Deux nigauds en Alaska

Abbott and Costello's 50s offerings do nothing other than make you hanker for the halcyon days of the 40s where their best efforts are to be found. Sure there are a couple of decent films in the 50s such as Meet Jekyll/Hyde & The Mummy, but in the main you sense the boys are tired, you sense that the once glowing genius is a shadow of its former self, we sense right because it's true, never more so proved than with this barely average piece.

There are a couple of decent scenes in here, and sure enough the pratfalling antics off Costello will raise a smile, but the writing doesn't give them much to work with, the co stars are suitably bored with the plot, and the biggest crime of all is that we don't get a remotely mirthful ending to save the picture.

5/10 out of loyalty to a couple of comic geniuses going thru the motions, oh and a crab that stole the film.

Abbott and Costello, who are firemen in the 1890s save life of Alaskan suicidal millionaire 'nugget' Joe from drowning himself.( An idea from Chaplin's City lights perhaps?). His girl has told him she wants out. (How he ended up in San Fransisco from Alaska though is a mystery). They take him back to their place for him to stay the night. The morning after (after a lenthy routine which sees Abbott con Costello out of his night's sleep)Joe receives a letter from his love, Rosette stating she wants him back. In gratitude, he gives A+C the gold he has on him.

At the bank, 2 men tell them that a gold prospector was found murdered last night and the police suspect 2 volunteer firemen. They find Joe on his boat and tell him that the police think they murderd him. Naturally this cheers Joe up and sends him into hysterics.(!) They ask him to come down the station to set the record straight but he can't hear them properly as the whistles from the boat are to loud. It's to late anyhow as the boat has set sail taking them all to Alaska! When they arrive it turns out that a lot of people want Joe dead(including himself again when he finds out that Rosette didn't write the note) and it's A+C's job to keep him alive as they want to take him home to prove he's still alive. It turns out that Joe has wrote a will which leaves his £2 million fortune to his 'buddies' when he dies and they are all trying to bump him off. It turns out Mr Stillman, who owns the saloon, wrote the letter and asks Lucette to marry Joe so she becomes his only heir then he'll bump him off and then they split the gold...

Bad Abbott and Costello vehicle makes no use of their talents. Strange scenes including one which has the boys trying to cheer up Nugget Joe and do the routine they did 'at the fireman's ball'. 3 terrible 'jokes' occur and you don't know whether they are supposed to be funny or not. Nugget Joe doesn't laugh and who can blame him? The 2 songs are actually quite good and the actors aren't bad either. The script and budget lets the film down. The peculiar finale isn't funny at all and when the film finishes the viewer can't help but feel there's something missing.

If you want to see Abbott and Costello as they were in the 50s, watch one of their hilarious TV shows instead.

Abbott: "Miss McGillicuddy, you look charming today. Did you do something to your hair?"

Costello: "Yeah, she put it on her head"!

"Lost in Alaska" does have some inspired moments, and most of them are in the first half, like the "sleeping in 2-hour shifts" routine, or Costello's response to a sign that says "Use the axe only in case of fire" ("Got a match?"). But when A&C actually do get Lost in Alaska, the comedy gets largely reduced to elementary, childish slapstick (Costello falling down on the snow a lot, etc). I did laugh a couple of times, but overall the film is pretty tiresome, despite its short running time. (**)

I saw that one reviewer felt like the studio and Abbott and Costello just didn't care when they made this film and I am inclined to agree. The problem is that the film was painfully unfunny--and had one of the limpest endings I've ever seen. Maybe I was expecting too much, but a comedy should make you laugh and be entertaining.

In the only funny moments in the film, Bud and Lou rescue a man who is bent on killing himself (Tom Ewell). It seems that his lady love has rejected him and so he has no reason to live. In addition, when Bud and Lou take this guy back to Alaska, everyone seems to be trying to kill their new friend to get his gold. This humor was pretty dark and I liked it, but it really didn't go far enough and probably wouldn't appeal to most people. Sadly, however, this is about as funny as it got. Once the plot was established, too much time was spent running about an obvious fake set in obviously fake snow doing things that, frankly, make no sense and weren't funny. Fake looking crabs, a guy in a polar bear suit and the like made this a film where it was obvious that no one particularly cared if any of this mess makes sense. To make things worse, the ending is just horrible--unfunny, illogical and unsatisfying.

While this is not the worst Abbott and Costello film, it is close. You can do better.

There is a lot to like in "Lost in Alaska". Bud Abbott and Lou Costello are both in fine form. Their supporting cast is also very good. The movie has very little, if any, downtime. The are quite a few laughs and a ton of goodwill in "Lost in Alaska". Honorable mention: the song "A Hot Time in the Igloo Tonight".