User reviews

Hit The Ice was Universal Studio's attempt to cash in on the popularity of 20th Century Fox's Sun Valley Serenade which mixed swing music with Sonja Henie's ice skating. Universal didn't have an ice skater of the caliber of Sonja Henie, but they did have Abbott&Costello and Costello on the ice was a sight to see.

As for the swing music, Glenn Miller and his Orchestra were in Sun Valley Serenade and Universal didn't have them either. By this time Glenn Miller had gone to war. So they hired one of the good second line swing orchestras of the period led by violinist Johnny Long. And they also acquired Ginny Simms one of the best female singers from the Forties to appear with Long.

However first and foremost the film is an Abbott&Costello effort and the boys do come through. They're first free lance photographers who take a picture of gangsters Sheldon Leonard, Marc Lawrence, and Joe Sawyer robbing a bank while Leonard is supposed to be in a hospital. Leonard's set up careful alibi about that even with doctor Patric Knowles and nurse Elyse Knox suspicious. Costello's camera work threatens to blow up some best laid plans.

The whole cast winds up at Sun Valley during the ski season, setting up a most excellent chase sequence with the boys and the crooks going down slope. We're not quite sure who's chasing who, but the loot from the robbery is involved.

Bud and Lou do some very good work. Sad to say that the film was badly edited and there are some plot problems because of it. Towards the end you see the boys in tuxedos waiting for Ginny Simms at a train station with no real explanation as to why they're in the formal wear. Simms also gets to play straight girl for the boys, part of her role is to vamp Costello and she does a good job. All that beauty and an incredible set of pipes.

Hit The Ice is not one of their best efforts, but still better than some of what they did in the Fifties and should please Bud and Lou's strong legion of fans the world over.

I've always liked this Abbott & Costello outing, probably ranking it just in their top ten - but I really don't know why! The story is so contrived and abounding with plot leaps and non-sequiteurs I wonder what everyone was thinking about in the making and release of this. I think it must be the fun and inconsequential atmosphere created so effortlessly by Universal studios during the War that brings me back to re-watch Hit The Ice every few years, along with my love of A&C of course.

Basically: 2 photographers are mixed up in bank robbery, the main perp of which is laid up as ill in hospital as an alibi. His doctor is going to Sun Valley to take up a new post, so the gangsters tag along with him taking the suspicious nurse in tow - plus A&C trying to clear their names. Ignoring all the plot inanities along the way, this would be a pleasant but ordinary comedy with ditto songs - which were beautifully produced and evocative of the time, but not very catchy. But A&C's packing and re-packing the grip routine still holds up well even with the overly childish conclusion to it. It's also a film that can be watched credulously at 10 years old, in middle age the link to the Keystone Kops is sadly more apparent - who finds them a Laugh Riot nowadays? On the other hand compared to Blazing Saddles (the personal yardstick that I regularly use to gauge the worth of various films) this is a beautiful work of Art - seriously!

So the bottom line is if like me you can overlook plot and you like A&C then you'll do alright, if not, well, it's definitely not their best anyway!

A strong entry from Abbott & Costello which sees them unwittingly aiding a trio of gangsters to rob a bank and having to then track them down before they are arrested for the crime themselves. Costello's encounter with a little girl on an ice rink is a scream.

Underrated A&C slapstick. The boys are photographers who get mixed up with bank robbers, ending up in a whirlwind ski run at Sun Valley. It's a darn near perfect mix of Costello prat-falls, big band tunes, and mock theatrics. Note how Lou often plays to the camera, acknowledging our presence in humorous fashion.

Plus, it's a great supporting cast of baddies, including a menacing Sheldon Leonard, a sinister Marc Lawrence, and a thuggish Joe Sawyer. And get a load of songstress Ginny Simms-. I'd stamp her name on my fuselage any day. Then there's the sweetly pretty Elyse Knox who, unfortunately, passed away just a short time ago.

Happily, the gags fly thick and fast in a script loaded with clever gimmicks, such as the handkerchief trick that's no sure thing as Lou finds out. Plus, there's the ice rink that made me appreciate what an expert athlete Costello is despite his ungainly appearance.

Anyway, the material is fresh, the boys are energetic, and the pacing is snappy, making this a top-notch entry in the A&C sweepstakes.

I enjoyed this one a lot. Several funny bits. Watching Lou try to ice skate makes me laugh every time. Love the skiing climax. The gangster stuff with Sheldon Leonard is pretty great, too. I'll add that Patric Knowles and Elyse Knox are likable side characters. Usually the least entertaining part of comedies like this are the romantic subplots with whatever B stars the studio is trying to push. But here they not only don't offend, they add to the picture. I actually cared about them. Anyway, it's not a top ten A&C flick maybe but it's a fun one. Lots of slapping. We don't have enough slapping in movies these days.

I would like these sorts of movies a lot better if they didn't have the musical scenes. I watch these movies strictly to laugh. Certainly plenty of scenes made me laugh (namely the snowball scene). One can imagine being a fairly intelligent guy like Abbott's character always having to deal with a brainless sap like Costello's character and how annoying it would be.

So, even though the singing drags the movie down, I recommend it overall. Pretty entertaining.

Tied up for a while indeed...

PS: Sheldon Leonard, who played Silky, later produced "The Danny Thomas Show" and "The Dick Van Dyke Show". He also provided his voice to Robert McKimson's cartoons "Kiddin' the Kitten" and "A Peck o' Trouble" as a lazy cat who tries to make a kitten do his work.

...but dangerously close.

However, there is still enough here to keep the grin on the face and there is still a high production value within the structure, if only the same could be said of the writing! I tend to feel with Abbott & Costello movies it pays to take a break for a few months and then go back to further viewings refreshed and not feeling a sense of seen this before repetitiveness.

This one sees the boys as photographers who unwittingly get mixed up in a bank robbery and have to flee to a ski resort to hopefully prove their innocence. The usual pratfalls are abound as Tubby constantly loses his pants, gets his bum set on fire, skis with a grizzly bear, and of course he tries to woo the pretty lady by bluffing he can play the piano. Music comes courtesy of Ginny Simms and the Johnny Long Orchestra, with stoic supporting acting duties falling to Patric Knowles, Elyse Knox and the always great Sheldon Leonard as the chief villain.

Not close to being in the top five outings from the guys, but certainly an above average offering showing glimpses of just why they really were a special talent back in the day. 6/10

For anyone who doesn't like Winter this movie will make you love aspects of it. Ginny Simms singing all feel good songs and Ginny Simms and Elyse Knox good looks are worth watching this movie for alone.

Fun Abbott & Costello movie! In this one, they play photographs who get tangled in a bank robbery. Funny scenes like the one where Costello is packing and unpacking. Or the one where they're skiing down the hill. Or even the one on the ice rink. Look also for a small bit by Mantan Moreland. That guy is so funny!

On the negative side, there's a bit too much singing in this one. Why turned this into a half-musical when the jokes and pirouettes of our two guys are enough?

Out of 100, I gave it 79. That's good for *** on a **** stars rating system.

Seen at home, in Welland, on December 6th, 2001.

Having just watched Laurel & Hardy in the Swiss Alps in Swiss Miss, I decided to then rewatch Abbott & Costello in Sun Valley in Hit the Ice. They play photographers who unwittingly get involved in taking pics of villain Sheldon Leonard and his henchmen after they rob a bank. I'll stop there and just say Bud & Lou once again are funny with their routines, like "Pack/Unpack" and "All Right!", and especially Lou's reactions and pratfalls. This was one of their early ones in which there are several musical interludes of which many are performed by Ginny Simms. I didn't mind them the first time I watched this 40 years ago and I still don't mind now. While looking at the cast list on this site, I noticed a couple of them-Edward Gargan and Mantan Moreland-had the year before appeared in Laural & Hardy's A-Haunting We Will Go. While regular A & C court jester Bobby Barber was also listed as being in this movie, I didn't recognize him anywhere here. Oh, and since I always like to cite when a player from my favorite movie It's a Wonderful Life is in another film, here it's Mr. Leonard who was, of course, Nick the Bartender in IAWL. So on that note, I truly re-enjoyed Hit the Ice. My next review will be Laurel & Hardy's short Towed in a Hole.

The snowball that was Bud Abbott and Lou Costello was only getting bigger by the time they made this mistaken-identity farce in 1943, even if their variety-show-with-slapstick formula was beginning to wear thin.

Tubby (Lou) and Flash (Bud) are enterprising city photographers who somehow get mistaken for hoods from Detroit by a trio of bank robbers faking a hospital stay for a post-heist alibi. The five of them all wind up at a ski resort in Sun Valley, where Tubby and Flash try to stay alive and one step ahead of discovery. It's a daunting task for any duo, especially these two.

The weaknesses of "Hit The Ice" are immediately apparent, and make for some tedious moments, particularly in the first half. Whether it's getting stuck on a fire ladder or falling out of a speeding ambulance, the need to give their audience what they wanted pushes the envelope of believability early and often. As a caper comedy, "Hit The Ice" is neither as clever nor as intriguing as the Boys' prior efforts.

At least the bad guys are fun. As played by Sheldon Leonard (Silky), Marc Lawrence (Phil), and Joe Sawyer (Buster), they make for worthy foils. Leonard was the prince of hoods in movies for a long time, and Lawrence even longer, as he made a mark in "Key Largo" and "The Man With The Golden Gun" almost 30 years apart. Sawyer has a nice bit with Lou where he is challenged to stand on a handkerchief and hit Tubby, which he does, even with a door between them.

The mistaken-identity angle at least is good fun. Mistaken for hit men, the pair talk airily about "shooting" several people already that day. "We got to make a living, don't we?" Flash says. Somehow, the hoods buy this.

To pad out the movie, there are several musical interludes, which prove real loyalty tests for A&C fans today. To be fair, the pair are only a little better even doing their routines, like the "Pack/Unpack" sequence and a bit where Lou pretends to play the piano to impress Ginny Simms as the band singer Marcia. These are fitfully amusing, but too obviously shoehorned in.

Silky is being looked after by a doctor played by Yorkshireman Patric Knowles, who it turns out grew up on 18th Street with Tubby and Flash. Bandleader Johnny Long also grew up there, which is how Tubby and Flash find work in Sun Valley. Given Long's strong Southern accent, 18th Street must have been very long.

The whole film has a slapdash quality to it. When it's on, it's okay, but it never rises to the level of A&C's best material. Knowles' character (Dr. Burns in the movie, Dr. Elliot in the end credits) has a chippy relationship with Elyse Knox's nurse character, who somehow puts up with his insulting demeanor long enough to fall in love with him. Everyone gets a girl by the end except Tubby, which is supposed to be funny somehow.

At least the finale, a ski chase sequence, delivers some of the movie's best moments, incorporating sled dogs, a skunk, a rabbit, a bear, a mining hat, a bag with the stolen goods, and the aforementioned handkerchief trick.

"Hit The Ice" was the last A&C movie made before the pair began to lose their stature as top box-office draws and personal tragedy began rocking their boat. One wishes it could have been better under the circumstances, instead of a by-the-numbers assembly-line project, but it still amuses enough in places to keep you watching, if not as happily as in the halcyon days of "Buck Privates" or "Hold That Ghost."

Photographers Flash and Tubby believe they have land a paying job when they agree to cover a group of men coming out of a bank. Little do they know that the men are bank robbers who have mistaken the two for hired guns, booked to cover the entrance during the job. They discovery this too late and suddenly find themselves suspected of the robbery themselves. With only the photographs they took as leverage, the two follow the crooks to a mountain ski resort where they plan to expose them and clear their own names.

Abbott & Costello are always a duo I come back to but yet they are also a duo that tend to deliver solid amusement rather than great films. Hit the Ice is another one of those because it is roundly "ok" even if it does have some bits that capture why people love these two. The plot is a simple affair with the usual misunderstandings and scrapes along the way but it does work, providing the love interest for Costello to flirt with and also the tough guys for him to face off against. There are a few routines that are good fun like the "teller" one or the bit where Costello packs and unpacks repeatedly, while the pratfalls and chases are amusing and are done with energy. It doesn't have enough to be considered a great film or anything but it is amusing enough to please fans and also children.

The film is padded far too much with musical numbers. You expect one or maybe two but there are loads of them here and they never feel like anything other than filler. Abbott and Costello are both on pretty good form here, they feel like they are working well off one another – with Costello in particular putting effort into his falls and double-takes. Simms' songs perhaps don't appeal but she certainly does – stunningly beautiful and she has an easy screen presence that helps as well – I feel for Knox who has to compete but doesn't really. Leonard is fun as the main villain while Knowles is about as vanilla and dull as he could have been.

Overall this is an OK piece of comedy that fans will like as well as kids. There are a couple of funny routines and, although it has too much of it, the pratfall-style comedy is OK too. The musical numbers are overused and slow the film down but at least you get to look at Simms while they are on (well, mostly). Solid but unremarkable.

Enjoyable-enough Abbott and Costello romp where they start out as two average photographers, only to get mixed up with a group of bank robbers lead by Sheldon Leonard. The crooks mistake Bud and Lou (called Flash and Tubby here) for hired hit men when they talk of "how many people they've shot". This leads to the boys becoming nailed for a robbery, and they have to get away to the snowy Alps while trying to expose the real bad guys and prove their innocence. Nothing original, but Abbott and Costello have a few good comic routines to keep you laughing. Among the high points are: Bud constantly telling Lou to "Pack!" and then "Unpack!" when he can't make up his mind if they should get out of town or not. Also featured is the "Alright!" bit where Lou tries to impress glamor gal Ginny Simms by "playing the piano" for her while Bud hides in the background with a record player, waiting for his friend's cue. Speaking of Miss Simms, she's rather a detriment to these proceedings at times, often bursting into singing which slows things to a snail-like pace. And what's more, her songs aren't very good. **1/2 out of ****

Bud and Lou walk into an apparently empty bank:

B: "Teller!"

L: "I'll tell her, where is she?"

B: "Where is who? I said teller"

L: "Tell her what?"

B: "Tell her nothing. I want a teller"

L: "Go ahead and tell her, I don't care!"

B: "No, teller in the bank"

L: "Tell her in the bank, tell her on the street, tell her anywhere you want, I won't listen"

"Hit the Ice" has some very funny verbal exchanges (the aforementioned "teller" routine had me in tears, followed by the "pack the grip" - "unpack the grip" one), and also some absurdist moments (check out the way they enter the mountain cabin). Less successful are Lou's pratfalls in the skating ring (seeing him fall flat on his face is not so funny after the 10th time it happens), and the climactic ski chase suffers from the obviousness of the rear projection. Kids will probably enjoy the slapstick parts more, but I imagine that most adults will prefer the verbal humor.

Ginny Simms' songs are forgettable and time-wasting, but at least we get to look at her - she was a remarkably beautiful woman. (**1/2)

Abbott & Costello play Flash Fulton & Tubby McCoy, two newspaper photographers who are mistaken for hit men by a trio of gangsters(played by Sheldon Leonard, Marc Lawrence, & Joe Sawyer) who plan to rob a bank while have an alibi of being in the hospital. The boys become prime suspects for the crime, so flee to a ski lodge where they meet old friend Johnny Long and his orchestra, along with singer Ginny Simms, who get them jobs, while they dodge the gangsters and clear their names. Patrick Knowles & Elyse Knox play the doctor and nurse fooled into helping the "sick" gang leader. Very funny comedy with pleasant setting, good cast and songs. Quite underrated comedy with the team.

Not one of Abbott and Costello's best, but it still manages to be above average. The film certainly ranks above a lot of their later films, and it captures them still in their prime, and it's the last time Costello has the same perfect quality he had in their previous films(after this film, Lou was stricken with rheumatic fever, and recovered only to have his baby boy drown two days prier to his first birthday. After these events, Lou was never quite the same. He was always hilarious and lovable, he just had a difficult time giving his all to the parts anymore.) The ice skating scene is a Lou Costello highlight, as is the ski scene. This film also features the best version of "Pack/Unpack".

HIT THE ICE (Universal, 1943), directed by Charles Lamont, certainly has the distinction of being another one of many ice skating musicals starring Olympic skating champion, Sonja Henie. Though Henie doesn't appear, much of the icing goes to Universal's top comedy team of Bud Abbott and Lou Costello. While there are good songs and some ice skating involved, HIT THE ICE also has the distinction of other fine things presented that truly indicate why Abbott and Costello movies were so successful during the World War II years. Though they don't really hit the ice, they surely were hitting their stride.

The story opens at Fulton Hospital where Harry "Silky" Fellowsby (Sheldon Leonard) occupies a room feigning feverish illness in order to establish an alibi as he and his fellow mobster pals, Phil (Marc Lawrence) and Buster (Joseph Sawyer) sneak out of the hospital to rob the bank across the street. While Bill Burns (Patric Knowles) is doctor in the case, his nurse, Peggy Osborne (Elyse Knox) suspects foul play. As the gangsters await for the arrival of a couple of gunmen from Detroit, Doctor Burns meets up with a couple of friends from his childhood days, Flash Fulton (Bud Abbott) and Tubby McCoy (Lou Costello), now photographers hoping to get some pictures for the newspaper where they hope to obtain employment. Inviting the boys to come along on an emergency call via ambulance, naturally when Flash and Tubby unintentionally encounter Silky and his gang at the hospital, they are mistaken for the boys from Detroit. Unwittingly assisting the gangsters in the bank robbery, it's Flash and Tubby who are accused with their photo sketches placed on the newspaper's front page. As the dual attempt to prove their innocence and return the bank money by following the gangsters via train to Sun Valley, Silky and his gang keep watch on Flash and Tubby believing they hold actual photos of them at the robbery. In the meantime, as Silky hides the loot in his mountain cabin, Burns, now a resident physician at Sun Valley accompanied by his ever suspicious nurse, Flash and Tubby, working as waiters, soon meet up with another friend from their boyhood days, orchestra leader Johnny Long (Johnny Long), whose vocalist, Marcia Manning (Ginny Simms), might have some connection with Silky and his gang. Then the fun really begins.

Aside from great comedy routines in the true Abbott and Costello fashion, including some clever verbal exchanges (one resembling their classic "baseball" routine), pack and unpack, Costello's "all right" piano playing to a recording (a scene usually edited from broadcast TV channels to allot for extended commercial breaks, and a routine later recreated in an episode to their 1950s TV series, "The Abbott and Costello Show"), and the handkerchief and punch-me gag, there's the usual time-out song interludes to showcase some musical talent, in this case, the vocalization of the gorgeous Ginny Simms. Songs scored by Harry Revel and Paul Francis Webster include: "I'm Like a Fish Out of Water" (no connection to the same title tune from the 1937 Warner Brothers musical, "Hollywood Hotel"); "I Like to Set You to Music" (sung by Ginny Simms, The Four Teens, and Johnny Long); "Slap Happy Polka" (sung by Simms and skaters) and "Happiness Bound" (sung by band members). Of the four tunes, "Slap Happy Polka" and "Happiness Bound" are at its listening best, with the Polka number staged in hilarious fashion as Costello gets himself entangled in an ice skating ensemble, to hilarious results. If that's not hilarious enough, be sure not to miss Abbott and Costello's climatic chase coming down the mountain on skis.

With frequent broadcast television revivals, especially on New York City's WPIX Channel 11 Abbott and Costello Sunday morning movies(1971-1990), and prior to that on WNBC, Channel 4's late show through much of the late sixties, HIT THE ICE, which was then one of the most widely known among Abbott and Costello film titles, has become sadly overlooked through the passage of time, which is a shame because it's still 84 minutes of old-style non-stop fun.

Formerly available on video cassette around the 1990s, HIT THE ICE can still be seen in its full glory on DVD, along with other Abbott and Costello titles on the same disc as IN SOCIETY (1944) and THE NAUGHTY NINETIES (1945). Take note that while Costello is called "Tubby" throughout the story, he's listed in the closing cast credits under the name of "Weejie." Now that's really hitting the ice. (***)

Honestly I never thought I'd struggle to sit through an Abbott and Costello movie, But this was bad. The jokes felt old the singing was over the top I would give it 1 but 1star but I can't bring myself to one star two of hollywoods biggest legends

One very interesting aspect of this film is that most of the story is set in Sun Valley, Idaho, while the U.S. was right in the middle of World War II. The film came out in June 1943 but wasn't filmed at the Sun Valley Resort which had been closed and converted to a convalescent hospital for the U.S. Navy. It stayed that way into 1946. So, the actual filming took place at Boreal Mountain Resort in California, with footage from Sun Valley edited into the film.

By the early 1940s, the public had become fascinated with Sun Valley from the publicity about the famous ski resort. It was built by the Union Pacific Railroad in the last 1930s. While this film story is set in Sun Valley, one wonders how many of the public knew that the famous lodge had been by then for wartime use.

"Hit the Ice" is in an early group of Abbott and Costello films that had a little bit of everything - comedy, big band music, singers, and crime or mystery. But the talent list of supporters for this film is very thin. There are no big-name stars to give the film a boost. The most recognizable of the rest of the cast is Sheldon Leonard. He plays Silky Fellowsby, a sleazy criminal role for which he became known. The acting by Patric Knowles (Dr. Bill Elliot,), Ginny Simms (Marcia Manning), and Elyse Knox (nurse Peggy Osborne) is weak and lacks energy. Johnny Long and his orchestra are okay, but nothing special. And the singing by Simms and Knox is forgettable.

Bud Abbott and Lou Costello have a couple of scenes where they do their stuff together. And, one scene of a chase on skis is funny. But the rest of the comedy in group scenes is mostly flat. Audiences in 1943 might have thought skating scenes in which Lou crashes into gates and pulls awning poles down to be funny, but I'm a little skeptical even of that. When I first saw this film on TV in the 1950s, I didn't think it was very funny then.

It may be a stretch to give this film five stars. But for Abbott and Costello fans, most viewers won't find this film more than just passable.