Lost in Alaska

Bud and Lou were beginning to show their age when making "Lost in Alaska." The slapstick performed by Lou tends to look laboured and at a time when he shouldn't have taxed his heart.

"Universal-International" certainly won't going to spend much money on the budget and it clearly shows! Bud and Lou had long ceased being a box office success and their former glory only shows itself sporadically in this comedy.

The scene where the boys try to cheer up the gold prospector is quite amusing but other highlights are scarce.

Abbott and Costello play two volunteer firemen who save the life of suicidal prospector Nugget Joe (Tom Ewell), only to find themselves accused of his murder. Joe heads back to Alaska for his girlfriend and the boys tag along. They soon find everybody wants Nugget Joe dead and they have to keep him alive so they can prove their innocence. Tom Ewell is great as Nugget Joe. His constant suicide attempts are the funniest bits in the movie. This is a rare case of a supporting actor outshining Bud and Lou. Bruce Cabot plays the villain. Mitzi Green is a forgettable leading lady. Most of the funny stuff is early in the movie. Once they get to Alaska, it's not as good.

I saw that one reviewer felt like the studio and Abbott and Costello just didn't care when they made this film and I am inclined to agree. The problem is that the film was painfully unfunny--and had one of the limpest endings I've ever seen. Maybe I was expecting too much, but a comedy should make you laugh and be entertaining.

In the only funny moments in the film, Bud and Lou rescue a man who is bent on killing himself (Tom Ewell). It seems that his lady love has rejected him and so he has no reason to live. In addition, when Bud and Lou take this guy back to Alaska, everyone seems to be trying to kill their new friend to get his gold. This humor was pretty dark and I liked it, but it really didn't go far enough and probably wouldn't appeal to most people. Sadly, however, this is about as funny as it got. Once the plot was established, too much time was spent running about an obvious fake set in obviously fake snow doing things that, frankly, make no sense and weren't funny. Fake looking crabs, a guy in a polar bear suit and the like made this a film where it was obvious that no one particularly cared if any of this mess makes sense. To make things worse, the ending is just horrible--unfunny, illogical and unsatisfying.

While this is not the worst Abbott and Costello film, it is close. You can do better.

There is a lot to like in "Lost in Alaska". Bud Abbott and Lou Costello are both in fine form. Their supporting cast is also very good. The movie has very little, if any, downtime. The are quite a few laughs and a ton of goodwill in "Lost in Alaska". Honorable mention: the song "A Hot Time in the Igloo Tonight".

The creative juices at Universal were grinding to a halt when Abbott and Costello made Lost In Alaska. The film is obviously taken from the classic Road To Utopia that Bing and Bob did at Paramount a few years back.

The Dottie Lamour role in this film went to Mitzi Green, but the boys aren't fighting over here. She's the squeeze of Tom Ewell a poor sad sack sourdough who wants to kill himself because she gave him in the air. Bud and Lou begin the film as volunteer firemen in San Francisco who save Ewell from drowning himself though Costello nearly goes down in the effort. Then they accompany Ewell to Alaska to maybe get a share of his gold if they can straighten his love life out.

Ewell's a popular guy in Skagway, everyone wants to see him dead because of his strike. Keeping him alive is a full time job for Bud and Lou.

The best routine in the film is Bud putting one over on Lou when they agree to take one hour shifts keeping tabs on Ewell. Bud sleeps for an hour then Lou wakes him, but Bud just puts the clock ahead an hour and then wakes Lou after about a few seconds. Poor Costello can't figure out why he's so drowsy. I wish the rest of the film were as good.

Universal no longer was being kept alive by Abbott&Costello, their box office was assured by a crop of new leading men like Rock Hudson, Tony Curtis, and Jeff Chandler. The quality of their films declined in the Fifties and Lost In Alaska is an example of same.