Here Come the Co-eds (1945) User Reviews (23)

Here come the laffs!

[jimtinder · 8/10 · 31 January 2001]

With "Here Come The Co-eds," Abbott & Costello have their funniest film since 1942's "Who Done It." The duo seems more energetic in their performance, and the storyline (two ballroom dancers who find themselves as caretakers at an all-girls college) suits them well.

The "Jonah" routine shines here, and the comic timing the duo display is exquisite. Costello shows his basketball prowess during the climactic basketball game. Also a plus -- a decent supporting cast featuring Peggy Ryan ("She's cuuuuute!") and Lon Chaney Jr. as the deliciously evil head caretaker.

The movie avoids heavy and sluggish moments and is paced well, although one could still due without the music filler. All in all though, a solid effort with solid laughs. 8 out of 10.

Busy, Bonkers Burlesque.

[hitchcockthelegend · 8/10 · 1 November 2010]

Here Come The Co-Eds is a film starring the comedy team of Abbott and Costello. It's directed by Jean Yarbrough and acting support comes from Peggy Ryan, Martha O'Driscoll, June Vincent, Lon Chaney Jr. & Donald Cook. Plot finds the bumbling duo at Bixby College for young ladies, where they get involved in numerous escapades in trying to save the school from closure.

Easily one of Abbott and Costello's best film's, Here Come the Co-Eds finds the boys hitting the high laugh standards they set themselves at their peak. Even the familiar routines are given new life as they seem to respond well to Yarbrough's smooth direction. Top moments are a glue based kitchen sequence, a wrestling match, a basketball game and an excellent boat (on the road) chase finale. Film is boosted considerably by the presence of Phil Spitalny's all-girl 'Hour of Charm' orchestra and the sprightly Peggy Ryan. The latter of which helps provide a show stopper of a tap routine at the basketball match.

Tomfoolery unbound, and with a good production value to boot, this is classic A&C and prescribed to lift the blues. 8/10

Costello without a stuntman

[frankebe · 7/10 · 1 October 2007]

FINALLY Costello does something physically brilliant without rear-projection. Originally I did not want to bother with a review of this cute little piece of fluff, but I have to respond to the reviewer who thought the basketball episode was fake. ONLY the final throw is a matte-job, and this is SUPPOSED to be goofy. You can stop-action through all the other shots Costello makes and it's really him and the ball. Although the movie should have been better written, this turns out to have the most fulfilling Costello scene in all the 8 movies of Volume 1 and the first 5 of this volume (I haven't watched the last 3).

My two criticisms of the film itself are that some of the songs are boring, and the ending makes no sense. But it does have the Dance Escorts vaudeville scene, Car 13, Rolling the Dice, a song and almost-dance with Costello and Peggy Ryan, Under Covers sketch, Costello's version of Oyster Chowder, and some great solo dancing by Ryan. And personally, I liked the violin concerto because the close-ups show so well how cleverly a violinist must negotiate this piece.

"Positions Girls, Positions."

[bkoganbing · 7/10 · 5 April 2006]

The main attraction in Here Come the Coeds is seeing Lou Costello in drag during a girl's college basketball game. One of the players is injured and he substitutes. When he's conked on the head he develops amnesia and then Abbott and Peggy Ryan tell him he's Daisy Dimple the world's greatest female basketball player and he proceeds to act the part.

Some here have said that Costello was hardly convincing in drag. But I have to say I've seen drag performers a whole lot worse.

Abbott and Costello are paid dancing escorts at a dime a dance palace. Why anyone would pay to dance with Costello is anyone's guess. But they get fired and land jobs at a girl's college where Abbott's sister, June Vincent, enrolls due to a publicity gimmick Abbott thought up.

There was some other comment that this was the only time any female, Peggy Ryan, showed an interest romantically in Lou. Not true at all. In previous films Martha Raye and Joan Davis did. But this was the only film Costello got to do a song and dance with a female partner. He did do an outrageous waltz with Joan Davis in Hold That Ghost, but there was no singing.

Peggy Ryan was doing a whole lot of musicals with Donald O'Connor at the time at Universal. She had a nice fresh appeal and partnered well with O'Connor. Working with Costello must have been something different.

Donald Cook as the Dean of Students is paired with June Vincent. As they are a pretty sappy pair fortunately there's not much film wasted on them. Charles Dingle as the head of the board of trustees fares much better. He's his usual pompous stuffed shirt, a part he played like no one else in film history. I wish they'd given him some comedy bits with the boys.

Lon Chaney, Jr. plays the head caretaker and the nemesis of the boys. He gets right in with the comedy and serves as a great foil for Costello, especially in the wrestling match sequence. It's a ripoff of what they'd done in Buck Privates in a boxing match, but who cares, it's still a very funny sequence.

I saw just about all of Abbott and Costello's films as a lad. WPIX television in New York used to run them constantly on Sunday morning. For some reason Here Come the Coeds wasn't among them, I only got to see it a few years ago. But it was worth the wait.

Energetic A&C

[dougdoepke · 27 April 2012]

Costello certainly earns his money in this lively romp. Between getting knocked into potted palms or whirled around like a spinning top, his sight gags fly thick and fast. The plot has the boys joining a girl's school as caretakers, and then working to save the school from bankruptcy by outwitting (sort of) crooked gamblers.

It's a good chance to catch teen fashions, circa 1945, as the co-eds parade around in casual wear of the day. Universal certainly stocked the screen with a crowd of young lovelies to look at. Still, my money's on the hugely talented Peggy Ryan who steals the show with her mugging and sprightly dancing. She's a perfect foil for the equally versatile Costello. Too bad her movie career was so brief. Also, there's Phil Spitalny and His All-Girl Orchestra. They're a matter of taste, but Evelyn sure knows how to saw away on her Magic Violin.

Anyway, it's a fast 90-minutes, with the boys in fine energetic form, along with an excellent supporting cast, especially with baddies like Dingle and Chaney, and the expected whirlwind finish.

Peggy Ryan and Lon Chaney

[kevinolzak · 7/10 · 24 February 2014]

1945's "Here Come the Co-eds" was the last great Abbott and Costello picture until at least 1947's "The Wistful Widow of Wagon Gap," pairing Lou with the pretty and vivacious Peggy Ryan, already a veteran of a dozen films opposite regular musical co-star Donald O'Connor. Like The Marx Brothers, A & C were at their best in surroundings where they didn't belong, and working as caretakers at an all-girl college would be a dream job for any romantic fool. As Patty Gayle, perky Peggy Ryan shines as Costello's love interest, doing a charming song and dance called 'Let's Play House,' each in turn lascivious or childlike, Lou even prefacing the number by remarking, "I feel just like Donald O'Connor!" as Peggy smiles knowingly. Another rarity is giving Bud Abbott a sister in Martha O'Driscoll's Molly (despite the 27 year age difference!), who earns a scholarship to Bixby College, greatly improving their basketball team. The climactic game between Bixby and Carlisle gives Costello the opportunity to show why he used to be free throw champion of Paterson, New Jersey, making all the actual shots without missing, except for the final trick shot that bounces from one basket to the other (11 years later, he showed he still had it, effortlessly sinking a free throw for 'The Armory Five' on THIS IS YOUR LIFE). Three years before "Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein," Lon Chaney first encounters the team as the conniving caretaker, 'Strangler' Johnson, his best scene after Costello swallows his dice, making bets with Abbott by checking Lou through a fluoroscope! There's a comic wrestling match between Lou and Lon (the latter disguised as 'The Masked Marvel'), and one with Lou trying to eat oyster stew as its live occupant refuses to cooperate (revised for a frog in "The Wistful Widow of Wagon Gap," then disguised as whale meat in "Lost in Alaska"). Lon Chaney worked with Martha O'Driscoll in several pictures ("Crazy House," "Follow the Boys," "Ghost Catchers," "The Daltons Ride Again" and "House of Dracula"), while reuniting with Peggy Ryan in her penultimate film, 1949's "There's a Girl in My Heart," featuring several other former Universal players- Lee Bowman ("Buck Privates"), Gloria Jean ("Never Give a Sucker an Even Break"), and Elyse Knox ("Hit the Ice," "The Mummy's Tomb").

Here Come the Co-Eds (1945) **1/2

[JoeKarlosi · 6/10 · 19 July 2005]

Bud and Lou are hapless dance escorts who get fired from their jobs and wind up working as janitors at an all-girl college. Their grumpy supervisor is none other than rough and ready Lon Chaney (THE WOLF MAN). After a series of funny events, the topper comes when Costello has to save the day playing for the girl's basketball team, to win money and save the school.

HERE COME THE CO-EDS is really a pretty good comedy from the team at this mid-point in their careers. It's fun to see Lon Chaney joining in the antics with A&C (Lon would later re-join the duo to reprise his role of the Wolf Man in ABBOTT AND COSTELLO MEET FRANKENSTEIN), and pretty Martha O'Driscoll is easy on the eyes as the model who gains enrollment at the college. Some of the film's assets are a generous amount of humorous sequences that make it worth the effort: Lou eats Oyster Stew with a live oyster; the boys engage in a funny kitchen clean-up; Costello wrestles the Masked Marvel; Bud keeps interrupting Lou while he tries to tell his joke about Jonah and the Whale, and Lou swallows a pair of dice so Bud and Chaney have to toss him around in order to gamble.

It's almost sad to have to say it, but here again there are far too many musical interludes that pop up throughout the course of the good time, and these often bring the gags to a screeching halt. Some tunes are lightweight fluff, though a couple are downright excruciating (like the two violin solos). If not for these breaks, I would rate the movie a bit higher. If you're looking for an entertaining Abbott and Costello film to laugh with, give this one a try. Skip over the musical numbers if you must, but give the comedy a chance. **1/2 out of ****

Abbott and Costello go to college

[SimonJack · 6/10 · 4 July 2019]

"Here Come the Co-eds" is another Abbott and Costello early film that's a hodgepodge of a plot. The comics have a couple of funny scenes - the best when they have to clean the quarters they are given when they hire on at Bixby College in the maintenance department. Lou has two other funny scenes - one battling a wild oyster and the other in a wrestling ring.

But this film jumps around and includes some classical music by the girls' school orchestra; then more music and a violin solo, and a big choreographed dance number by the school's cheer team. A very goofy basketball game isn't funny, even with Lou dressed up as a girl for the team.

Some of these other early Abbott and Costello movies made during the war seem very choppy. One wonders if the audiences weren't mostly youngsters then. This film does have a couple of recognizable actors in the supporting cast. Lon Chaney Jr. plays Johnson and Charles Dingle plays Jonathan Kirkland. The rest, including the musicians and the supporting cast are little known Hollywood performers.

I first saw this film on television late night movies. By that time, moviegoers had seen the films of the 1950s with the monsters and adventures that focused on the comedy. Those are much better films, and having seen them, one can recall how these earlier films were something of a letdown in later viewing. I surmise that the relatively higher ratings on IMDb for these early Abbott and Costello films is from fans of the comedy team, and/or people who like the type of silly mixtures of subjects that make up these films.

I just doubt that many movie fans would find this and the other early mixed Bud and Lou films very funny. But, by all means, watch and enjoy the Abbott and Costello Meet series. Those have some very good and funny antics.

Peggy Ryan and Lou Costello Are Adorable Together

[jayraskin1 · 9/10 · 10 October 2007]

The really amazing thing in this film is the progressive nature of the treatment of women's education. The film argues that women should be given equal education to men, a progressive, if not radical position in 1946.

There are a number of wonderful elements in this movie that raise it a notch above the average A and B comedy. Peggy Ryan is absolutely delightful as Costello's love interest. Lou makes the hilarious observation that he feels like Donald O'Connor. Apparently Peggy and Donald were in a series of popular movies just before this time, so the reference is to that fact. Peggy is perfectly cast as she mirrors Lou's innocent boyish quality with her own innocent girlish quality. Peggy's character's name is Patty and I would wager that Charles Schulz's Peppermint Patty character comes from the character in this movie.

The dropping of the handkerchief bit is still hilarious and Costello's trick basketball shooting while in drag is quite enjoyable.

Altogether, it is a delightful mixture which works on many levels. I would put it just below "Time of Their Lives" and "Abbott and Costello meet Frankenstein" as my favorite A and B film.

Here Comes The Team.

[AaronCapenBanner · 6/10 · 27 October 2013]

Abbott & Costello play two fired dance escorts who end up working as janitors at Bixby College, which is an exclusive girls school. Their supervisor is a mean man(played by Lon Chaney Jr.) that they try to avoid as much as possible. Meanwhile, the school is having financial troubles, and is in danger of closing, so an upcoming basketball game becomes a very big deal, as the future of the college hinges on a victory. Will things work out for our heroes? OK comedy is funny enough to work, though is certainly not among their best. The funniest scenes are when they are trying to clean the kitchen, or trying to make sense of the latest slang and social customs of the girls.

Abbott & Costello's Here Come the Co-eds is pretty entertaining until the climatic basketball game and the chase afterwards

[tavm · 5/10 · 5 September 2011]

Having watched Laurel & Hardy's A Chump at Oxford again yesterday in honor of the upcoming start of the school year (though here in Baton Rouge, it already began in mid-August), I just rewatched Abbott & Costello's Here Come the Co-eds for the same reason. It has lots of similarities to the previous pic other than that they both take place at a college like 1)Both reference Albert Einstein and Dizzy Dean-the latter's surname being mixed with that of a college dean, 2)both have a horror icon playing a character named Johnson (Peter Cushing in ACAO, Lon Chaney, Jr. here), and 3)in ACAO, Stan Laurel dons a female disguise and later gets hit in the head turning him into Lord Paddington while here, Lou Costello also dons a female disguise and at the same time gets hit in the head turning him into "Daisy Dimple"! Among the differences, 1)while ACAO takes place at an actual university of which Stan & Ollie are students, HCTC is set at a fictional girls college named Bixby with Bud & Lou hired as caretakers and 2)in this one, it's full of musical interludes while there's none in the L & H flick. Speaking of the latter, they may intrude in the plot but considering how slight it is, they fill the picture considerably with entertaining numbers by Phil Spitalny and his Hour of Charm All-Girl Orchestra with Evelyn and her Magic Violin and co-star Peggy Ryan, taking a break from her usual partner, Donald O'Connor. In fact, she and Costello make quite a cute pair though if you knew their actual ages, you might be a little creeped out. As for Abbott & Costello themselves, they're as good as you expect them to be with Chaney making a fine foil though by the time it goes to the ridiculous basketball game-what with those Amazon opponents and Costello's not-very-convincing-disguise though as a former high school player, he's still good at making shots-and that lame chase-in-the-road-on-an-attached-boat, you're just glad the picture's almost over! So on that note, Here Come the Co-eds is at least worth a look. P.S. The version I watched on YouTube had for some reason cut Peggy and Lou's number "Let's Play House" and the "Jonah and the Whale" routine though I have to admit, I only remember the latter from One Night in the Tropics since I had only watched HCTC in its entirety once before some 30 years ago...

I want a better shake for my dice....

[simeon_flake · 9/10 · 18 January 2019]

My only problem is where to rank this film with rest of the A & C classics like "Frankenstein" and Hold That Ghost." Certainly, it's in my Top 5, but maybe that's not important--other than the movie being great.

Not too many things hindering the movie (obviously) like too many staged singing and dancing numbers--unless the few here had a bevy of college girls doing it, then I'm okay. >:-)

Lon Chaney Jr. as a somewhat "ill tempered" janitor is certainly another plus for this one (did you swallow those dice?). And there's the classic wrestling match with Lou, that they recycled for the tv show; if I need to compare, I would say this film beats that one...

"I think there's a wild oyster in there!"

[classicsoncall · 7/10 · 28 September 2018]

"Here Come the Co-eds" features Lou Costello in one of his more physical roles, taking his share of bumps in a number of routines including the 'sticky' kitchen scene and the X-Ray dice gag. He's also on the basketball court swishing away (in more ways than one!). I didn't know Lou was a free-throw maven in high school until I read the trivia page and saw a few viewer comments, but something struck me as peculiar when he made his bounce-shot basket. Right after, the cutaway showed Bixby College owner Kirkland (Charles Dingle) cheering Lou's basket along with his daughter (June Vincent), and I had to go 'huh'? Right up till then he had been totally against new Dean Benson's (Donald Cook) attempt to modernize the school's curriculum, which would have included athletics for the girls. When did he make the switch?

As much as I like Abbott and Costello's comedies, the gags do become repetitious after a while. I've seen the oyster stew bit at least four times now, or at least variations of it using a fish ("A&C in the Foreign Legion"), a frog ( "The Wistful Widow of Wagon Gap"), and whale blubber ("Lost in Alaska"). Curious, but this oyster had a lobster claw, how does that work? A wrestling bit was also used in the Foreign Legion picture, but in that one, Bud and Lou were wrestling managers who had to chase down their grappler to Algiers!

This one also seemed to have an awful lot of musical numbers, which are generally OK by me, but this was the first time I ever saw Costello sing in one of his pictures. He joins perky Peggy Ryan in a lively tune, alternating his voice between normal and falsetto. I was curious about the movie's opening credits listing Evelyn and her Magic Violin and didn't know what to expect, but it was a straight performance by a female violinist that was quite exceptional.

So when you think about it, there's an awful lot going on in this story making this quite the entertaining flick. Fan ratings on IMDb place it about the middle of the pack for Abbott and Costello's films, but if you didn't know better, you might consider it one of their best.

Lou Takes On Womenhood

[jcholguin · 4/10 · 31 March 2003]

Bud Abbott and Lou Costello in another totally unbelievable comedy in which features Lou becoming a woman basketball player because of a hit on the head. The college that they are working for needs to win the game for a huge payoff. The other team decides to cheat using a traveling amazon women basketball team that quickly "stomp on" the many smaller opponents. The game is lost until Lou becomes a scoring machine when he loses his memory and Bud gets him to believe that he is the greatest female player of all time. Can the body of Lou Costello "fool" anyone into believing that he is really a she? But then this is an Abbott and Costello film! This film also gives Lou a girlfriend that is not trying to use him for some hidden agenda but "is it possible" really wants Lou for love, incredible.

Here come the Coeds produced two Castle Film Shorts in 1949!

[ducatimatz28 · 24 November 2013]

Castle films extracted the best scenes from this feature and made two 8mm/16mm shorts "Fun on the Run" and "Oysters and Muscles" for the home film market.This was done in 1949 and both titles were among the most popular of all the A&C Castle shorts.If you look up on Ebay you can see both titles listed numerous times during the year.Most are regular 8mm,as 16mm sound was usually to expensive for the average home market user.

I have collected 16mm Castle Films since the 1960's.Before VHS & DVD,s came along, 16mm optical sound track was basically the only format for showing sound edition prints. When super 8mm came on the scene in the later 60's you could buy magnetic sound super 8 prints...

It was reported that after A&C had split up and weren't under contract to Universal pictures any longer;Lou Costello sued Castle Films for unpaid royalties he believed were due him from Castle's Home Market sales.I believe it was never settled as Costello died in 1959 and Castle Films continued on well into the 70's before becoming Universal 8...s.m.

Here Come the Co-eds review

[JoeytheBrit · 6/10 · 8 May 2020]

Abbott & Costello find themselves working as caretakers in an all-girl college which they help to save from financial ruin. An average mid-career entry from the comedy team panders to Costello's tendency to overplay his hand, but has a few decent laughs.

Peggy Ryan steals the show! I never saw this movie before!

[mike48128 · 8/10 · 1 May 2016]

Peggy Ryan (only 20) plays Lou's girlfriend and is she a dynamo! She is a triple-threat who can (tap) dance, sing, and is a great little (5'1") comic actress. She runs away with the movie! A curious cast, with Lon Chaney Jr. in a comedic role without his usual fur! I love "the squirting" Oyster Soup gag! The college "cheerleader pep rally" numbers and "Let's Play House" show off Peggy's talents. Lou's comment is correct. She did dance with Donald O'Connor in several Universal wartime films. She also appeared with Mickey Rooney. The "Main House" of "Bixby College" is The Colonial House (exterior) of "Time of Their Lives"! The plot: "Molly" (Martha O'Driscoll) is the beautiful blonde singer. Abbott and Costello dream up a publicity stunt but she actually enrolls in Bixby College. The college is about to go under. To raise money, Lou wrestles "The Masked Marvel" (Chaney). He wins by default! A comic basketball game: Bixby College plays the "Amazons" who pose as "ringers" for the opposing college team. Lou gets "conked" on the head and thinks he is a famous girl basketball star. He does all of the basketball trick shots except one! Another Universal (short) car chase climax, which this time involves a sailboat on a trailer? It all holds up pretty-well. Take an "intermission" during the two all-girl-orchestra interludes. The rest of it is quite enjoyable. TCM can run all 36 of the Abbott and Costello movies.

Note: One of the "critics" keeps complaining about disc tracking. He needs a different player! No problems with all 8 movies (in Vol.2).

Pretty dreadful...

[planktonrules · 3/10 · 19 August 2009]

This film ranks among the worst Abbott and Costello films due to horrible writing. Instead of allowing the duo to be funny, the writers, obviously bereft of ideas, put Lou in the dumbest situations--so dumb they could never be funny.

The film starts off well enough, but soon moves from Bud and Lou trying to avoid the police to relocating to a women's college along with Bud's on-screen sister. They figure that it's a great place to hide but in hindsight it's a place where the laughs are quite sparse. Much of it is because this college is nothing like any real school on the planet. Again and again, the entire campus breaks out in giant sing-a-longs!! And when I say sing-a-longs, I am talking about huge production numbers that rival the biggest musicals ever made by Universal Studios. While this was pointless and silly, it was, unfortunately, the sort of thing that was present in most early Abbott and Costello films--but on a college campus?! As usual, the film has too much plot that doesn't directly involve the boys. It seems that the fuddy-duddy owner of the women's college is against all change--even though the school is foundering. So, even though he hired Larry Benson to run the place, he'll sooner close it than allow any changes. Well, Bud and Lou decide that it's up to them to somehow save the school by raising the money to buy the school. The first stunt to raise money is to have Lou fight a wrestling match. It's pretty predictable but harmless. However, the next money-raising stunt is one that just made me cringe. It seems that their school, Bixby, is playing Carlton in basketball. The odds are 20-1 against Bixby, so they bet all the money on winning the game.

As for the game...it's a stupid mess. At first, Bixby is doing well. However, after halftime, a group of obviously professional women ball players arrive--yet no one questions an entirely new team. And, when these Amazons (that's the real name of the pro-players' team) begin to play, they literally beat the crap out of the Bixby team--knocking out four players and the ref within the first minute. There is no way in the world such a thing could happen. Surely, it couldn't get any worse! Well, if this is what you think, then you are wrong. With not enough girls left on the Bixby team to play, they let Lou play--even though he does have a penis (something you should not have if you play on a women's team). He looks nothing like a girl and he sounds like a guy and keeps calling himself 'Orville'! And when he plays, he doesn't even bother to dribble and the game degenerates to a sad burlesque of the sport. With 12480 different NCAA rules violations, it's totally ridiculous--and not in a good way. But, it gets worse. When Lou gets bashed on the head, he gets amnesia and thinks he's the greatest female ball player in the world--and plays like it at times (Lou Costello really did make a few nice shots during these scenes). But, naturally, he keeps getting bonked on the head again and again--losing and gaining this new persona repeatedly. In the end, he makes a shot so obviously fake and done with wires that at that point I am ready to throw something at the screen!! In the end, the crooked opponents (or should I say opponents who were even more crooked than the Bixby team) win all the money bet on the game. Lou steals it and this then leads to one of the dumber chase scenes in history--with Lou using a sailboat on the highway to evade the gamblers working for Carlton. DUMB! But, in the end, the day is saved and everyone is happy...aside from the audience who is left wondering how Universal Pictures could have thought people would like this film! The problem is that the film is one long contrived mess--with little time for Abbott and Costello to be funny. Too much time is spent on the basketball game, the chase and all the many huge production numbers to allow them any time to make us laugh--unless you like laughing at these sad antics.

I really think The Three Stooges would have blanched at such an obvious and unfunny script. And, speaking of the Stooges, the oyster stew bit Lou did in the film was also done in at least three Stooges shorts as well.

Abbott and Costello in College

[lugonian · 8/10 · 7 July 2019]

HERE COME THE CO-EDS (Universal, 1945), directed by Jean Yarbrough, stars the comedy team of Abbott and Costello in their one and only college musical-comedy. Having appeared in earlier comedies focusing on military themes, westerns, murder mysteries and the Hollywood sound stages, it would be a matter of time before Abbott and Costello would join forces with other comedy teams as The Marx Brothers, The Ritz Brothers or Laurel and Hardy to appear in a college setting movie theme. With its formatted material of comedy antics and musical interludes in the mode of the Marx Brothers at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, or some violent gags in the class of The Three Stooges, HERE COME THE CO-EDS provides Abbott and Costello with their familiar routines for this above average comedy with some below average song numbers.

The story opens at the Miramar Ball Room where "Slats" McCarthy (Bud Abbott), a publicity agent for his sister, Molly (Martha O'Driscoll), and friend, Oliver Rackenbush (Lou Costello) are employed. Oliver, a dance escort, through no fault of his own, becomes responsible for the trio losing their jobs following one fiasco after another. Later, Larry Benson (Donald Cook), dean of Bixby College for Girls, who, after reading a magazine article on Molly publicized by Slats, offers her a scholarship to his college. She accepts, having Slats and Oliver accompany her with their new jobs as assistant caretakers under Strangler Johnson (Lon Chaney Jr.). During the course of the story, Oliver becomes involved with co-ed Patty Gayle (Peggy Ryan), while Benson struggles to improve the college with more up-to-date methods as opposed to the old-fashioned thinking by Jonathan Kirkland (Charles Dingle), chairman of the Board of Regents, who also holds a mortage to the college. Kirkland's daughter, Diane (June Vincent), who loves the dean, notices his attention leaning towards Molly. Because Kirkland intends on closing the college, the co-eds, along with Slats and Oliver, hope on raising money needed by holding a basketball tournament between Bixby and Carlton College. However crooked gamblers enter the scene with unfavorable methods of their own.

With music and lyrics by Jack Brooks and Edgar Fairchild, songs include: "Some Day We Will Remember," "The Magic Violin," "Let's Play House" (performed amusingly by Peggy Ryan and Lou Costello); "I Don't Care If I Never Dream Again," "Hooray for Our Side," "Jumping All Saturday Night" (sung and performed by Peggy Ryan and co-eds); and "Hooray for Our Side." With specialty numbers performed by Phil Spitalni's Moment of the Hour and His All Girl Orchestra, with Evelyn Lay Klein and her Magic Violin, these instrumental moments bring class to the film, including Evelyn Klein's talented but slow tempo violin playing bog down the film's fast pacing. Only Peggy Ryan's jive number, "Jumping All Saturday Night," which was often cut from commercial television broadcasts in order to fit in a 90 minute movie into a 90 minute time slot with commercials, lifen things up a bit, though its long stretch of unscored tap dancing would be impossible to appreciate for radio listening audiences in the story.

HERE COME THE CO-EDS gets off to a rousing start of priceless comedy during its first ten minutes. Lou's encounter at the night club with a jealous near-sited husband (Richard Lane); being its highlight. Other routines include Costello's dice swallowing; Abbott and Costello's "Jonah and the Whale" routine that was introduced in their debut film, ONE NIGHT IN THE TROPICS (1940); hiding a girl in their dormitory room from Johnson; Costello's struggle eating oyster stew; Costello's wrestling match with the Masked Marvel; the climatic basketball game between Bixby and the Amazons, and a chase scene with Abbott and Costello on a runaway sailboat on a busy street, among others. The foot in the dough scene is quite extensive in length, without any resolved conclusion. Lon Chaney Jr., taking time away from his horror film ventures, makes a good advisory for Lou Costello. It's interesting that Abbott doesn't take part of the wrestling match scene. Instead, Peggy Ryan's character steps in cheering him on with instructions instead. Because of its over length, the film appears to have been heavily edited, especially where some scenes seem to suddenly fade in the middle or near-ending sequences.

As much as HERE COME THE CO-EDS is overall satisfactory entertainment, only the Spitalni interludes slow down the pacing. HERE COME THE CO-EDS, which was formerly available on video cassette and broadcast American Movie Classics in 2001, can be found on DVD for fans of the comedy team to sit back and enjoy. (***)

Welcome, Peggy Ryan, to the mad world of Abbott and Costello

[weezeralfalfa · 9/10 · 30 August 2017]

Well, of course, technically, there are no co-eds in this exclusive girl's school. Co-eds are only found in schools catering to both sexes. Paramount got it right a few years later, in "Here Comes the Girls", with Bob Hope in a basically similar situation to Abbott and Costello(A&C), in this film.

When I saw Peggy Ryan listed high in the credits, I immediately zeroed in on this film, as I could imagine what a teaming with Costello might be like. Peggy is one of the most ignored film sensations ever! She was cute and vivacious, was great at comedy and gymnastic tap dancing, and was a passable singer. She was the perfect partner for a teenage Don O'Conner, in their now neglected series of musical comedies in the early '40s, most of which I have seen and reviewed(check YouTube). Only Don's being drafted into the army broke up their collaboration. I always wondered how she might fare as Costello's partner in madness, they both being contracted with Universal. Here, I got at least a partial answer, though I regret they didn't do a few more. Perhaps the boys didn't want to be upstaged by her. Peggy and Lou do the novelty song "Let's Play House". Peggy serves as Lou's sweetheart, getting a few kisses, which is more than O'Conner usually gave. Near the end, Peggy stars in the production number "Jumping on a Saturday Night", which well displayed her athletic style of tap dancing and other types of dancing, as well as singing.

There's plenty of action in the segments without Peggy, as well. The boys begin as escorts for women lacking a partner at a ballroom dancing establishment. They get in trouble with the boss, run outside into an empty police car and take off. See the film to find out how this turns out.

Abbott's sister Molly (Martha O'Driscoll) wants to go to the all- girls Bixby College. But, she wants her brother(Abbott) and his friend(Costello)to be accepted in some capacity at the school. Dean Benson(Donald Cook) hires them as custodians, under the supervision of the imposing Mr. Johnson. When Lou is sweeping the floor, he tries to hide it under the rug, but the underside says 'Don't put it here'! Then, he tries another rug corner, and it says 'Not here either'. Later, when sweeping the sidewalk, he cuts the edge of the turf with his knife, lifts up the turf, and sweeps it under. Of course, Lou gets into all kinds of trouble when cleaning a room and the kitchen, with Abbott sometimes coming to his aid.

When Costello swallows Johnson's pair of dice(why?), Johnson puts him in front of a primitive fluoroscope to see the dice. He plays dice with Abbott, each time shaking Lou, to shake the dice. Then, A&C do their 'Jonah and the whale' story for the girls.

Phil Spitalny and his all-girl band perform on a number of occasions, and back up Peggy in her production. The violin recitals do seem rather out of place, but no more so than Harpo Marx's harp solos. This band also performed in the Peggy Ryan-costarring "When Johnny Comes Marching Home".

The school needs $20,000. to pay off the mortgage held by chairman of the board Kirkland(Charles Dingle), who threatens to call the mortgage, if Dean Benson doesn't resign and Molly isn't expelled. Molly is important to the basket ball team, which has ambitions. The kids figure they need at least $1000. so that they can bet on their next basket ball game with 20:1 odds against them. So, they put on an orchestral recital for paying patrons. This nets only $500. So, Lou is reluctantly talked into a wrestling match with The Masked Marvel. Later, he finds out that The Marvel is his supervisor, Johnson. Of course, Lou is badly banged up in the fight, but he lucks out when The Marvel makes one mistake, knocking himself out... Now, the basket ball game. Molly is their center and star player, but is soon intentionally injured, so Lou(that's right) takes her place. The ref is knocked out, so Abbott takes his place. Bixby gets off to a good start, but when the opposition substitutes the professional team: The Amazons, things go quickly downhill, especially with Lou putting the ball in the wrong basket! But, Lou finally gets his head right and makes a spectacular comeback. Unfortunately, his last shot, with the score tied, bounces off the backboard,and all the way into the oppositions' basket(believe it or not!). Looks like the school is lost unless Kirkland's demands are met. So, Lou steals the prize money and a mad chase ensues. At the end, the opposition is declared in violation of rules, using professional players. Never mind that Bixby's star player obviously wasn't a girl! In summary, this is my favorite A&C film so far, although I have many to see. The plot follows the form of many Peggy & O'Connor films, where the young people are rebelling against an old fogey or two, who holds power over them by bureaucratic authority, or holds the purse strings. In this film, Chairman Kirkland fits both of these categories.

For those who complain that the screenplay is grossly unrealistic, you have to accept that's the way a A&C film is going to be. Otherwise, skip them.

Bud & Lou meet the Amazing Amazons!

[george.schmidt · 4 April 2003]

HERE COME THE CO-EDS (1945) **1/2 Bud Abbott, Lou Costello, Peggy Ryan, Martha O' Driscoll, Lon Chaney, Jr. Funny Abbott & Costello flick with the boys as janitors at a girls' finishing school. Best sequence is Costello in drag at a basketball game. Neat chase at film's end.

Great when you need a laugh!

[baileyhannah8 · 9/10 · 23 November 2022]

I'm a big fan of Lon Chaney Jr. (The Wolf Man, Of Mice and Men, the Inner Sanctum Mystery films) and after watching Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948) starring the trio I decided to watch this film. I laughed through the whole thing! It was the perfect movie to put me in a great mood! Abbott and Costello are great as always and Chaney Jr (as the duo's supervisor Mr. Johnson) dealing with Lou Costello's antics had me literally laughing out loud. The scenes with Lou and Chaney in the bedroom and the wrestling scene were my favorites. I highly recommend this film if you need a good laugh!

For fans of the "ancient comic ways"

[vandino1 · 21 October 2006]

This was made at a time when A & C were just starting to slip down their comic peak. They'd been hammering out scores of films for years by now and the audience was starting to tire of the increasingly obvious antics. Too many movies and not enough good material. This time around the thought was to see what comedy could be mined by throwing the boys in a girls school. Surprisingly they took no advantage of the "cheesecake" factor and decided to go with athletics. So we get wrestling, basketball, and road chase antics for the most part. A & C are in good form and still quite energetic at this point. There's a dice-in-Lou's-stomach scene that's inventive and funny. A few other gags work here and there. Mostly it's now viewable as "ancient comedy" and acceptable on those terms. For veteran comedy watchers the wrestling and oyster stew scenes are painful old wheezes as is much of the other slapstick material. The Jonah and the Whale comic bit is tiresome, as well. But not as unwatchable as the musical interludes that are jammed into the proceedings, as they always are with these wartime A & C vehicles (in fact, this is where A & C get out of their film vehicle and stand on the sidelines awaiting their opportunity to get back into their own movie). This is only for A & C fans and the easily entertained (and/or nostalgia types that grew up with these movies)--- others beware.