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
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