Deux nigauds marins

Bud Abbott and Lou Costello work up to a goofy stride in "In the Navy," their second feature film and also the second in which they're in the service. Having left the Army for the Navy, their misadventures continue with Abbott still the money-hunting con artist and Costello his sidekick and, usually, patsy.

An A & C skit is the highlight of every film they made and here Abbott's blatant cheating at Three-Card Monte, played with produce, is very funny.

The score is so-so. Jerome Kern composed the music for "Buck Privates." The composers here weren't in Kern's league.

Supported by the ever fine Andrews Sisters and Dick Powell as a famous crooner running away from fame to seek anonymity by serving his country, "In the Navy" has a stronger national defense message than its G.I. predecessor. We were getting closer to war. "Keep your ship afloat," intones an officer at a recruit graduation ceremony. Sadly, the magnificent but obsolescent battleships shown at the beginning and end of the film and in quick shots within the story are the very vessels that suffered the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.

The movie is dedicated to the navy personnel at the San Diego and San Pedro bases from which the Pacific Fleet deployed to Pearl Harbor in 1941 at President Roosevelt's express orders.

7/10

Having just left Laurel & Hardy attempting to sail a boat in Towed in a Hole, I just now rewatched Abbott & Costello as sailors in In the Navy. Also on board is former Warner Bros. Musical star Dick Powell as a popular radio crooner who's anxious to ditch his female fans and Claire Dodd as a newspaper photographer trying to take his picture. Returning with Bud & Lou in this, their third starring film but their second released after Buck Privates (which is mistakenly IDed in the beginning flag-pulling sequence), are Shemp Howard as their foil and The Andrews Sisters who this time, besides doing their singing numbers, also have dialogue with most of the above cast with lead singer Patty, especially, reciting lines, usually with Costello since he's smitten with her in this one. Plenty of funny routines abound and the songs are pretty entertaining. The climax involving Lou and Patty and her siblings possibly involved in a disastrous ship maneuver is not as hilarious as one wants it to be but it's amusing in its own right. Watching this again after 40 years, I looked for eventual set court jester Bobby Barber after looking at the cast list on this site but I didn't recognize him. Consulting the book "Abbott & Costello in Hollywood", I was pleased to see Lou's then two-and-a-half-year-old daughter Carole in the brief baby carriage scene in which she takes her father's message as well as Bud's stunt double Joe LaCava in the "Lemon Bit" routine. I've been highly enjoying revisiting these A & C flicks for review on this site especially in comparison to many Laurel & Hardy films with similar subjects or routines I comment on. So that's a recommendation of In the Navy. Next, I'll review L & H's Them Thar Hills.

Almost every comedy nowadays is purely Rated R for a reason, because it's vulgar trash in some way... unfortunately that is what passes as funny to today's audiences. Well, comedy does not need to be that, as shown here in this wonderfully hilarious military comedy from Abbott & Costello. The routines are so funny and should have your sides splitting! Other entertainment comes from The Andrews Sisters. Their music might be lame by today's standards but you gotta commend 'em for always bringing a smile to the face of our young men in uniform. Including a tap dance routine, the movie is a little more musical than I would have liked but still overall an excellent film! --A Kat Pirate Screener

The duo's second service comedy of 1941 is also one of their best films. The humor abounds, especially in the sequence where Costello tries to impress the Andrews Sisters by captaining the ship. The comic highlights of the film are the "Lemon Bit" (watch as the boys try to keep a straight face) and Costello's efforts to get into a hammock.

The romantic subplot isn't bad, either, as the always excellent Dick Powell croons his way into Claire Dodd's heart. One may find themself wrapped up in this plotline, unlike most romantic subplots in A&C's films.

Funny material, the Andrews Sisters, a decent plot and an appearance by the one and only Shemp Howard make "In The Navy" an A&C treat. 8 out of 10.

Thus continued a standard (and at the time of its release, winning) formula for Abbott & Costello's earliest films which you need to take with a grain or two of salt in order to appreciate them. With IN THE NAVY, Universal wanted to capitalize on the monstrous success of the earlier BUCK PRIVATES, so now we've got another "service comedy" from the team, with some tried and true funny segments that work, scattered along with the now customary dashes of song, dance, and sub-plotting.

In the area of humorous routines, Bud and Lou are a hit with the "Lemon Shell Game," the "Sons of Neptune" initiation prank, Lou trying to get some sleep in a cockeyed hammock, and then Costello later trying to prove to Abbott that "7x13 = 28". We've even got Shemp Howard of the Three Stooges on hand to help out with some of these gags. This is all fine and dandy.

But then again, every once in awhile it's obligatory that the three Andrews Sisters have to pop in with another song and dance number. While I actually didn't mind the ladies in BUCK PRIVATES, I didn't care for any of their songs in this film. Even worse, some time is wasted on a silly romance between lead singer Patty Andrews and chubby little Lou. This doesn't go anywhere and is more of a liability than a help.

Dick Powell gets big billing along with Abbott and Costello, and a good portion of the story deals with his being a successful singer, idolized by hordes of adoring women, who'd like nothing more than to sneak into the navy just to get away from all the fanfare. Unluckily for him, there's a female photographer who's hot on his trail and is determined to spring up with her ever-intrusive camera to snap all the pictures she can of him. This also becomes rather tiring. Yet thankfully, A&C are constantly in their hilarious prime to keep bringing us back to the laughs, which is always the chief reason we keep wanting to watch. **1/2 out of ****