Abbott and Costello churned out three service films in 1941 ("Buck Privates", "In The Navy", and "Keep 'Em Flying"). With the second World War over, the boys reprise their original roles from "Buck Privates" as they re-enter the civilian world. Universal Pictures gets some mileage out of the first picture by offering about ten minutes of highlight clips, and this footage is basically the only treatment we have of the comedy team in uniform.
The misadventure begins with seven year old Evie LeBrec (Beverly Simmons) stowing aboard the ship bound for home in Herbie Brown's (Lou) duffel bag. Homeless in France, she more or less adopted Herbie and pal Slicker Smith (Bud) as they head for the States. Nat Pendleton is back as Sergeant Michael Collins and comic foil for Herbie's antics; Evie pulls a fast one to make it seem like the Sarge brought her aboard ship. Eventually she's put under the care of Sylvia Hunter (Joan Fulton), who sees her home safely aboard, and later becomes "Aunt" Sylvia once the ship reaches home.
Once on land, the boys learn that adopting Evie will take some doing, as they need to be gainfully employed, and she'll need a mom. The gainfully employed part comes rather easy, Sylvia's fiancée Bill Gregory (Tom Brown) has built a prototype race car and engine, and hires the boys on to do some selling. In a clever sight (and sound) gag, the boys take the mini car to the bank to seek financing, and as it backfires repeatedly, the scene resembles a bank robbery in progress, just one of the many fixes Herbie gets himself into.
As in the prior service films, there's a frenetic finale to cap things off, as Herbie finds himself in the real car creating traffic mayhem behind the wheel in a variety of vehicular near misses. All's well that ends well though, as the adoption of Evie is assured by the nicely matched couple, "Aunt" Sylvia and Bill. Cute as a button, Beverly Simmons nearly steals the show with her Shirley Temple knock off character, and if she had more screen time would have given A&C a real run for the money.
The misadventure begins with seven year old Evie LeBrec (Beverly Simmons) stowing aboard the ship bound for home in Herbie Brown's (Lou) duffel bag. Homeless in France, she more or less adopted Herbie and pal Slicker Smith (Bud) as they head for the States. Nat Pendleton is back as Sergeant Michael Collins and comic foil for Herbie's antics; Evie pulls a fast one to make it seem like the Sarge brought her aboard ship. Eventually she's put under the care of Sylvia Hunter (Joan Fulton), who sees her home safely aboard, and later becomes "Aunt" Sylvia once the ship reaches home.
Once on land, the boys learn that adopting Evie will take some doing, as they need to be gainfully employed, and she'll need a mom. The gainfully employed part comes rather easy, Sylvia's fiancée Bill Gregory (Tom Brown) has built a prototype race car and engine, and hires the boys on to do some selling. In a clever sight (and sound) gag, the boys take the mini car to the bank to seek financing, and as it backfires repeatedly, the scene resembles a bank robbery in progress, just one of the many fixes Herbie gets himself into.
As in the prior service films, there's a frenetic finale to cap things off, as Herbie finds himself in the real car creating traffic mayhem behind the wheel in a variety of vehicular near misses. All's well that ends well though, as the adoption of Evie is assured by the nicely matched couple, "Aunt" Sylvia and Bill. Cute as a button, Beverly Simmons nearly steals the show with her Shirley Temple knock off character, and if she had more screen time would have given A&C a real run for the money.