Lost in a Harem

Having just seen "The Noose Hangs High" this movie fell pretty flat by comparison. The first instinct is to blame MGM but then A&C's "Rio Rita" was from MGM and was intensely funny. The problems lie in the continual bad pacing created by trying to combine Bud and Lou's comedy with the lavish MGM musical. The two just don't mix. Problem #2 is that good comedy need be tied to real life, and nobody at MGM bothered to figure out where exactly the story is set. Nothing has even a fictional or slapstick truth to it. One of the great vaudeville comedy routines also fails. It's done elsewhere by Abbott and Costello as the "Niagara Falls! slowly I turned, step by step...." routine. Herein it's done with another name, is less funny, and is repeated 9 times till we're sick of it. Even Abbott and Costello have an off-day. Skip this one and instead choose one of their great comedies from Universal. Just as Universal "owned" horror movies, they also knew how to let these guys be funny.

Lavish (by their standards) production values, tuneful music (Jimmy Dorsey and his band contribute a lot to that), and some chucklesome routines, but the story is too repetitive: A & C get captured by the evil sheik, escape, get captured, escape....and so on. Pokomoko! **1/2 out of 4.

One of the slick films Abbott and Costello made when they were loaned out to MGM in between work at their main studio, Universal. It's pretty good, if not among their best work. Here they play two lame comics traveling in a show with a beautiful blonde singer (Marilyn Maxwell), who get stranded in a weird city in the East. All three then join forces in helping a young sheik overthrow his uncle, who is a wicked sultan. A few good routines are included (the classic "Slowly I Turned" for one), but this adventure is also a little too bulky at nearly 90 minutes length, with a few typical musical routines sprinkled throughout. Also features an out of place performance by Jimmy Dorsey (who wears a fez!) and his orchestra. **1/2 out of ****

This movie starts decently. The first A&C scene is an amusing one in which Costello screws up a magic act. It's completely idiotic, but it's funny, which can also be said of a scene in prison. But as the movie continues, the funniness contracts as the stupidity expands. By the time the duo is running around the titular harem I was thoroughly bored. I gave up on the movie altogether about a third of the way through, annoyed the the lack of laughs combined with a particularly dumb story. The movie is slickly made, with tolerable musical numbers, but it's decidedly weak in terms of A&C films.

Another very funny vehicle for Abbott & Costello -- this time in a sultan's kingdom in the Middle East. I'd forgotten just how funny Lou Costello was...and he certainly is here. A highlight is the old "Slowly I turn, step by step" routine, with Costello being the recipient of the repeated rage. Some things seem a bit odd, like how does Jimmy Dorsey's orchestra end up in Arabia? Depending on how enamored you are with certain routines by Abbott & Costello, you'll be pleased or disappointed when they show up...again. Some are classics, and bear repeating. But if you watch several of their films over a short period, it gets to be a bit much. There is one quite good dance number. The plot here is pretty simple -- Abbott & Costello have to save an American girl from having to marry the local sheik. It's pretty standard Abbot & Costello fare, but it is funny!

Abbott & Costello play two inept magicians on tour in the Middle East who somehow get mixed up with a young prince who has been cheated out of his rightful place on the throne by his scheming uncle who has used two magical rings to maintain his power base. The team evades all kinds of obstacles, and go to all kinds of lengths to help out. Marilyn Maxwell plays the leader of the title harem. One of the few films not made at Universal Studios(their main home), but instead MGM. Too bad this unfunny and inept film is one of them, because it is mostly beneath their talents, since their routines don't work so well in this setting, being too forced and outlandish to succeed.

In Port Inferno, singer Hazel Moon performs in a club with bumbling magicians, Peter Johnson (Bud Abbott) and Harvey Garvey (Lou Costello). The guys' act goes badly and the trio gets thrown in prison. They encounter a crazed prisoner who goes nuts whenever he hears the word Pokomoko. Prince Ramo helps them escape and they join him to regain his throne from his uncle Nimativ. This is Abbott and Costello going crazy in a lot of unreal situation comedy. See this for their comedic routines. There is lots of it. They can get long but enjoy them for what they are. It's a couple of comedy masters doing their work.