Une nuit sous les tropiques

My first viewing of this movie left me surprised. Why? For years I'd read that the only plus was the first screen appearance of Lou and Bud. Instead I found the story fun and the cast fine, especially Bob Cummings as a kind of good-looking Woody Allen-type character. Bob in fact takes the limelight whenever he's on the screen.

When the boys did appear, it was if they'd walked in off the lot next door with no idea of what was going on. Their routines were pure music hall. There seemed to be no effort to work them into the story. Perhaps the point that neither were sympathetic characters didn't help. So anyone with expectations of this movie should be prepared for something different.

"One Night in the Tropics" is the film debut of the great comedy team, Abbott and Costello. The story line is 1940s amusing: a rich guy is engaged to a beautiful woman but he's loudly and publicly pursued by another gorgeous gal who declares he'll be her husband - or else. The fellow's best friend winds up in love with his pal's fiancee. Guess who that fellow winds up with.

Throw in a silly plot about a newly hatched business scheme, a policy for "Love Insurance" and we're back in a simpler time for romantic comedy.

Very conventional stuff with scenes set in the tropics as not very well realized by the backlot crew.

What makes this film fun is Abbott and Costello who largely steal the show as employees of a less than scrupulous businessman (of sorts). This is the movie that introduced the most famous, probably, A & B skit, "Who's on First?" Terrific! But there's also a very funny dialogue about the properties of mustard and its crucial relationship to the enjoyment of a hot dog. These guys are still among the funniest ever in movies.

Jerome Kern composed the music and songs for "One Night in the Tropics." It's not his finest or most memorable work but ANYTHING by Kern is infinitely better than what most Hollywood film score composers and songwriters were doing in those days.

Earl Derr Biggers, creator of Charlie Chan, wrote the book on which the film is based. Many will be surprised to see this side of him. No murders, no brilliant detectives-just a bunch of fun characters lighting up the screen.

8/10.

Abbott & Costello made their film debut in this otherwise forgettable and lightweight comedy as two "enforcers" for a nightclub owner(played by William Frawley) who has underwritten a "love insurance" policy to ensure that an engaged man(played by Robert Cummings) will marry his fiancée(played by Nancy Kelly) though his old girlfriend(played by Peggy Moran) tries to break it up, as does a disapproving aunt. Will true love prevail? Not that funny, though it is obvious why the team of Abbott & Costello took off; they provide the film's only bright spots, going on to star in many comedies for Universal Studios during the 1940's through the mid 1950's.

A delightful movie, `One Night In the Tropic' Features Abbott and Costello in their first film together, but they are not leads. Their next film, `Buck Privates' (1941) they would save Universal and they would star in their first leading roles.

Yet anyway, this film casts Allan Jones as Jim "Lucky" Moore, an insurance salesman who comes up with the idea of selling his friend, Steve (Robert Cummings) a love insurance policy, because if his fiancée, Cynthia (Nancy Kelly) won't marry Steve, he stands to collect. Jim has Roscoe (William Frawley), a nightclub owner, finance the policy. However, complications occur when Lucky finds himself falling in love with Cynthia. Not wanting to pay off the policy, Roscoe hires his stooges, Abbott and Costello, to make sure Steve does marry Cynthia. Complications soon follow after boarding an ocean liner to San Marcos, South America.

Abbott and Costello do however; steal the show with many of their sketches, including The Mustard Routine, Money Changing, Jonah and the whale, Paid In Full and Two Tens for a Five. Who can forget `Who's On First'? Apparently the Paid in full Routine has only been in this film and the film is worth catching for this sketch alone.

I enjoyed this silly B-Musical and had a fun time with it. You will, too!

MPAA Rating: NR

My Rating: 6 and up

My * Rating: 7.2

Allan Jones is an insurance salesman with a streak of the riverboat gambler in him. Not surprising since he played Gaylord Ravenal in Show Boat earlier for Universal. He sells Bob Cummings a policy that guarantees him marriage. Of course father Richard Carle hits the roof and sends Jones off to a tropical paradise with Cummings and intended bride Nancy Kelly to see the nuptials go off smoothly. Around to potentially gum up the works is Peggy Moran, Cummings former girl friend.

Of course in One Night in the Tropics in the Caribbean island of San Marcos all kinds of romantic complications ensue in a plot that's totally ripped off from A Midsummer Night's Dream. If you are familiar with that work of Shakespeare you know how the story comes out. The film is taken from Earl Derr Bigger's novel Love Insurance, but there's no doubt where it all comes from originally.

One Night in the Tropics marks the film debut of Abbott and Costello and it is the only time they were ever not billed first. Allan Jones and Nancy Kelly were above them. They got OK notices here and Universal decided to star them in one of their low budget musicals called Buck Privates. That had a success no one predicted and they were above the title forever after that.

Allan Jones and Peggy Moran as our resident musical performers got to sing some Jerome Kern songs. Even mediocre Kern is better than most and one I particularly liked was Your Dream is the Same as My Dream sung first by Moran and reprised by Jones. The song served as a plot device to make sure all the couples were matched up properly.

Allan Jones has always been a personal favorite of mine. He had wonderfully pleasant tenor voice, shown to good advantage here. His musicals with Universal got gradually lower in quality after this one though. They are rarely seen, this one is because of Abbott and Costello's presence.

And a good thing too.