Deux nigauds au collège

1945's "Here Come the Co-eds" was the last great Abbott and Costello picture until at least 1947's "The Wistful Widow of Wagon Gap," pairing Lou with the pretty and vivacious Peggy Ryan, already a veteran of a dozen films opposite regular musical co-star Donald O'Connor. Like The Marx Brothers, A & C were at their best in surroundings where they didn't belong, and working as caretakers at an all-girl college would be a dream job for any romantic fool. As Patty Gayle, perky Peggy Ryan shines as Costello's love interest, doing a charming song and dance called 'Let's Play House,' each in turn lascivious or childlike, Lou even prefacing the number by remarking, "I feel just like Donald O'Connor!" as Peggy smiles knowingly. Another rarity is giving Bud Abbott a sister in Martha O'Driscoll's Molly (despite the 27 year age difference!), who earns a scholarship to Bixby College, greatly improving their basketball team. The climactic game between Bixby and Carlisle gives Costello the opportunity to show why he used to be free throw champion of Paterson, New Jersey, making all the actual shots without missing, except for the final trick shot that bounces from one basket to the other (11 years later, he showed he still had it, effortlessly sinking a free throw for 'The Armory Five' on THIS IS YOUR LIFE). Three years before "Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein," Lon Chaney first encounters the team as the conniving caretaker, 'Strangler' Johnson, his best scene after Costello swallows his dice, making bets with Abbott by checking Lou through a fluoroscope! There's a comic wrestling match between Lou and Lon (the latter disguised as 'The Masked Marvel'), and one with Lou trying to eat oyster stew as its live occupant refuses to cooperate (revised for a frog in "The Wistful Widow of Wagon Gap," then disguised as whale meat in "Lost in Alaska"). Lon Chaney worked with Martha O'Driscoll in several pictures ("Crazy House," "Follow the Boys," "Ghost Catchers," "The Daltons Ride Again" and "House of Dracula"), while reuniting with Peggy Ryan in her penultimate film, 1949's "There's a Girl in My Heart," featuring several other former Universal players- Lee Bowman ("Buck Privates"), Gloria Jean ("Never Give a Sucker an Even Break"), and Elyse Knox ("Hit the Ice," "The Mummy's Tomb").

"Here Come the Co-eds" is another Abbott and Costello early film that's a hodgepodge of a plot. The comics have a couple of funny scenes - the best when they have to clean the quarters they are given when they hire on at Bixby College in the maintenance department. Lou has two other funny scenes - one battling a wild oyster and the other in a wrestling ring.

But this film jumps around and includes some classical music by the girls' school orchestra; then more music and a violin solo, and a big choreographed dance number by the school's cheer team. A very goofy basketball game isn't funny, even with Lou dressed up as a girl for the team.

Some of these other early Abbott and Costello movies made during the war seem very choppy. One wonders if the audiences weren't mostly youngsters then. This film does have a couple of recognizable actors in the supporting cast. Lon Chaney Jr. plays Johnson and Charles Dingle plays Jonathan Kirkland. The rest, including the musicians and the supporting cast are little known Hollywood performers.

I first saw this film on television late night movies. By that time, moviegoers had seen the films of the 1950s with the monsters and adventures that focused on the comedy. Those are much better films, and having seen them, one can recall how these earlier films were something of a letdown in later viewing. I surmise that the relatively higher ratings on IMDb for these early Abbott and Costello films is from fans of the comedy team, and/or people who like the type of silly mixtures of subjects that make up these films.

I just doubt that many movie fans would find this and the other early mixed Bud and Lou films very funny. But, by all means, watch and enjoy the Abbott and Costello Meet series. Those have some very good and funny antics.

The really amazing thing in this film is the progressive nature of the treatment of women's education. The film argues that women should be given equal education to men, a progressive, if not radical position in 1946.

There are a number of wonderful elements in this movie that raise it a notch above the average A and B comedy. Peggy Ryan is absolutely delightful as Costello's love interest. Lou makes the hilarious observation that he feels like Donald O'Connor. Apparently Peggy and Donald were in a series of popular movies just before this time, so the reference is to that fact. Peggy is perfectly cast as she mirrors Lou's innocent boyish quality with her own innocent girlish quality. Peggy's character's name is Patty and I would wager that Charles Schulz's Peppermint Patty character comes from the character in this movie.

The dropping of the handkerchief bit is still hilarious and Costello's trick basketball shooting while in drag is quite enjoyable.

Altogether, it is a delightful mixture which works on many levels. I would put it just below "Time of Their Lives" and "Abbott and Costello meet Frankenstein" as my favorite A and B film.

Bud and Lou are hapless dance escorts who get fired from their jobs and wind up working as janitors at an all-girl college. Their grumpy supervisor is none other than rough and ready Lon Chaney (THE WOLF MAN). After a series of funny events, the topper comes when Costello has to save the day playing for the girl's basketball team, to win money and save the school.

HERE COME THE CO-EDS is really a pretty good comedy from the team at this mid-point in their careers. It's fun to see Lon Chaney joining in the antics with A&C (Lon would later re-join the duo to reprise his role of the Wolf Man in ABBOTT AND COSTELLO MEET FRANKENSTEIN), and pretty Martha O'Driscoll is easy on the eyes as the model who gains enrollment at the college. Some of the film's assets are a generous amount of humorous sequences that make it worth the effort: Lou eats Oyster Stew with a live oyster; the boys engage in a funny kitchen clean-up; Costello wrestles the Masked Marvel; Bud keeps interrupting Lou while he tries to tell his joke about Jonah and the Whale, and Lou swallows a pair of dice so Bud and Chaney have to toss him around in order to gamble.

It's almost sad to have to say it, but here again there are far too many musical interludes that pop up throughout the course of the good time, and these often bring the gags to a screeching halt. Some tunes are lightweight fluff, though a couple are downright excruciating (like the two violin solos). If not for these breaks, I would rate the movie a bit higher. If you're looking for an entertaining Abbott and Costello film to laugh with, give this one a try. Skip over the musical numbers if you must, but give the comedy a chance. **1/2 out of ****

Castle films extracted the best scenes from this feature and made two 8mm/16mm shorts "Fun on the Run" and "Oysters and Muscles" for the home film market.This was done in 1949 and both titles were among the most popular of all the A&C Castle shorts.If you look up on Ebay you can see both titles listed numerous times during the year.Most are regular 8mm,as 16mm sound was usually to expensive for the average home market user.

I have collected 16mm Castle Films since the 1960's.Before VHS & DVD,s came along, 16mm optical sound track was basically the only format for showing sound edition prints. When super 8mm came on the scene in the later 60's you could buy magnetic sound super 8 prints...

It was reported that after A&C had split up and weren't under contract to Universal pictures any longer;Lou Costello sued Castle Films for unpaid royalties he believed were due him from Castle's Home Market sales.I believe it was never settled as Costello died in 1959 and Castle Films continued on well into the 70's before becoming Universal 8...s.m.