Abbott and Costello Meet Captain Kidd

Bud and Lou only made two color films--this and "Jack and the Beanstalk"--and for some reason the color on both of them is terrible, with this the worst of the two. For some unfathomable reason it was shot in shoddy Cinecolor, which was a cheap alternative to Technicolor developed mostly so low-budget producers could afford to make color films (Technicolor was too expensive for those smaller outfits). However, since this film was made by Warner Bros. you have to wonder why the studio didn't shoot it in Technicolor instead of cheap, muddy Cinecolor; it's not like Warners couldn't afford it! Anyway, the lousy photography detracts from what could have been, with a few improvements, a much more enjoyable film. It's good to see Hillary Brooke in color; the miserable quality of the photography can't hide the fact that she's a stunningly beautiful woman, with an icy, regal sexiness reminiscent of Grace Kelly or Eva Marie Saint. However, the romantic subplot between her and the terminally bland Bill Shirley is a complete bust, as the two have no chemistry whatsoever and you find yourself wondering what a babe like Hillary is doing with a slug like him. In addition, everything comes to a screeching halt so they can throw in some interminable, and third-rate, musical numbers. The picture would have been better off with fewer of them. In fact, it would have been better off with NONE of them.

That being said, however, this is still an enjoyable film, although far from prime A&C. The boys are starting to show their age, and their timing is a little off in spots, but they still know how to wring laughs out of a script as lame as this one. Besides, Charles Laughton is really fun to watch. It's said that he agreed to do this film because he thought Lou Costello was one of the industry's best physical comics; he had always wanted to do slapstick, and figured if you're gonna do it, learn from the best. He acquits himself quite well, too, even though every so often you can see where he tries a bit too hard; some of his bits look like they were precisely rehearsed, which they no doubt were, but good comedy isn't supposed to look like it was rehearsed. Still, he seems to be having a whale of a good time, and considering that he had never done anything like this before, does a very impressive job.

As I said, this is hardly Bud & Lou's best, but it's not among their worst ("Dance With Me Henry" holds that honor) or even their not particularly good ("A&C Go to Mars"). The two best things about it, besides Bud & Lou, are Laughton and Hillary Brooke; she's truly gorgeous, and it's easy to see why Costello used her as his love interest in the team's TV series. If you haven't seen this film before, it's worth checking out.

I taped this off UK TV in 1988 – the washed out condition of the print even then made it look as if it could be from 300 years ago, but recently seeing the even more degraded copy TCM US is showing made me think it really was! How did this get into such a state – the wobbly cheap colour and choppy copies from multiple TV dupes haven't helped to be sure, but it all makes it a bit of an ordeal to sit through without rose-tinted glasses on.

At the cutely named Death's Head Tavern Bud & Lou unwittingly join forces with Charles Laughton playing Captain Kidd on the track of a treasure island – much fun is made of the map of Skull Island continually getting mixed up with Lou's supposed My Darling Darling Darling love letter. Add a deliberately devilish Leif Erickson as a sidekick for Laughton and elegant Hilary Brook as a pantomime Captain Bonney for something good to look at and you have the main crew. There's plenty of lusty non-pc songs, maybe too many but some not too bad and all well sung, my favourite being the romantic Speak To Me sung by the corny romantic leads on the pirate ship. It was the 2nd of the two films A&C did for Warners in 1952 (this was Bud's choice, Jack was Lou's), and was amazingly successful noisy slapstick at the time; the reason given by Laughton as to why he accepted the role was to learn how to do double takes from Costello. He generally hammed it up nicely and he and the boys in particular seemed to enjoy themselves, but it all seemed a bit too laboured at times.

For anyone new who might be interested in A&C this is not the film to start with, unless you're under 10 years old. And yet … I still end up watching this jolly nonsense every five years or so, never mind the grotty condition.

Rocky and Oliver `Puddin' are happy go-luck folk in a port town. When they try to deliver a love letter from Lady Jane to sailor Bruce they get trapped on the ship of Captain Kidd. Kidd's treasure map gets mixed with Bruce's love letter and Oliver finds himself in a whole heap of hot water.

The story doesn't really matter – every A&C film has a silly setup for them to do their stuff, what does matter is the comedy. Here fans (of whom I'm one) will be happy that A&C are their usual selves despite looking older and fuller around the waist. Their routines are good and Captain Kidd gets involved well.

The problem with the film is that it moves away from the values of their older films. The Technicolour is pretty horrible and actually takes away from the film – making it feel like a gaudy matinee C-movie instead of a comedy classic. What is worse is the tonne of poor musical numbers – they really slow down the comedy, in fact they seem to take up most of the film. The romance element is also dull. However fans will be happy with both A&C's performances and Charles Laughton, who could easily have looked done hi nose at this, joins in really well and hams it up.

Overall this is not one of their best, but Abbot and Costello fans will enjoy their antics, but feel free to fast forward all the songs.

I have just finished watching this film 30 seconds ago and I must make a few comments.

Abbott and Costello on the High Seas in full color. The High Seas: a good idea. The full color: a bad idea. The cinematography ends up being grainy and the color washed out. In the end, this detracts from the film and actually makes some of the gags fall flat, simply from being distracted. As far as A+C are concerned, this is a slightly below par outing. The gags aren't that great to begin with, and there are really no scenes of the characteristic A+C bantering. Not that it is terrible, mind you. But the overall performance is subpar.

What is truly fun to watch is Charles Laughton. Admittedly, I am a Charles Laughton fan. I think he has largely been overlooked for what a great actor he was, and it is rather unfortunate that his directing output was limited to the one masterpiece, Night of the Hunter. What is so wonderful about his performance? The fact that the filmmakers decided to make it humorous.

If you think about it, Charles Laughton cast in the role of Captain Kidd really screams for a Kidd-cum-Bligh from Mutiny of the Bounty. I expected Laughton to spend the entire film shouting and talking tough in that clipped manner that he used for Captain Bligh. And while there was plenty of shouting and tough-talking, there were plenty of moments of comedy on the part of Captain Kidd. It seems that the filmmakers, instead of being completely serious, tried to go for the gag whenever possible. I love that.

It also shows off the comedic possibilities of Charles Laughton that went almost completely unnoticed during his career. Only every once in a great while did they manifest themselves, such as his wonderful performance in Witness for the Prosecution. It is rather unfortunate that many great actors got pseudo-typecast in serious roles and never got to explore their comedic talents in full. Such as Bogart, who got very few comedic roles but shined in the ones he did have (such as Sabrina and We're No Angels). Why is that these great actors, while well-renowned for drama, could and should have excelled at comedy? Because great actors excel at the most critical element of comedy:

Timing.

Timing is essential to all comedy and they had it. This shows itself most in snappy banter. Just as Humphrey Bogart was able to banter well with William Holden in Sabrina, Charles Laughton banters well in brief flashes with Lou Costello. Take the scene where Lou draws a mustache on the portrait of Captain Kidd, only to have it roll away while Lou turns and the real Captain Kidd appears.

Lou: I could've sworn I drew a mustache on that picture

Kidd: Well you didn't

Lou: I didn't?

Kidd: Nope

Is this exchange something that Captain Bligh would've done? Absolutely not. But they did it here. And text nowhere near does justice to the splendid timing of this exchange, though sadly it only took 2 seconds of film. There are a few other brief moments like this that demonstrate what a comedic talent Charles Laughton could have been. And there are moments of slapstick as well. When Charles Laughton does a little sailor dance after what seemed a victory over Lou, I nearly hurt myself laughing. It was such a silly and wonderfully outrageous thing to do.

Don't get me wrong, this is not to say that Charles Laughton's performance was a comedic gem, no. For the most part is was bellowing and shouting that you would expect. But the fact that the filmmakers did not take it that seriously throughout the entire film made it wonderful to me. In every movie, there are moments for each character where they are faced with a choice: do I go for the serious portrayal, or do I go for the gag? It was my pleasure that with Charles Laughton's mostly serious role, when these choices arose, he went for the gag. And I loved it.

So, overall, this film is a meh. But if you do decide to watch this film, (and why not?) then keep an eye out for Charles Laughton and I'm sure, like me, you'll wish he had done more comedy.

P.S. I would also like to go on the record as stating that Hillary Brooke is, indeed, hot. Actually, she's not just hot. She's HAWT.

An underwhelming later entry for the comedy team, this is of interest only because it's a color film which provides a chance to see Charles Laughton yucking it up as the title baddie. But there's very little meat to chew on while watching Bud and Lou act as hapless waiters sailing aboard the ship of the mean old Captain Kidd (Laughton). Of course there are many recycled older gags ... two of them include: Lou accidentally dropping a bar of soap into Kidd's soup and producing bubbles from everyone's mouthes (just how exhausted was that routine by this time?), and also Lou having a chance to rough Kidd up a bit while the pirate's hands are chained behind his back. (This latter bit was so much better performed when it was William Bendix as the recipient back in 1943's WHO DONE IT?). Hillary Brooke is on hand as a tough-acting blonde, easier on the eyes than a crew full of obnoxious men. ** out of ****