Two Weeks to Live

When I was quite young, Lum and Abner came on the radio for a 15 minute program every day-or so it seemed. The program was usually a dialogue between the two of them. There was not that much that was funny for a little kid, but their voices and speech were a treat.

This movie is a pleasant easy-going version of their radio humor. A situation is set up for them to meet strange characters and get into comic situations. All of this had been done a lot before this; the oddball characters, the gags, the situations would all have been familiar to 1943 audiences. But the Lum and Abner characters with their distinctive "country" speech and their strange misunderstandings of the big city and the people in it , freshen things up quite a bit.

This movies segues from one comic situation to another smoothly enough. If you don't find one funny, the next one will be along shortly, and it is likely to get a laugh out of you. Absolutely low pressure, easy-going humor.

Try watching it when you're stressed out. This film will calm you down.

Two Weeks to Live... Starring old time radio guys Chester Lauck and Norris Goff, moved to the movie screen. And of course, Frank Pangborn as Mr. Pinkney. They inherit a railroad, and decide that being conductor is more fun than being president of the company. Then they are off to the big city for the wheeling and dealing of running the railroad. Lots of fun puns and quick one and two liners! The sound and picture quality are pretty rough, but these disks were probably copied after the copyright ran out (?). Lots of adventures, gags, fun characters that come and go. There IS a pretty good (if silly) plot line here, but it really doesn't matter... we're just along for the gags, jokes, punchlines. A fun watch, even if you never heard their radio shows back in the old days. Lots of outdoor location shots, and downtown LA. Too bad that as of today, none are listed in Locations on IMDb. Also liberal use of backdrops. Very Beverly Hillbillie-ish, but still a lot of fun. This is interesting, even just for historical reasons. If you haven't heard of them before, check them out at en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lum_and_Abner . This is just one of a bunch of films they made in the 1940s.

Directed by Malcolm St. Clair, who worked with ALL the biggies - Mack Sennett, Laurel & Hardy, Joan Crawford, Clara Bow.

Chester Lauck and Norris Goff made the characters of Lum&Abner household names, in their time they were as famous on radio as Amos&Andy. Both men were fortunate in that they looked like the characters they played on radio so making films was a smooth transition for them. During the height of their popularity in the Forties before television they made a few films and Two Weeks To Live is one of them.

These two gentle rustics, proprietors of the local grocery store in Pine Ridge Arkansas find out that Abner has inherited a railroad and they start dreaming big. Turns out it's just a Hooterville Cannonball type line that carried ore from a gold mine that Abner's uncle owned back in the day that's long played out. In fact when probate and taxes are done they owe money. And they've sold right of ways to the various farmers back in Pine Ridge and they're in some deep debt now.

To pay it off they engage in various schemes as the plot moves from one crazy situation to another. Abner even gets a diagnosis mixed up with a man with Two Weeks To Live hence the title. Lum starts using Abner the way Crosby used Hope in those various Road pictures. They also get involved with saboteurs, a crazy mad scientist who wants to send one of the boys to Mars in a rocket, and a window washer with an invisible dog.

The production values aren't much, the film looks like it was shot with a brownie camera, still it's quite amusing. Lum&Abner were the predecessor for the Beverly Hillbillies, Andy Griffith and all sorts of television with a rural red state setting. Their naive and gentle humor is still amusing.

The movie has Abner inheriting a railroad from his uncle in Chicago and Lum having the idea that they should buy the rightaway from local areas so the train can run through Pine Ridge, using the money from local citizens. When the two reach Chicago, they find out the train is something to be better used for scrap. Abner then slips down the lawyers stairs, and is taken to the doctor. The results of Abner's diagnosis are mixed and then mistakenly learns he has two weeks to live. Abner then takes on a series of dangerous stunts in order to pay back the money to the Pine Ridge citizens. The movie has its moments and interesting characters, but strictly this is an OK B picture used to capitalize on the radio series. Worth watching if you like the show. Rating, 6 out of 10.

This is the first one of the Lum and Abner movies i have ever seen. I have heard a few audio tapes of the old radio show over the last 6 years and I have to say that from the time this movie started playing on my DVD player until the end of it I was laughing so much I feel this live movie is even more funny than the old radio show. It is so wild what old Abner has to get into after he and Lum are fooled into thinking that he has only two weeks to live. It is also so funny at the end when Lum is put in that rocket ship and crashes near that sign in Iowa thinking that he is just nine miles from the Planet Mars when the sign says "9 Miles to Mars Iowa" and it is such a funny movie with what those two get into! I would recommend anyone who likes comedies to watch this movie!