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Until the VHS of Pardon My Sarong was released I had never seen the complete film. When I was a lad and WPIX television in New York City used to show Abbott and Costello films every Sunday morning, the film always began with Costello crashing that bus into the harbor. I used to wonder why as prominent an actor like William Demarest had such a brief part.

So when I was a kid I missed the Ink Spots do a number and I missed cop Bill Demarest get bamboozled by A&C. Both Abbott and Costello disguise themselves as a magician and make Demarest the fall guy for some gags. This might be the only time Abbott was ever a comic in any of their films and he was good.

I guess the Chicago Transit company didn't want to put two buses in jeopardy which was why both boys were on the same bus. Millionaire Yachtsman Robert Paige has some how talked these two into leaving their Michigan Avenue route and driving him and a bevy of beauties to Los Angeles for the start of a boat race.

Of course having lost their jobs as bus drivers with this harebrained move the boys sign on with Paige as a yacht crew along with Virginia Bruce who is the sister of one of Paige's rivals and they get blown off course and wind up on an island Dorothy Lamour would be found on if the film had been made at Paramount.

Don't ask me how, but the natives make Costello some kind of Deity and he gets to be the big man on campus there. Of course we also have resident villain Lionel Atwill looking to loot some treasure.

Like Douglass Dumbrille in a few Abbott and Costello films, Atwill looked like he was having a great old time burlesquing his own sinister image, especially in the chase sequence at the end.

One of the best from Abbott and Costello's early Universal days.

People who weren't around in 1942 - as I was - will not appreciate that, although we all loved Bud and Lou, in this fast moving wacky comedy, Forties cinema-goers worldwide wanted bags of *jazzy* Swing Music to help it along...hence the glut of songs and production numbers.

For today's latter-day critics who would seem to be complaining about *too many musical numbers* in this talkie, I would ask you to understand that - at this time - nearly every studio was working overtime to make just such musical films, and indeed it was as if the public's appetite for these lovely melodious lyrics, and catchy rhythmic tunes, could never be satisfied.

So, watch it again, and don't worry about the music: that's what made the world go round in those happier, less smart-assed, less cool and less funky days...days, when *pop* music was there to entertain and unite everyone in the entire family, as opposed to using it as a device to exclude all but one isolated age group, to the detriment of the rest, as would seem to appertain today.

Having returned to Universal following MGM's somewhat disappointing "Rio Rita," Abbott and Costello get back on track with "Pardon My Sarong," sort of their version of the Hope-Crosby "Road" pictures.

A&C play Chicago bus drivers, who through a series of funny machinations, end up on a tropic isle with evil Lionel Atwill. There are many funny moments both at sea and on the island.

If there are people who don't like Abbott and Costello, it is probably because they don't like Abbott's often callous treatment of Costello. While this is part of their characterizations, and is often funny, the screenwriters went admittedly overboard in "Sarong." While Virginia Bruce does stand up to Abbott on Costello's behalf several times, one tasteless gag includes Abbott matter-of-factly giving Costello a gun to shoot himself! Such gags have limited the duo's appeal over time, but if looked upon broadly, "Sarong" is a funny film and shows A&C at their peak, which ran roughly from 1941 to 1945. 7 out of 10.

Hit comedy from Universal Pictures and director Erle C. Kenton. Chicago bus drivers Algy (Bud Abbott) and Wellington (Lou Costello) end up on a yacht with Tommy Layton (Robert Paige) and Joan Marshall (Virginia Bruce) that's participating in a trans-Pacific race. They go off course and end up on a mysterious tropical island with a tribe of natives who fear a haunted cave. Also featuring Lionel Atwill, Leif Erickson, Samuel S. Hinds, Nan Wynn, Marie McDonald, Janet Warren, Eddie Acuff, Sig Arno, Charles Lane, and William Demarest.

One knows what to expect from an Abbott & Costello movie, and this one delivers more of the same. After their run of successful military service comedies, this started a new run of parodies of different genre conventions, and this was meant to emulate the hit Road movies with Hope & Crosby over at Paramount. It was a good call by the producers, as this ended up being one of the biggest hits of 1942. It's silly, with occasional chuckles here and there, but mainly Costello yelling a lot and doing slapstick. There are a few musical numbers, and a lot of "island" girls in skimpy outfits.

I've seen Pardon My Sarong over 10 times now and have to consider it one of Bud & Lou's best films, up there with Ride 'em cowboy, Meets Frankenstein, Hold that ghost etc. PMS is more distinctly episodic than most of their others and would present a Plot Coherency Issue with impatient first-comers, but if got through a sparkling atmospheric musical comedy lies within. The early '40's Universal Harmless Escapist Entertainment atmosphere helps a lot though, this must have been made straight after Hellzapoppin - wasn't that front porch outside the maggickan's cabaret show where Hugh Herbert's Eat At Joe's dickie blew up?

The boys are illicitly taking Robert Paige's entertainment troupe from Chicago to LA in a bus - all those women in tow and he falls for one who is out to nobble him. Tip, Tap & Toe provide some amazing dance scenes (not quite a rhythmic brainstorm though), alongside the lilting Ink Spots. Detective William Demarest briefly tries to stop them but gives up the chase when they and the plot veer toward a South Seas island. Here "Lovely Luana" & "Vingo Jingo" are put over by a gorgeous Nan Wynn, while Leif Erickson plays a stinker and Lionel Atwill as usual plays a baddie because he was one.

There's plenty of nicely contrived snappy routines for us aficionados: The old baseball story; Hiding from Demarest; "Back up! Go ahead!"; Sharing a pea for dinner etc. Not a lot for non-fans however - I think a better introduction to A&C for anyone interested would be Meets Frankenstein or maybe Time of their lives. And this one is definitely best watched sober!