Keep 'Em Flying

As a reviewer wrote elsewhere, the only way to watch Bud and Lou's movies is in sequence. 'Buck Privates' was perhaps a better story, but 'Keep 'em Flying' sees Lou put in probably his finest performance. This time the boys are perfectly integrated into the story and their gags flow along as part of the natural sequence of events.

There is an excellent rapport between Martha Raye and our heroes, which becomes evident in the USO canteen sequence. Not only was Martha a fine singer and dancer, she was a great comedienne. Without giving away the gag, the fact that it runs on so long and still remains funny is testament to the trio - or "quartet's" skill in working together.

Okay, I love this movie and given a limit of 10 movies to take to a desert island, this would be included. But that says something, doesn't it?

KEEP 'EM FLYING (Universal, 1941), directed by Arthur Lubin, marks the fifth screen collaboration of the popular comedy team of Bud Abbott and Lou Costello who, in this venture, take to the air and have quite a time staying on the ground. Previously appearing in the Army in BUCK PRIVATES (1941) and IN THE NAVY (1941), each featuring the Andrews Sisters, what logical choice to find them back in peacetime military comedy, this time with the Army Air Corps, with Martha Raye and Carol Bruce stepping in for the Andrews Sisters.

The story begins in a carnival where Jinx Roberts (Dick Foran) works as a daredevil stunt pilot. After getting fired by his boss, McGonigle (William B. Davidson), Jinx, along with his two assistants, Blackie (Bud Abbott) and Heathcliff (Lou Costello) enlist at the army air corps at Cal-Aero Academy. While there, Jinx immediately meets and falls in love with Linda Joyce (Carol Bruce), a USO hostess and singer, who has a jealous boyfriend (William Gargan) and brother (Charles Lang), who disapproves of him dating his sister, while Jinx and Heathcliff encounter confusion after meeting up with Gloria Phelps, who happens to have a twin sister, Barbara (both played by Martha Raye). In between these love matches comes a handful of Abbott and Costello routines and stunts that keep this film going at a fast pace for 86 minutes. There is also time out for music, featuring some popular 40s tunes of the day by Don Raye and Gene DePaul including: "I'm Getting Sentimental Over You" (written by Ned Washington and George Bassman/ sung by Carol Bruce); "Pig Foot Pete" (Sung by Martha Raye); "Keep 'Em Flying" (sung by Dick Foran); "The Boy With the Wistful Eyes" and "Keep 'Em Flying" (reprise).

Aside from the romantic subplots, the movie relatively belongs to Abbott and Costello who supply the story with their comedy highlights: The "Go ahead, order something" routine where Blackie and Heathcliff only have a quarter to their name and go to a diner where Blackie orders only a turkey sandwich and a cup of coffee, with the intention of splitting the order with his partner, but whenever the waitress (Raye) asks for Heathcliff's order and says he doesn't want anything, it is Blackie who coaxes him to order something, only to give him a slap in the face and tell him that no matter how much he coaxes him, he should refuse. This routine is further developed when the daffy waitress (Raye) gives Heathcliff a piece of cake on the house, and when she goes to the kitchen, the other, her serious-minded twin sister (Raye) returns to find Heathcliffe with the cake and insisting that he'd pay for it. Other highlights include Heathcliff in the tunnel of love with one of the twin sisters; Blackie and Heathcliff riding on a runaway torpedo all over the base, followed by a couple of scenes involving the comedic dual taking to the air via plane and creating unintentional stunts of their own before parachuting to safety. In spite of obvious rear projection backgrounds, these faults should be overlooked and simply enjoyed as originally intended.

Featured in the supporting cast are: Truman Bradley as Butch, and Freddie Slack and his Six Hits. Martha Raye, who adds twice as much fun playing twin sisters, each partnered with Bud and Lou, works well with the team. It seems a pity that she didn't get to work with Abbott and Costello again for that they make a wonderful trio. While a formula movie the plays strictly for laughs, it is Costello who gets his rare opportunity on screen to show himself on the serious side in one scene early in the story when he pleads with a major to give him a job so that he could serve his country. This sequence could have been a low point, but funny man Costello manages to make this brief moment followed by a patriotic speech believable and moving. He certainly was an original.

While KEEP 'EM FLYING might be considered extremely dated by today's standards, it still ranks one of the funnier comedies of the 1940s. KEEP 'EM FLYING is available on video cassette through MCA Home Video. Once presented on the cable television's The Comedy Channel in the early 1990s, it resurfaced on New Year's Eve, December 31, 2000, on American Movie Classics where it played occasionally for almost two years. (***)

When high-flying stunt pilot Jinx Roberts joins the air corps, his two assistants Blackie and Heathcliff follow him into the service out of loyalty and lack of other options. While Jinx gets a pilot's position they find themselves essentially at the level of janitors with little in the way of glamour or prestige. They end up causing more trouble than anything else – not least of which in the world of romance where the attention of twins Gloria and Barbara causes more confusion.

This film was part of several made in a short period by Abbott & Costello in support of the war effort and the structure is roughly the same. A "straight" guy pursues a girl while Abbott and Costello trail along behind getting involved in various escapades and misunderstandings in support of the "straight" guy's romantic efforts. This should not surprise anyone and the only thing of concern should be whether or not the film is funny and makes good use of the comic abilities of the stars (by which I do not mean Foran). The answer is "sort of" and it is because of this that the film is quite amusing for fans but not good enough to really win over others or stand out as one of their best. The plot with Jinx does take up a bit too much of the running time and, as is often the case, the film is padded out with too many songs (although at least one of them is actually pretty good) and I didn't find myself laughing often enough. There are some good bits though; the scene where they order food in the restaurant is brilliant stuff and had me laughing out loud but, a few good lines here and there and that is pretty much it. The torpedo sequence is the normal stuff but lacks inspiration while the flight stuff, although quite good suffers badly from poor back projection and basic model work – OK both are of their time but still.

The cast do reasonably well and the fault for the film perhaps being a bit lacking is not with their performances. Both Abbott and Costello do good work as you would expect but it is just a shame that they don't get better material to work with. What they do benefit from is a female co-star who isn't just a cute love interest for Costello. Raye plays it in a way that echoes Costello's style but it does work and she is funny and adds a bit of variety which is needed when you consider the "main" plot. Bruce, Gargan and Foran are all fairly dull and stiff – again it is a shame that they take so much of the time from the others.

Keep 'em Flying is an OK Abbott & Costello film that has enough about it to please most fans however it is still not as funny as it should be and it has too much stuff that either pads (the songs) or detracts (the main plot). If you like them it is worth a look but only a few scenes here and there show what the two are capable of.

Not their best, but by far not their weakest, the film provides the viewers with the duo in the Army Air Corps, or at least a training facility.

While there has been some comment on the wood and fabric airplanes in the film, filmed shortly before the U.S. got involved in World War II, many training facilities taught their students initially on such aircraft, just so they could learn the rudiments of flight. Later, the fledgling pilots would graduate to more state-of-the-art trainers.

Minor spoiler For the aero gags, the fabric airplanes worked well: in the "inverted" sequence, Costello's head wouldn't have been able to break through a metal skin.

I had this on VHS, and finally was able to locate it on DVD, in an A&C collection.

One of the funniest of Abbott and Costello's early Universal films was Keep 'Em Flying which stuck with the tried and true formula established by Buck Privates.

The boys are working at a carnival with their pal Dick Foran who's a stunt flier. After a disagreement with management, all three of them quit and wind up in the Army Air Corps.

For Foran he gets to renew a personal rivalry with William Gargan who's an instructor who had fired Foran once before in a civilian flying job. They're both interested in the lovely Carol Bruce who sings great and is a USO hostess.

The boys are up to their usual monkeyshines. Seeing both of them on the back of a speeding torpedo was as funny as when they repeated the same gag on the back of a bucking bronco in Ride 'Em Cowboy. And seeing them hit the silk at the end of the film is indescribable.

Martha Raye plays a dual role in the film as twin sisters, one of whom likes Abbott and the other Costello. Of course poor Costello doesn't realize they're twins and Martha's on and off attitude towards him is baffling. Later on the same twin gimmick was used by Betty Hutton in Here Come The Waves.

Gene DePaul and Don Raye wrote the original songs for this film and actually came up with an Academy Award nomination for one of their songs, Pigfoot Pete which Martha Raye sings and which is incorrectly credited in Academy records to another Universal Film, Hellzapoppin'. It's not bad, but it's really a poor man's Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy. The best song in the film is one interpolated for Carol Bruce when we first meet her as a nightclub singer, the Tommy Dorsey standard, I'm Getting Sentimental Over You.

Keep 'Em Flying is right in the great tradition of Buck Privates and In the Navy and still as funny today as when first made.