Two Weeks to Live

Two Weeks to Live... Starring old time radio guys Chester Lauck and Norris Goff, moved to the movie screen. And of course, Frank Pangborn as Mr. Pinkney. They inherit a railroad, and decide that being conductor is more fun than being president of the company. Then they are off to the big city for the wheeling and dealing of running the railroad. Lots of fun puns and quick one and two liners! The sound and picture quality are pretty rough, but these disks were probably copied after the copyright ran out (?). Lots of adventures, gags, fun characters that come and go. There IS a pretty good (if silly) plot line here, but it really doesn't matter... we're just along for the gags, jokes, punchlines. A fun watch, even if you never heard their radio shows back in the old days. Lots of outdoor location shots, and downtown LA. Too bad that as of today, none are listed in Locations on IMDb. Also liberal use of backdrops. Very Beverly Hillbillie-ish, but still a lot of fun. This is interesting, even just for historical reasons. If you haven't heard of them before, check them out at en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lum_and_Abner . This is just one of a bunch of films they made in the 1940s.

Directed by Malcolm St. Clair, who worked with ALL the biggies - Mack Sennett, Laurel & Hardy, Joan Crawford, Clara Bow.

When I was quite young, Lum and Abner came on the radio for a 15 minute program every day-or so it seemed. The program was usually a dialogue between the two of them. There was not that much that was funny for a little kid, but their voices and speech were a treat.

This movie is a pleasant easy-going version of their radio humor. A situation is set up for them to meet strange characters and get into comic situations. All of this had been done a lot before this; the oddball characters, the gags, the situations would all have been familiar to 1943 audiences. But the Lum and Abner characters with their distinctive "country" speech and their strange misunderstandings of the big city and the people in it , freshen things up quite a bit.

This movies segues from one comic situation to another smoothly enough. If you don't find one funny, the next one will be along shortly, and it is likely to get a laugh out of you. Absolutely low pressure, easy-going humor.

Try watching it when you're stressed out. This film will calm you down.

I got this out of the 88 cent bin at Wal-Mart. As Lum and Abner peaked in popularity about 15 years before I was born, I didn't know much about them. I wasn't expecting much but this was an amusing B movie. Lum and Abner are a couple of country bumpkins who go to the big city. We have all seen this type of thing many times before, and they do some humor based on a hick's unfamiliarity with the big city, but it never regresses to Beverly Hillbillies type humor. There was no big laughs but I did get some chuckles. I am sure some jokes passed me by that those familiar with the characters would have caught. The movie does have some interesting characters like the window washer and his invisible dog, the guy who invents a Jekyll and Hyde type formula and the always amusing Franklin Pangborn. It is a zany comedy that feels just a bit restrained from making it an anarchy type comedy like the Marxes. If you like old comedy and see this in the 88 cent bin at Wal-Mart, it is worth picking up.

Chester Lauck and Norris Goff made the characters of Lum&Abner household names, in their time they were as famous on radio as Amos&Andy. Both men were fortunate in that they looked like the characters they played on radio so making films was a smooth transition for them. During the height of their popularity in the Forties before television they made a few films and Two Weeks To Live is one of them.

These two gentle rustics, proprietors of the local grocery store in Pine Ridge Arkansas find out that Abner has inherited a railroad and they start dreaming big. Turns out it's just a Hooterville Cannonball type line that carried ore from a gold mine that Abner's uncle owned back in the day that's long played out. In fact when probate and taxes are done they owe money. And they've sold right of ways to the various farmers back in Pine Ridge and they're in some deep debt now.

To pay it off they engage in various schemes as the plot moves from one crazy situation to another. Abner even gets a diagnosis mixed up with a man with Two Weeks To Live hence the title. Lum starts using Abner the way Crosby used Hope in those various Road pictures. They also get involved with saboteurs, a crazy mad scientist who wants to send one of the boys to Mars in a rocket, and a window washer with an invisible dog.

The production values aren't much, the film looks like it was shot with a brownie camera, still it's quite amusing. Lum&Abner were the predecessor for the Beverly Hillbillies, Andy Griffith and all sorts of television with a rural red state setting. Their naive and gentle humor is still amusing.

Abner is mistakenly diagnosed as having only two weeks to live.

His partner gets the idea that they can make a ton of money by having Abner perform all kinds of dangerous stunts.

Very believable plot, right?

This is a throwback to a different time and place.

If you are a fan of two-reelers for the 40s, you're apt to recognize a few characters who pop up here and there.

Overall it's a silly and dumb movie that is OK for a rainy day but won't mesmerize you in any way.

The characters are so strange.

I guess they worked on the radio but didn't translate so well on film.