Deux nigauds en Alaska

Abbott: "Miss McGillicuddy, you look charming today. Did you do something to your hair?"

Costello: "Yeah, she put it on her head"!

"Lost in Alaska" does have some inspired moments, and most of them are in the first half, like the "sleeping in 2-hour shifts" routine, or Costello's response to a sign that says "Use the axe only in case of fire" ("Got a match?"). But when A&C actually do get Lost in Alaska, the comedy gets largely reduced to elementary, childish slapstick (Costello falling down on the snow a lot, etc). I did laugh a couple of times, but overall the film is pretty tiresome, despite its short running time. (**)

Known pretty much everywhere outside the US as ABBOTT AND COSTELLO LOST IN ALASKA this just never gels. Sub-standard, both from a comedic viewpoint and in production values. The boys never look comfortable.

Flimsy tale of a couple of New York firemen in the late 1890's who inadvertently "rescue" a suicidal prospector and through circumstance, find themselves heading back to Alaska with him, when they have a more pressing need to get back to San Francisco, to allay suspicions that they have actually murdered him.

For the most part, it just AIN'T funny. No more so than the strained and diabolically stupid ending. Really, for non-thinking A & C diehards!

I saw that one reviewer felt like the studio and Abbott and Costello just didn't care when they made this film and I am inclined to agree. The problem is that the film was painfully unfunny--and had one of the limpest endings I've ever seen. Maybe I was expecting too much, but a comedy should make you laugh and be entertaining.

In the only funny moments in the film, Bud and Lou rescue a man who is bent on killing himself (Tom Ewell). It seems that his lady love has rejected him and so he has no reason to live. In addition, when Bud and Lou take this guy back to Alaska, everyone seems to be trying to kill their new friend to get his gold. This humor was pretty dark and I liked it, but it really didn't go far enough and probably wouldn't appeal to most people. Sadly, however, this is about as funny as it got. Once the plot was established, too much time was spent running about an obvious fake set in obviously fake snow doing things that, frankly, make no sense and weren't funny. Fake looking crabs, a guy in a polar bear suit and the like made this a film where it was obvious that no one particularly cared if any of this mess makes sense. To make things worse, the ending is just horrible--unfunny, illogical and unsatisfying.

While this is not the worst Abbott and Costello film, it is close. You can do better.

Abbott and Costello, who are firemen in the 1890s save life of Alaskan suicidal millionaire 'nugget' Joe from drowning himself.( An idea from Chaplin's City lights perhaps?). His girl has told him she wants out. (How he ended up in San Fransisco from Alaska though is a mystery). They take him back to their place for him to stay the night. The morning after (after a lenthy routine which sees Abbott con Costello out of his night's sleep)Joe receives a letter from his love, Rosette stating she wants him back. In gratitude, he gives A+C the gold he has on him.

At the bank, 2 men tell them that a gold prospector was found murdered last night and the police suspect 2 volunteer firemen. They find Joe on his boat and tell him that the police think they murderd him. Naturally this cheers Joe up and sends him into hysterics.(!) They ask him to come down the station to set the record straight but he can't hear them properly as the whistles from the boat are to loud. It's to late anyhow as the boat has set sail taking them all to Alaska! When they arrive it turns out that a lot of people want Joe dead(including himself again when he finds out that Rosette didn't write the note) and it's A+C's job to keep him alive as they want to take him home to prove he's still alive. It turns out that Joe has wrote a will which leaves his £2 million fortune to his 'buddies' when he dies and they are all trying to bump him off. It turns out Mr Stillman, who owns the saloon, wrote the letter and asks Lucette to marry Joe so she becomes his only heir then he'll bump him off and then they split the gold...

Bad Abbott and Costello vehicle makes no use of their talents. Strange scenes including one which has the boys trying to cheer up Nugget Joe and do the routine they did 'at the fireman's ball'. 3 terrible 'jokes' occur and you don't know whether they are supposed to be funny or not. Nugget Joe doesn't laugh and who can blame him? The 2 songs are actually quite good and the actors aren't bad either. The script and budget lets the film down. The peculiar finale isn't funny at all and when the film finishes the viewer can't help but feel there's something missing.

If you want to see Abbott and Costello as they were in the 50s, watch one of their hilarious TV shows instead.

Abbott & Costello play Tom Watson & George Bell, two volunteer firemen in 1890's San Francisco who rescue a suicidal gold prospector('Nugget' Joe McDermott, played by Tom Ewell) from drowning. Unfortunately, they are then mistakenly believed to have been his murderers, so accompany him back to Alaska in search of his gold, and his girl. Upon arrival, they are dismayed to learn that everyone wants Joe dead, and so end up in the tundra, where they try to survive assassins and the elements... Another weak comedy from the team has a few good comedic bits scattered about, but otherwise is not that funny, with awful songs and indifferent handling. Nothing golden here.