In Society

After previously reviewing Laurel & Hardy crashing High Society in From Soup to Nuts and Another Fine Mess, we're now seeing Bud Abbott & Lou Costello In Society. They're plumbers called to fix a sink leak in a mansion. With Abbott ordering Costello around, there's no way that will go well! Despite that, they accidentally get invited to a society party along with their cab driver friend Elsie (Marion Hutton, Betty's sister). Also coming, a loan shark (Thomas Gomez) and his chauffeur (Murray Leonard) are following along to steal a valuable painting. I'll stop there and just say some of the scenes are uneven due to obvious rear projection footage involving some chase scenes and at least one song-among many being performed usually by Marion-sung by Kirby Grant is one too many. Still, there's still some infectious fun especially when the "Bagel Street" routine is being performed. Some of the players above had or will team with Bud & Lou in other films which would also include Anne Gillis playing a rival for Grant here. Also, a couple of players associated with Laurel & Hardy also appear here-Dorothy Granger and Charlie Hall, though I admit I didn't recognize the latter anywhere in the picture. In summary, In Society is still worth a look for any A & C fan. With that, my next review will be Laurel & Hardy's Swiss Miss.

Made towards the end of their first contracted stint with Universal Studios, "In Society" is possibly the last eminently watchable Abbott and Costello feature until they initiated their horror spoofs with "Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein", the picture which has probably survived the sands of time better than any of their others. In "In Society", the emphasis is very much on the physical and visual side of the pair's vaudevillian humour and there is little in the way of the verbal routines or snappy one-liners which are dotted around many of their other movies. But the visual set-pieces are performed with a great vivacity and enthusiasm for which Costello's apprenticeship as a stuntman in some pictures of the late twenties had prepared him well, and it is refreshing to find an unexpected but heart-warming tribute to W.C. Fields, including shots taken directly from the master's 1941 "Never Give a Sucker an Even Break".

"In Society" has a promising set-up - Abbott and Costello as bumbling plumbers who get invited by mistake to a high-society weekend party and try to act as if they belong there - but the film doesn't exploit this premise for all it's worth. At its best, the film approaches the surreal craziness of the Marx Brothers movies (the flooded room, the Susquehannah Hat Company sketch, etc.). But there are too many songs, 4 to be specific in a 70-minute movie (though at least one of them, "No bout adout it", has likably crazy lyrics - "I sove you lo much, I mean I love you so much"), the back projection during the big chase scenes couldn't be more obvious, and Abbott's character is thoroughly obnoxious. (**)

IN SOCIETY (1944)*** One of Abbott and Costello's finest and funniest comedies with the boys as bumbling plumbers hobnobbing with the hoi palloi with some amusing moments in one of the first snob/slob comedies. Best bit: "Bagel Street" bit with poor Lou being abused while trying to run an errand for a friend.

While I can't say this movie was on a par with "Hold That Ghost" or "Time of Their Lives", it was still funny and entertaining. Bud and Lou play Eddie and Albert, two plumbers who are hired to fix the sink at a wealthy estate during a costume party, (where Arthur Treacher plays the butler) and are driven there by cab driver Elsie Hemmerdingle (Marion Hutton), whom Albert's been dating. She, however, soon loses her heart to Peter Evans (Kirby Grant), who mistakes her for one of the elites, thinking her uniform is a costume. Meanwhile, Albert makes a shambles out of the bathroom, as Murphy's Law prevails!

Some highlights of the film are the two numbers Marion sings: "My Dreams Are Getting Better All the Time" and "No Doubt About It", and a crazy chase on a firetruck, as Eddie and Albert seek to clear their name of stealing a priceless painting.

Not a bad way to pass the time.