens, and Johnny Long); "Slap Happy Polka" (sung by Simms and skaters) and "Happiness Bound" (sung by band members). Of the four tunes, "Slap Happy Polka" and "Happiness Bound" are at its listening best, with the Polka number staged in hilarious fashion as Costello gets himself entangled in an ice skating ensemble, to hilarious results. If that's not hilarious enough, be sure not to miss Abbott and Costello's climatic chase coming down the mountain on skis.With frequent broadcast television revivals, especially on New York City's WPIX Channel 11 Abbott and Costello Sunday morning movies(1971-1990), and prior to that on WNBC, Channel 4's late show through much of the late sixties, HIT THE ICE, which was then one of the most widely known among Abbott and Costello film titles, has become sadly overlooked through the passage of time, which is a shame because it's still 84 minutes of old-style non-stop fun.Formerly available on video cassette around the 1990s, HIT THE ICE can still be seen in its full glory on DVD, along with other Abbott and Costello titles on the same disc as IN SOCIETY (1944) and THE NAUGHTY NINETIES (1945). Take note that while Costello is called "Tubby" throughout the story, he's listed in the closing cast credits under the name of "Weejie." Now that's really hitting the ice. (***)

MartinHafer This is an odd formula for an Abbott and Costello film. Instead of their usual locale, they find themselves going to the ski resort at Sun Valley to track some bank robbers, as the police think Bud and Lou did it. And, once they arrive at the resort, the viewers are treated to lots of song and dance numbers performed by Ginny Simms. The overall effect is a lot like taking a Sonja Henie film and shoving Abbott and Costello and some gangsters into it--a rather surreal experience to say the least! Like almost all of the teams prior films (aside from WHO DONE IT!), the film follows a typical formula. In addition to Bud and Lou's antics, there is a couple on hand for support (Patric Knowles is back from a previous outing with the boys and Elyse Knox is there a 'the blonde'--something found in all their previous films) and there are too many irrelevant song and dance numbers. People looking for pure Abbott and Costello without all the other rigmarole should either see their later films (which, fortunately lacked this) or WHO DONE IT!.Unfortunately, because this is set at a snow resort and apparently Bud and Lou apparently knew nothing about skiing or skating (either that or the studio was afraid they'd get hurt), the scenes of them doing these sports seem rather forced. When Lou is skating, it's pretty obviously not him and they tended to use lots of distance shots (the stuntman was actually too fat--and obviously not him). He did actually take a few good, hard falls up close but most of the work was clearly the stuntman. For the skiing scenes, they used a few stuntman shots but a lot of it was done with rear-projection--a common but incredibly unrealistic method of the day. This is a problem, as the film has less laughs and makes up for it by using more stunts--so this is obviously not one of their better films. It is still very watchable but certainly among their lesser efforts of the day.

jimtinder In this film, the boys are photographers who are mistaken for hired killers by bank robbers. A&C provide some funny moments, including the "All right" piano bit and the "Pack, Unpack" routine.Despite giving their best efforts, this film ranks as their weakest starring vehicle among their films from 1941 to 1943. There are two main reasons: first, the story and situations are contrived to the point of annoyance; the plotline relies on people constantly bumping into old friends. In the film, A&C meet up with Patrick Knowles whom they haven't seen in years, then they bump into old friend Johnny Long; Ginny Simms conveniently knows gangster Sheldon Leonard...and so on. Second, the musical numbers are back. One would think that Universal learned their lesson with the success of "Who Done It?" by having no numbers, but they are here, and there are plenty of them. Ginny Simms is a lovely lady with a great voice, but the movie boggs down by the sheer number of songs. (It doesn't help that she's no actress.)The supporting cast is fine, and A&C truly give the material their best. But it's not enough to save the film, considering the contrived situations and musical numbers. 4 out of 10.