Deux nigauds dans la neige

I would like these sorts of movies a lot better if they didn't have the musical scenes. I watch these movies strictly to laugh. Certainly plenty of scenes made me laugh (namely the snowball scene). One can imagine being a fairly intelligent guy like Abbott's character always having to deal with a brainless sap like Costello's character and how annoying it would be.

So, even though the singing drags the movie down, I recommend it overall. Pretty entertaining.

Tied up for a while indeed...

PS: Sheldon Leonard, who played Silky, later produced "The Danny Thomas Show" and "The Dick Van Dyke Show". He also provided his voice to Robert McKimson's cartoons "Kiddin' the Kitten" and "A Peck o' Trouble" as a lazy cat who tries to make a kitten do his work.

A strong entry from Abbott & Costello which sees them unwittingly aiding a trio of gangsters to rob a bank and having to then track them down before they are arrested for the crime themselves. Costello's encounter with a little girl on an ice rink is a scream.

Underrated A&C slapstick. The boys are photographers who get mixed up with bank robbers, ending up in a whirlwind ski run at Sun Valley. It's a darn near perfect mix of Costello prat-falls, big band tunes, and mock theatrics. Note how Lou often plays to the camera, acknowledging our presence in humorous fashion.

Plus, it's a great supporting cast of baddies, including a menacing Sheldon Leonard, a sinister Marc Lawrence, and a thuggish Joe Sawyer. And get a load of songstress Ginny Simms-. I'd stamp her name on my fuselage any day. Then there's the sweetly pretty Elyse Knox who, unfortunately, passed away just a short time ago.

Happily, the gags fly thick and fast in a script loaded with clever gimmicks, such as the handkerchief trick that's no sure thing as Lou finds out. Plus, there's the ice rink that made me appreciate what an expert athlete Costello is despite his ungainly appearance.

Anyway, the material is fresh, the boys are energetic, and the pacing is snappy, making this a top-notch entry in the A&C sweepstakes.

Having just watched Laurel & Hardy in the Swiss Alps in Swiss Miss, I decided to then rewatch Abbott & Costello in Sun Valley in Hit the Ice. They play photographers who unwittingly get involved in taking pics of villain Sheldon Leonard and his henchmen after they rob a bank. I'll stop there and just say Bud & Lou once again are funny with their routines, like "Pack/Unpack" and "All Right!", and especially Lou's reactions and pratfalls. This was one of their early ones in which there are several musical interludes of which many are performed by Ginny Simms. I didn't mind them the first time I watched this 40 years ago and I still don't mind now. While looking at the cast list on this site, I noticed a couple of them-Edward Gargan and Mantan Moreland-had the year before appeared in Laural & Hardy's A-Haunting We Will Go. While regular A & C court jester Bobby Barber was also listed as being in this movie, I didn't recognize him anywhere here. Oh, and since I always like to cite when a player from my favorite movie It's a Wonderful Life is in another film, here it's Mr. Leonard who was, of course, Nick the Bartender in IAWL. So on that note, I truly re-enjoyed Hit the Ice. My next review will be Laurel & Hardy's short Towed in a Hole.

I enjoyed this one a lot. Several funny bits. Watching Lou try to ice skate makes me laugh every time. Love the skiing climax. The gangster stuff with Sheldon Leonard is pretty great, too. I'll add that Patric Knowles and Elyse Knox are likable side characters. Usually the least entertaining part of comedies like this are the romantic subplots with whatever B stars the studio is trying to push. But here they not only don't offend, they add to the picture. I actually cared about them. Anyway, it's not a top ten A&C flick maybe but it's a fun one. Lots of slapping. We don't have enough slapping in movies these days.