Review

  • After just reviewing the first of two Laurel & Hardy movies Lou Breslow wrote (Great Guns), I thought I'd then review the only film he co-wrote for that other comedy team I've been reviewing lately on this site-Bud Abbott and Lou Costello in Hollywood. The two play barbers to the stars who also service an agent which then has them switching careers. Breslow, along with Nat Perrin, wrote some pretty funny routines for Bud & Lou without the help of their usual writer John Grant whose name is prevalent in their Universal releases. This was their third and last M-G-M one. Since this one takes place in Tinsel Town, there are some stars that appear though not Metro's biggest-Clark Gable and Judy Garland are only mentioned but one gets Rags Ragland-a studio comic who gets his unfortunate treatment from Lou in the barber chair, child star Butch Jenkins who Lou tells his version of Little Red Riding Hood with Butch interrupting with nonsense questions, and Lucille Ball-years before her TV superstardom in "I Love Lucy". Like I said, the A & C routines are funny though some probably could have been edited a little. Since this was during the early part of the comedy team's movie career, there are some musical interludes of which the amusement park sequence is a highlight with Costello on a roller coaster providing some good laughs. I especially liked the sequence where he's mistaken for a dummy! So on that note, Bud Abbott and Lou Costello in Hollywood is recommended. So as we leave A & C on their last M-G-M picture, we'll next review Laurel & Hardy on their first time actually starring in one actually produced by that studio called Air Raid Wardens.