Abbott and Costello Meet the Keystone Kops (1955)

This is actually one of the boys better outings. It has their regular script writer in John Grant & one of their regular directors in Charles Lamont at the helm. It is in a way, very much a salute to the early silent Mack Sennett Comedies as it's title suggests.Fred Clark does a very good turn as the heavy though evil stands little chance in getting one up on Lou Costello as he proved in taking on all the monsters & milking them for laughs. The film starts with a little history as A&C are conned into purchasing the historic Edison studios in New Jersey which by the 1950's were a run down set of slums.Then through only the kind of trip A&C can make, they decide to go to Hollywood. One way or another they ride the rails & live by their wits & stale bread reaching their destination. Here is where some fine silent slapstick sequences are put together in order to foil the heavy.The sequences are borrowed from Harold Lloyd, W C Fields, & the Keystone Kops are thrown in for good measure. Enjoy it

"Abbott and Costello Meet the Keystone Kops" is a film about the early days of cinema, and contains a lot of cinematic tricks itself: stunt doubling, back projection, fast motion, reverse motion, freeze frame, special effects, etc. Some of these tricks work (the horse jump over a cliff is a fantastic shot which I still can't figure out how they pulled off), some don't (the plane scenes look especially fake), but the real problem is that the story is episodic and A&C have only two routines worth mentioning: one at the start, with Abbott mistaken as Costello's violent father, and one involving two pairs of cops and burglars, one fake (Bud & Lou) and one real. The climactic chase, involving the title "Kops", is frenetic but unfunny. This type of slapstick will still appeal to young kids, but anyone over the age of 12 will probably be begging for some more verbal humor. (**)

There is a real change in the role portrayed by Bud Abbott in this picture. In past films, he has had the role of Costello's straight man for dialogue scenes. He played a sharp, smart, heavy. No one was meant to take this seriously, but Abbott played the bad guy! He usually gets the best of Costello. (This is not true of their famous "Dice Routine", "The Lemon Bit" and that oh so satisfying conclusion of "Africa Screams".) When it came to physical comedy, Costello was on his own, with Abbott nowhere to be found. But starting with this film, and continuing with "A & C Meet the Mummy" and "Dance with Me, Henry", Bud Abbott has become a buffoon. He takes more pratfalls in this film and in "The Mummy" than he did in all of his other films combined. Now it is obvious that a stunt man is doing the physical bits for him, but it is nice to see Abbott become funny. Why didn't this happen sooner? Maybe it was Lou Costello's ego. Maybe it was Bud Abbott's illness. Maybe Abbott just didn't care and let Costello carry the team. With "Keystone Kops", the writers have finally made Bud Abbott funny. He tries to be gruff and mean, but it just isn't in him. He tries to show that he is braver and smarter than Costello, but no one believes him. There is finally some depth to the team. Costello is still silly and innocent, but now Abbott is a phony to the world. In the past he was able to fool everyone but Lou.Now I am not saying that I do not enjoy the previous A&C efforts. Some of them are brilliant comedies and John Grant's routines are always marvelous. However, it took so much time for the characters of Bud and Lou to grow. I only wish there were more films to see their metamorphosis.

Set in 1920s where Costello buys a studio from a conman then spends half the film travelling with Abbott across America then the last half working as a stuntman ina studio where for some reason they presume the conman is hiding - how they come to this conclusion is never explained. This film has boring spots such as the mistaken identity bit where Abbott dresses as a burglar and Costello the cop where naturally an identical looking burgular and cop are prowling. The highlight is of course the comic chase at the end which is certainly fun to watch. Fred Clark is good as the conman. Listen for the background laughter when costello falls over in Mr Snavely's office. When the boys are in the train, Costello looks out and reads the sign and says "Harry, we're in Los Angeles already" from the camera's angle this looks true but Costello's head is right out of the door so there is no reason for him to make this mistake which don't make sense. Also When they jump into the carraige full of cows and Costello keeps boucing out look for the trampoline he is jumping on and when they buy the studio, the old man who greets them says"This is one of the 1st motion picture studio pictures ever built. It dates back to 1895, it isn't used anymore" Maybe that is the case in 1955 when the film was made but the film was set in the 1920s so the studio wouldn't be that old. The girl in the cashier's window at the start of the film is Costello's 15 year old daughter. This film isn't too bad, they made worse. It just isn't very funny.