What are the best Abbott and Costello movies? - Hold That Ghost (1941) Discussion

[–] aryxus-2 17 years ago

My personal A&C triumvirate: ...Meet Frankenstein, Foreign Legion, and Hold That Ghost, but mostly (probably) because of fond memories of watching them on rainy Saturday afternoons when I was a kid in the 70s. I remember having nightmares that something was coming after me and I couldn't call out to my parents (in the dream); the only thing that would come out of my throat was a Costello-an "Ch-ch-ch-ch-ch..." Funny how such a silly scene can scar one for life. :)

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[–] csweetleaf2 17 years ago

I gotta get Hold That Ghost on DVD, I've seen parts of Meet Frankenstein and I have yet seen The Foreign Legion, I do remember seeing "Lost in Alaska", "Africa Screams", "Meet the Keystone Kops" and the one with Boris Karloff.

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[–] FRANKDRAFTING 17 years ago

One of their best, if not their absolute best, is "Time of Their Lives". It is by no means the funniest, but it is a very well done movie. Their first 10 movies or so are all pretty good, but, as their popularity waned, they received terrible scripts from the studio and their later movies, with the exception of "Meet Frankenstein" (a real classic), suffered because of this. They had so many great routines, however, there is ALWAYS, something to laugh about. These guys, along with the Marx Brothers, are in a league by themselves. Someone wrote about WPIX in New York. That staion had Abbott and Costello on every Sunday morning at 11:30 a.m. I never missed it, but, as the writer stated, they were cut up pretty badly due to time restraints. Still, I loved 'em!

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[–] 17 years ago

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[–] frankfob 13 years ago

One of their best, if not their absolute best, is "Time of Their Lives".

I agree. The director, Charles Barton, made their best films, and he was at the top of his form on this one. They seemed to be a bit more restrained, for lack of a better word, than usual and the film had more of an actual story to it than most of their previous ones.

FYI, in the early '80s while I was living in North Hollywood, one of my neighbors was Jess Barker, who played Tom Danbury. He was long retired and didn't talk much about his career--it didn't turn out the way he wanted, and he was still beating himself up about his divorce from Susan Hayward, which had happened about 30 years before--and he was recovering from a serious drinking problem, but he did like talking about this film, He said that he liked wrking with them, and that in between takes they would do nothing but play cards, usually poker, and that they would drive the director crazy because they usually had half the crew in on the game. I mentioned to him that I had read that the two weren't on speaking terms during the shoot, which is why they had so few scenes together, and he said as far as he could tell, that wasn't true. He said they were never really close friends or anything, but they were always talking and laughing together, and as far as he could tell they got along fine.

The beatings will continue until morale improves.

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[–] Robert_Wagner62 17 years ago

this is their best film...HOLD THAT GHOST, I MEAN...
Also see Abbott & Costello meet Frankenstein, Pardon My Sarong, Rio Rita, Who Done It?, Buck Privates, In the Navy...they're all great...also...IN SOCIETY is a must see!!!

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[–] joasiafly 16 years ago

Best is absolutely Hold That Ghost.

Followed by

Hit the Ice
Abbott & Costello Meet Frankenstein
Buck Privates
Keep 'Em Flying
In the Navy

I grew up in the 50s in the NYC metro area and WOR-TV had a program called "Million Dollar Movie".

Each week they featured one movie which played EVERY night and then twice on Saturdays and Sundays.

So I recently figured that I have seen each of these movies a minimum of 9 times, among others, LOL!

They also had some other great 30s and 40s films, Fred Astaire, Ginger Rogers, Bob Hope, Bing Crosby, Bogart, etc.

The theme song for "Million Dollar Movie" was the theme from "Gone with the Wind". I finally saw that classic at age 16 for the very first time in an old Loews' theatre in Syracuse, NY back in 1965 - when the music started, my friends and I looked at each other and mouthed, "Million Dollar Movie"!

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[–] 16 years ago

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[–] csweetleaf2 16 years ago

I have seen Abbott Costello meet Dr. Jeckyll and Mr. Hyde and I wasn't too impressed with that movie, there were some hysterical parts but the movie was only a so so effort, on a scale of 0-10 I give it a 4.

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[–] 16 years ago

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[–] csweetleaf2 16 years ago

Wasn't Jeckyll and Hyde one of Abbott and Costello's better movies from their later years?

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[–] FRANKDRAFTING 16 years ago

joasiafly - Everyone forgets Time of Their Lives. Not their funniest, but definately one of their best. However, I love Abbott and Costello, so any of their movies is a good watch for me. Hit the Ice is great, I couldn't agree more! Hold that Ghost, I think is pretty much a consensus number 1. Joan Davis should have been added to the act she was so perfect in her role.

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[–] FRANKDRAFTING 16 years ago

Yeah DooWopRob, Hold That Ghost is a classic. The dancing scene cracks me up every single time I watch it. That is a GREAT film.

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[–] csweetleaf2 16 years ago

I sure wish that Joan Davis got to be in more of the Abbott and Costello movies, she and Costello had great chemistry together and they're fun to watch.

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[–] FRANKDRAFTING 16 years ago

csweetleaf2 - you are right on the mark. She should have been in more of their films. She and Costello did have a great chemistry together!

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[–] Paladin_nites 14 years ago

Hold That Ghost
Who Done It?
meet the Killer
Buck Privates
In Society
Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde
Foreign Legion

Bets
Paladin

"Under your skin like a splinter"

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[–] yonhope 14 years ago

Ride 'em Cowboy is my personal favorite. It has a lot of good sight gags and a chase sequence that is very well done. In the chase the Model A Ford has some fun on the railroad tracks. Other good chase comedy movies would include The Bank Dick and It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World. Abbott and Costello had many great comedy classics. The Wistful Widow of Wagon Gap with Marjorie Main is very funny.

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[–] ttherman-2 14 years ago

Their best movies are (in my opinion):

Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein
Who Done it?
The Time of Their Lives
Hold That Ghost
Buck Privates (a lot of music, but great A&C)
Hit The Ice (again, too much music, but other than that, great)
Buck Privates Come Home (very underrated in my opinion)

The biggest difficulty in some of their earlier films, like a lot of the Marx Brothers movies, is too many musical numbers that tend to drag things down. But if you can put up with it (or just fast forward), they are really funny movies.

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[–] amazon423 13 years ago

Hold That Ghost
The Time of Their Lives
The Gay Nineties (if only for "Who's on First" Routine)
Abbott and Costello Meet Frankensteirn
Buck Privates (Lou's method of adding and making it sound correct)
Buck Privates Come Home

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[–] slokes 10 years ago

Top 10 A&C Films

Time Of Their Lives (this is a great film, period)

Who Done It? (best A&C film for showing what they were and why they were so great/popular)

Meet Frankenstein (definitive horror comedy, really scary with a great ending)

Buck Privates (it made them, and it still holds up)

Here Come The Co-Eds (this has all the makings of a bad A&C, but the routines and story are fine, and Costello playing basketball in drag is highlight)

Wistful Widow Of Wagon Gap (fun departure from their formula, Marjorie Main is fantastic)

Hold That Ghost (best routines of any of their movies, but not much of a story)

The Naughty Nineties (has the definitive version of WOF, and is light and enjoyable otherwise)

Meet The Killer, Boris Karloff (it's kind of camp, but clever, too)

In The Navy (good fun story, ace routines, terrible finish)

Worst 5 A&C Films (best to worst)

It Ain't Hay (Damon Runyon adaption was bad idea, poorly executed despite a couple of good lines)

Hit The Ice (stupid story, with atypical lame finish for Bud and Lou)

One Night In The Tropics (but they were young and needed the work)

Go To Mars (it really is as bad as people say)

Dance With Me Henry (but not as bad as this)

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[–] csweetleaf2 (3533) 6 years ago

BUMP

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[–] csweetleaf2 (3533) 4 years ago

I watched "Meet The Invisible Man", "Go To Mars" and "The Time Of Their Lives" and I give "Meet The Invisible" and "The Time Of Their Lives" an 8/10 and "Go To Mars" a 7/10

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[–] strangenstein (683) 3 years ago

Their first five films are all top-notch funny. After that I’d recommend Who Done It?, Abbott and Costello meet Frankenstein, The Wistful Widow of Wagon Gap, The Time of Their Lives and In Society. All A&C films have laughs, but some scripts are better than others.

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[–] csweetleaf2 (3533) 3 years ago

I also watched "Lost In Alaska", it was a decent film but hardly one of their best, the sleeping 2 hour routine was hilarious but the rest of the film was okay at best.

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