Deux nigauds vendeurs

Original title: Little Giant

1946
Approved
1h 31m

IMDb RATING

YOUR RATING

Bud Abbott, Lou Costello, and Brenda Joyce in Deux nigauds vendeurs (1946)

Lou Costello plays a country bumpkin vacuum-cleaner salesman, working for the company run by the crooked Bud Abbott. To try to keep him under his thumb, Abbott convinces Costello that he's a... Read allLou Costello plays a country bumpkin vacuum-cleaner salesman, working for the company run by the crooked Bud Abbott. To try to keep him under his thumb, Abbott convinces Costello that he's a crackerjack salesman. This comedy is somewhat like Deux nigauds dans le manoir hanté (194... Read allLou Costello plays a country bumpkin vacuum-cleaner salesman, working for the company run by the crooked Bud Abbott. To try to keep him under his thumb, Abbott convinces Costello that he's a crackerjack salesman. This comedy is somewhat like Deux nigauds dans le manoir hanté (1946), in that Abbott and Costello don't have much screen time together and there are very fe... Read all

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

6.7/10

1.5K

YOUR RATING

See production info at IMDbPro

User reviews21

Featured review

Spotty, at Best

A countrified Costello goes to the city to sell vacuum cleaners and ends up a mind reader.

It's a departure for A&C, more scripted with a structured storyline than previous entries. That's understandable since the war is over and audiences are looking for more than simple escapism. Actually, the entry is more a curiosity than a straightforward comedy. Abbott plays multiple parts, showing a talent for the occasionally sinister and low-down, while Costello plays something of a lovable Chaplin-like simpleton. There're a couple of funny routines and a few gag lines, but fewer than usual, plus a pacing that lacks needed snap.

I liked the 7x13=28 routine, which shows a lot of amusing ingenuity. There's also Costello's extended seduction routine where the statuesque deWit hovers above him in a drop-dead sexy gown. But, I'm sort of surprised the screenplay doesn't make more of the comedic potential of a door-to-door salesman since that could lead to a whole series of funny situations. Instead, we get only one sales set-up, a really funny one with Margaret Dumont and her poor besieged carpet.

Anyway, this move toward a more serious and structured storyline appears not to have been very successful since the boys soon turned to the highly successful A&C Meet series of straightforward comedies. After seeing this rather tame effort, I can understand why.

dougdoepke
Feb 23, 2012
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Trivia
When Lou Costello is mistaken for a male model and forced to strip, there is a very visible bandage on his right arm; that was to mask the bracelet containing the name of his baby son, who died in 1943, which the comic had welded closed so it could never be removed.

Goofs
Abbott's toupee shifts noticeably during the "7 times 13 = 28" scene. (The "shift" is due to the fact that the scene was filmed after principal photography was completed. It was felt that at least one classic "routine" had to be inserted into the picture. You will notice that Lou is also heavier during this footage. Also filmed at this time was the routine with Sidney Fields, replacing a less confrontational sequence filmed with Eddy Waller.)