Bud Abbott and Lou Costello in Hollywood

This is one of the three pictures Abbott and Costello made for MGM-- who proved with Buster Keaton, the Marx Brothers films after "A Day At the Races and Laurel and Hardy's late releases," that they really don't have much of a "touch" for this kind of comedy. Abbott and Costello fared much better at Universal with films such as "Hold That Ghost," "Buck Privates," "Who Done It?" "Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein," "The Time of Their Lives," etc. That's not to say that the film is terrible, it just suffers from sloppy pacing, almost no story, and somewhat weaker material for A&C (which was much sharper in the Universal films).

It definitely has its funny points, but it doesn't hold together very well as a complete film. Best to stick to the Universal's--- especially if you are a first time viewer of Abbott and Costello.

Can you imagine A Night at the Opera with only two Marx Brothers? That's essentially what you get in Abbott and Costello in Hollywood.

As good as they were, the Marx Brothers never got their names into the title of any picture they did. That's because they weren't half the box office draw that Bud and Lou were.

Like Chico and Harpo, Bud and Lou are barbers who get the idea to be agents. They decide to handle the career of Robert Stanton the same way Chico and Harpo sign up Allan Jones. And crooner Stanton does get into the picture in just about the same way Jones broke into Il Trovatore.

Too bad though that Stanton never got to sing some songs as good as Cosi-Cosa or Alone. Might have a career for him.

A&C got some good bits in. They had a good scene with MGM comedian Rags Ragland after Ragland comes in for a shave. And Costello being chased through the finale in a midway sequence is pretty funny.

This was the last of three films that Universal loaned out the boys to MGM for the glossier productions than what they were used to at Universal. My favorite of the three MGM films has always been Lost in a Harem. That has more the zany quality of the Universal films than either Abbott and Costello in Hollywood or Rio Rita has.

This one did only so-so box office as compared to the Universal product and Carl Laemmle, Jr. lent them out no more.

After just reviewing the first of two Laurel & Hardy movies Lou Breslow wrote (Great Guns), I thought I'd then review the only film he co-wrote for that other comedy team I've been reviewing lately on this site-Bud Abbott and Lou Costello in Hollywood. The two play barbers to the stars who also service an agent which then has them switching careers. Breslow, along with Nat Perrin, wrote some pretty funny routines for Bud & Lou without the help of their usual writer John Grant whose name is prevalent in their Universal releases. This was their third and last M-G-M one. Since this one takes place in Tinsel Town, there are some stars that appear though not Metro's biggest-Clark Gable and Judy Garland are only mentioned but one gets Rags Ragland-a studio comic who gets his unfortunate treatment from Lou in the barber chair, child star Butch Jenkins who Lou tells his version of Little Red Riding Hood with Butch interrupting with nonsense questions, and Lucille Ball-years before her TV superstardom in "I Love Lucy". Like I said, the A & C routines are funny though some probably could have been edited a little. Since this was during the early part of the comedy team's movie career, there are some musical interludes of which the amusement park sequence is a highlight with Costello on a roller coaster providing some good laughs. I especially liked the sequence where he's mistaken for a dummy! So on that note, Bud Abbott and Lou Costello in Hollywood is recommended. So as we leave A & C on their last M-G-M picture, we'll next review Laurel & Hardy on their first time actually starring in one actually produced by that studio called Air Raid Wardens.

Being yet still in the womb and pondering my next move when this was released in the UK, it was to be several years before I actually caught up with it - during an Abbott & Costello festival at my hometown theater.

One's opinion these days depends whether you "recall it" as life WAS in the mid fifties or as an entity in its own right in 2003. Fact is, it was one funny movie and as well as being the last they actually made for MGM and remembering, that the war was not officially over during early filming, it actually had a sizeable budget allocated to it.

Way better than LOST IN A HAREM, Lou was a hoot here as a Hollywood agent (with Bud) trying to get their client the lead role in a musical. Arguably the best routine on offer was that wherein Lou remains awake listening to a record designed to make him sleep.

One of their more enduring films.

I accept that this isn't the best A&C movie ever made but you cannot blame the stars.

The script was poor and some of the co-stars either didn't want to be there or just weren't up to the skills of ability that A&C achieved.

There are some classic one on one scenes between Abbott & Costello with the best being the barber scene that will have you in stitches if you like burlesque style of humor.

I for one am a fan however if you are a first time viewer of the famous duo I would recommend a movie released in the same year "The Naughty Nineties" or my personal favourite of "Abbott and Costello in the Foreign Legion" This is still a must see for A&C fans however if you watch this without prior knowledge you will be disappointed and you may not appreciate just how hard A&C work to make this a half decent movie.

Thanks for the memories boys.