Here Come the Co-eds

Bud and Lou are hapless dance escorts who get fired from their jobs and wind up working as janitors at an all-girl college. Their grumpy supervisor is none other than rough and ready Lon Chaney (THE WOLF MAN). After a series of funny events, the topper comes when Costello has to save the day playing for the girl's basketball team, to win money and save the school.

HERE COME THE CO-EDS is really a pretty good comedy from the team at this mid-point in their careers. It's fun to see Lon Chaney joining in the antics with A&C (Lon would later re-join the duo to reprise his role of the Wolf Man in ABBOTT AND COSTELLO MEET FRANKENSTEIN), and pretty Martha O'Driscoll is easy on the eyes as the model who gains enrollment at the college. Some of the film's assets are a generous amount of humorous sequences that make it worth the effort: Lou eats Oyster Stew with a live oyster; the boys engage in a funny kitchen clean-up; Costello wrestles the Masked Marvel; Bud keeps interrupting Lou while he tries to tell his joke about Jonah and the Whale, and Lou swallows a pair of dice so Bud and Chaney have to toss him around in order to gamble.

It's almost sad to have to say it, but here again there are far too many musical interludes that pop up throughout the course of the good time, and these often bring the gags to a screeching halt. Some tunes are lightweight fluff, though a couple are downright excruciating (like the two violin solos). If not for these breaks, I would rate the movie a bit higher. If you're looking for an entertaining Abbott and Costello film to laugh with, give this one a try. Skip over the musical numbers if you must, but give the comedy a chance. **1/2 out of ****

With "Here Come The Co-eds," Abbott & Costello have their funniest film since 1942's "Who Done It." The duo seems more energetic in their performance, and the storyline (two ballroom dancers who find themselves as caretakers at an all-girls college) suits them well.

The "Jonah" routine shines here, and the comic timing the duo display is exquisite. Costello shows his basketball prowess during the climactic basketball game. Also a plus -- a decent supporting cast featuring Peggy Ryan ("She's cuuuuute!") and Lon Chaney Jr. as the deliciously evil head caretaker.

The movie avoids heavy and sluggish moments and is paced well, although one could still due without the music filler. All in all though, a solid effort with solid laughs. 8 out of 10.

Costello certainly earns his money in this lively romp. Between getting knocked into potted palms or whirled around like a spinning top, his sight gags fly thick and fast. The plot has the boys joining a girl's school as caretakers, and then working to save the school from bankruptcy by outwitting (sort of) crooked gamblers.

It's a good chance to catch teen fashions, circa 1945, as the co-eds parade around in casual wear of the day. Universal certainly stocked the screen with a crowd of young lovelies to look at. Still, my money's on the hugely talented Peggy Ryan who steals the show with her mugging and sprightly dancing. She's a perfect foil for the equally versatile Costello. Too bad her movie career was so brief. Also, there's Phil Spitalny and His All-Girl Orchestra. They're a matter of taste, but Evelyn sure knows how to saw away on her Magic Violin.

Anyway, it's a fast 90-minutes, with the boys in fine energetic form, along with an excellent supporting cast, especially with baddies like Dingle and Chaney, and the expected whirlwind finish.

Castle films extracted the best scenes from this feature and made two 8mm/16mm shorts "Fun on the Run" and "Oysters and Muscles" for the home film market.This was done in 1949 and both titles were among the most popular of all the A&C Castle shorts.If you look up on Ebay you can see both titles listed numerous times during the year.Most are regular 8mm,as 16mm sound was usually to expensive for the average home market user.

I have collected 16mm Castle Films since the 1960's.Before VHS & DVD,s came along, 16mm optical sound track was basically the only format for showing sound edition prints. When super 8mm came on the scene in the later 60's you could buy magnetic sound super 8 prints...

It was reported that after A&C had split up and weren't under contract to Universal pictures any longer;Lou Costello sued Castle Films for unpaid royalties he believed were due him from Castle's Home Market sales.I believe it was never settled as Costello died in 1959 and Castle Films continued on well into the 70's before becoming Universal 8...s.m.

The really amazing thing in this film is the progressive nature of the treatment of women's education. The film argues that women should be given equal education to men, a progressive, if not radical position in 1946.

There are a number of wonderful elements in this movie that raise it a notch above the average A and B comedy. Peggy Ryan is absolutely delightful as Costello's love interest. Lou makes the hilarious observation that he feels like Donald O'Connor. Apparently Peggy and Donald were in a series of popular movies just before this time, so the reference is to that fact. Peggy is perfectly cast as she mirrors Lou's innocent boyish quality with her own innocent girlish quality. Peggy's character's name is Patty and I would wager that Charles Schulz's Peppermint Patty character comes from the character in this movie.

The dropping of the handkerchief bit is still hilarious and Costello's trick basketball shooting while in drag is quite enjoyable.

Altogether, it is a delightful mixture which works on many levels. I would put it just below "Time of Their Lives" and "Abbott and Costello meet Frankenstein" as my favorite A and B film.