classicsoncall When I plug this film into my list of Abbott and Costello films I've reviewed, it comes out Number #1 using IMDb's ranking system. That surprised me a bit because it beat out a couple of my favorites, "A&C Meet Frankenstein" and "Hold That Ghost". I enjoyed the movie but I didn't think it would have been that popular.Anyway, this was Abbott and Costello's ninth film and the first with no musical numbers. They portray a pair of soda jerks, operative word being jerks in Lou's case but I mean that in a good way. Aspiring to be mystery writers for a radio station, the boys quickly switch gears when an actual murder is committed during a live broadcast, and decide to play detective to investigate the crime before the homicide squad shows up. It turns out that the murder of Colonel J.R. Andrews (Thomas Gomez) resembles the plot of the radio's 'Steel Chair Murder Case' in which the victim was electrocuted when a switch was thrown on cue.You can tell Lou is having some genuine fun here, hamming it up with fellow players Patric Knowles, Mary Wickes, and especially Walter Tetley, the elevator boy who constantly outfoxes Lou's character Mervin Milgrim. William Bendix manages to fall victim to Lou's handcuff gag, possibly the only police detective in cinema history more clueless than Costello. Throughout, Bud and Lou offer up some of their zaniest routines, with a couple references to their famous 'Who's on First' bit, but with a twist so they didn't actually have to do it.Coming out prior to the Second World War, "Who Done It?' cemented Abbott and Costello's reputation as the most popular entertainers of the era. They were always favorites of mine growing up as a kid in the Fifties, the kind of comedians whose routines have a way of staying with you through the decades. There just weren't that many 'who done it' the way these guys did.

Jay Raskin There are some slow spots here and there in this film, but for the most part it is racing through comic bits and lines at a terrific pace. It is one of half a dozen cinematic masterpieces from Abbott and Costello.The material here is almost always good and sometimes it is great. This is blasphemy, but I would rate their "Alexander 2222" routine in this movie as their best ever, even above "Who's on First?" Besides the excellent writing, there is also some excellent cinematography and the sets are first rate.My only fault with the movie is that they did not utilize William Bendix and Mary Wickes as much as they should have. Both of them were on screen for less than ten minutes, but were terrific. They both should have had two or three more scenes. Lou Costello's performance here is frenetic and surreal. He is at his comic best here. I would say that he deserved an Academy Award or at least a nomination for his performance in this movie.

dougdoepke Frenetic A&C, where the gags fly faster than speeding bullets, some of which hit their mark. The boys impersonate detectives so they can investigate murder in a radio studio. For me, that's the best part, seeing an old studio in operation. The action itself seldom leaves the indoors, making this an easier production for Universal to mount.Maybe the money they saved on sets went into a better than usual supporting cast, including the lovely Allbritton and the delicious Mary Wickes. Also, catch the Costello-like Bill Bendix as a cop who may even be dumber than Mervin (Costello). I wish he and Mervin had more scenes together—that would be a real departure for Costello's usual brand of humor. However, that might also look like a dumb-guy rivalry—never a worry with straight man Abbott.Then too, catch the great noirish lighting used to heighten the mystery aspects that slip in now and again. However, the comedy uses more throw-away gags than extended routines, except for the patented A&C play on double meanings. Here, the play is on "watt" which Mervin insists means "what" leading to the usual humorous confusion. And what about that dizzying city lights finale. It's almost nightmarish and very well done by the special effects departmentAnyway, to me, the results are not top-notch A&C since too many gags are not that funny. Still, the boys are energetic, the supporting cast excellent, and the pacing never dull. And, oh yes, there're still a number of laughs along the way.

Bill Slocum There are better films featuring Bud Abbott and Lou Costello, but "Who Done It" is as good a way as any to discover why the comedy pair was one of the 1940s' most consistent box office draws. It's a marvelously elongated piece of slapstick comedy that showcases Bud and Lou in peak form.Chick (Bud) and Mervin (Lou) are soda jerks at the Radio Center Drug Store, located in the same building where GBS broadcasts radio shows across the country. The pair want to write a mystery, so when the network director is mysteriously murdered on the air, they jump at the chance to solve the case and prove their smarts. Needless to say, this impromptu sleuthing annoys the real police, and Chick and Mervin are soon on the run.Just about a year into their 16-year run, "Who Done It" finds Abbott and Costello bursting with energy, utilizing the confines of a radio station as background for their trademark pratfalls and patter. Even when the dialogue is less than stellar, it works at sustaining the energy and proving there was nothing too illogical for Abbott and Costello."Why wasn't this murder reported yesterday," Mervin demands as he shows up seconds after the murder, playing a cop.Because it didn't happen yet, is the answer."Why wait until the last minute...You're going to get the electric chair, and two years besides!"Before you can register enough to groan about that one, Chick is educating Mervin on watts and volts. "What's volts?" "Exactly, watts are volts." "That's what I'm trying to find out...Next thing you'll tell me watts is on second!"Then you get one of the best bits Abbott and Costello ever did on film, the Alexander 2222 routine, where Mervin tries to call the radio station from a drug store across the street and can't get through, even as a bevy of bizarre characters step into the same phone booth to call places like Nome, Alaska and Moscow. "Long distance, get me Brazil. Hello, Brazil. Is this Joe? Hi Joe! How's the coffee business?" There's lots of great silliness here, my favorite being when Lou for no reason bursts into opera.As theowinthrop notes in his review, this is an interesting Abbott & Costello film for its focus on radio, which broke them as a national phenomenon and where they continued to work throughout their film career. There's a nice bit where Chick and Mervin, behind the counter of their drug store, act out their radio script with ice-cream scoopers ("'The Midget Gets The Chair,' or 'Small Fry'") and clever use of the tools of radio, like recordings that are activated at the wrong moment, and a prop door Mervin mistakes for the real thing. Walk through one door, and you are in a dark office where a murderer lurks, walk through another and you are in the middle of an acrobatic act.Why is there an acrobatic act being performed at a radio station? Why are Chick and Mervin entrusted with the one piece of evidence by someone who knows they aren't cops? How does Mervin manage to climb up the side of a building after taking a flagpole in the crotch? Watching an Abbott and Costello movie, you have to ignore stuff like that.But what you get in "Who Done It" is worth the sacrifice. You get a first-rate supporting cast including the memorable Mary Wilkes, Patric Knowles from "The Adventures of Robin Hood," Edmund MacDonald from "Flying Tigers," and most effectively, William Bendix as a dopey detective who actually manages to get himself tricked by Lou. There's also a great finale on the roof of a building that combines laughs and suspense as effectively as anything in the more-heralded "Meets Frankenstein."Later on, the films got weaker as Lou pushed Bud to the side and showcased himself more as cuddly man-child. But here the pair was still hungry for laughs and experienced enough to understand what worked. They gave the public what they wanted with "Who Done It," and its a tribute to their lasting genius such a light endeavor still holds up today.