Feudin' Fools

The writers obviously kept tabs on what Abbott and Costello were doing. So in response to A & C's COMIN ROUND THE MOUNTAIN, thus came FEUDIN FOOLS!! And its hilarious stuff, and in many ways quite clever, as Sach inherits a farm from his Southern uncle. Of course, as the writers would have it, there's a liberal dose of poetic license at work, but who's asking questions and taking notes! The story is a Smith versus the Jones (Sach Jones, that is!) hillbilly feud that has gone on for generations and the gang is caught up in the middle of it, replete with a broken down farm house. "It looks like a rest home for old vampires!" Slip exclaims. Good support from reliable heavy Lyle Talbot as a gangster who gets shot robbing a bank, only to take refuge with his gang at the Jones farm.

Bernard Gorcey (Leo's real dad) is a riot as Dr. Dumbrowski, who pretends to operate on Talbot in order to stall for more time and, hopefully, trick and capture the gangsters. Chock full of Leo Gorcey's malaprops and Huntz Hall is stuck on super kooky.

In one scene he opens a trap door and offers the bad guy to go first. "You go first!" he shouts.

"In that case, I'll see if there's a ladder!" he says matter-of-factly. To note are the cartoon characters of Leo Gorcey and Huntz Hall at the beginning of the film, which always made me wonder what a terrific cartoon series this would have been! A real treat from start to finish, and some good theme music. A comedy labor of love. Huntz Hall has a super closing line!