Bruxaria

In "Comin' Round the Mountain" a 14-year-old girl (actually the actress who plays her looks about 25, but that's beside the point) has the hots for Lou Costello, and after they both drink a love potion Lou falls in love with her and she gets the hots for Bud Abbott! At another point Lou says "You can't marry a 10-year-old girl...unless you come from these hills". And I thought these films were supposed to be clean, wholesome entertainment!

The comedy never gets beyond the mildly amusing, the portrayal of the "country hicks" is totally stereotypical, and although Dorothy Shay is quite beautiful, her singing takes up too much screen time. The ending (which I won't spoil here) is by far the cleverest part - it has the kind of absurdist inspiration that the film needed more of. (**)

In my rewatching of the Abbott and Costello series that I loved in my youth, this is by far the worst of the series that I have rewatched. The problem is not in the subject material. The problem is in the script, the execution and the performances. Abbott and Costello have never been more bland and the songs from the Manhatten Hillbilly take up seemingly half of the movie's length. The song about a half an hour in goes on forever. The old granny is fun but isn't allowed to do enough. The "courtship" between Costello and the 14 year old hillbilly girl is ghoulish. Bud Abbott is non-existent and the hillbilly clans do nothing whatsoever. There are a few chuckles and nothing more. The opener and the conclusion are awful. On the bright side, Glenn Strange is great here and Costello's duel with the witch is funny. Costello's "christening" is a gut buster. But that's it. Has a little of the same flavor as The Wistful Widow of Wagon Gap but isn't in the same league, much less the same ballpark.

"Comin' Round the Mountain" may not be one of Abbott & Costello's best movies but it's still a pretty good one. A&C are in fine form. The supporting cast is strong and most of the songs are pretty good. The are quite a few laughs and a bunch of smiles in this movie. "Comin' Round the mountain" moves fast and finishes strong. It's always a welcome visit.

Having just watched Stan Laurel go to a haunted house in order to get his inheritance in The Laurel-Hardy Murder Case, I then felt the need to see Lou Costello also try to get his share in Comin' Round the Mountain. Here, he finds out he's a descendant of "Squeezebox" McCoy and a cousin to singer Dorothy McCoy (Dorothy Shay). Their agent Al (Bud Abbott) agrees to go with them to Dorothy's homestead where we meet her hillbilly family. During this period, Bud & Lou's studio, Universal-International, was also making money with a series of Ma and Pa Kettle movies which also had that down home humor represented here. So, yes, we get treated to a shooting contest, a man's engagement to a young teen girl, and a family feud. As stereotypical as some of the characters are, they seem harmless enough. Among the supporting cast, Joe Sawyer-previously in The Naughty Nineties with A & C-provides some amusement, Glenn Strange-who was the Frankenstein monster in A & C Meet Frankenstein-gets some laughs every time he shouts Costello's character's name "Wilbert!", and Margaret Hamilton-best known as the Wicked Witch of the West in The Wizard of Oz-is hilarious every time she and Lou stick pins in each other's voodoo dolls! Oh, and I also liked seeing Lou's brother-in-law Joe Kirk as a hot dog vendor at the county fair trying to sell Costello a hot dog. If you remember Bud & Lou's "Mustard" routine in One Night in the Tropics, you'll get some of Lou's reactions concerning hot dogs and mustard! This was another funny A & C flick especially the surprise ending. So that's a recommendation of Comin' Round the Mountain. So now my next review will be the silent Laurel & Hardy short From Soup to Nuts.

Right off the bat I knew this wouldn't be one of Abbott and Costello's better comedies because the movie starts off with Dorothy Shay singing a novelty song that goes on forever. It wouldn't be the last time either. Shay has four or five songs in this movie! Who's the star here? I watch an Abbott and Costello movie for comedy, not forgettable songs. Don't get me wrong, I don't mind a song here or there. But this was too much. It felt like they were more concerned with providing a showcase for Shay than worrying about making a good comedy.

The plot centers on Lou discovering he's related to Dorothy. So Kentucky native Shay accompanies the boys to her home. From here, we get a lot of jokes about hillbillies, feuds, and marrying 14 year-old cousins. I don't mind laughing at these types of jokes when they're clever, but this is all pretty tired. Even the presence of Margaret Hamilton can't save it, although that's the best scene.

Let me say that, while I didn't care much for her songs, Shay does have a likable quality about her and she's a perfectly fine singer. She's not bad to look at, either. Just wish there had been less of her singing her corny songs and more focus on comedy. I don't think I laughed more than once and that was during Hamilton's scene. The whole thing plays like one overlong cartoon. I don't know if it's the worst Abbott and Costello movie, but it's one of them.