Hit the Ice (1943)

Photographers Flash and Tubby believe they have land a paying job when they agree to cover a group of men coming out of a bank. Little do they know that the men are bank robbers who have mistaken the two for hired guns, booked to cover the entrance during the job. They discovery this too late and suddenly find themselves suspected of the robbery themselves. With only the photographs they took as leverage, the two follow the crooks to a mountain ski resort where they plan to expose them and clear their own names.Abbott & Costello are always a duo I come back to but yet they are also a duo that tend to deliver solid amusement rather than great films. Hit the Ice is another one of those because it is roundly "ok" even if it does have some bits that capture why people love these two. The plot is a simple affair with the usual misunderstandings and scrapes along the way but it does work, providing the love interest for Costello to flirt with and also the tough guys for him to face off against. There are a few routines that are good fun like the "teller" one or the bit where Costello packs and unpacks repeatedly, while the pratfalls and chases are amusing and are done with energy. It doesn't have enough to be considered a great film or anything but it is amusing enough to please fans and also children.The film is padded far too much with musical numbers. You expect one or maybe two but there are loads of them here and they never feel like anything other than filler. Abbott and Costello are both on pretty good form here, they feel like they are working well off one another – with Costello in particular putting effort into his falls and double-takes. Simms' songs perhaps don't appeal but she certainly does – stunningly beautiful and she has an easy screen presence that helps as well – I feel for Knox who has to compete but doesn't really. Leonard is fun as the main villain while Knowles is about as vanilla and dull as he could have been.Overall this is an OK piece of comedy that fans will like as well as kids. There are a couple of funny routines and, although it has too much of it, the pratfall-style comedy is OK too. The musical numbers are overused and slow the film down but at least you get to look at Simms while they are on (well, mostly). Solid but unremarkable.

Enjoyable-enough Abbott and Costello romp where they start out as two average photographers, only to get mixed up with a group of bank robbers lead by Sheldon Leonard. The crooks mistake Bud and Lou (called Flash and Tubby here) for hired hit men when they talk of "how many people they've shot". This leads to the boys becoming nailed for a robbery, and they have to get away to the snowy Alps while trying to expose the real bad guys and prove their innocence. Nothing original, but Abbott and Costello have a few good comic routines to keep you laughing. Among the high points are: Bud constantly telling Lou to "Pack!" and then "Unpack!" when he can't make up his mind if they should get out of town or not. Also featured is the "Alright!" bit where Lou tries to impress glamor gal Ginny Simms by "playing the piano" for her while Bud hides in the background with a record player, waiting for his friend's cue. Speaking of Miss Simms, she's rather a detriment to these proceedings at times, often bursting into singing which slows things to a snail-like pace. And what's more, her songs aren't very good. **1/2 out of ****

Bud and Lou walk into an apparently empty bank: B: "Teller!"L: "I'll tell her, where is she?"B: "Where is who? I said teller"L: "Tell her what?"B: "Tell her nothing. I want a teller" L: "Go ahead and tell her, I don't care!" B: "No, teller in the bank"L: "Tell her in the bank, tell her on the street, tell her anywhere you want, I won't listen" "Hit the Ice" has some very funny verbal exchanges (the aforementioned "teller" routine had me in tears, followed by the "pack the grip" - "unpack the grip" one), and also some absurdist moments (check out the way they enter the mountain cabin). Less successful are Lou's pratfalls in the skating ring (seeing him fall flat on his face is not so funny after the 10th time it happens), and the climactic ski chase suffers from the obviousness of the rear projection. Kids will probably enjoy the slapstick parts more, but I imagine that most adults will prefer the verbal humor. Ginny Simms' songs are forgettable and time-wasting, but at least we get to look at her - she was a remarkably beautiful woman. (**1/2)

HIT THE ICE (1943) *** Bud Abbott, Lou Costello,Ginny Simms. Fast and freewheeling Abbott and Costello comedy with the boys as inept street photographers mistaken for bank robbers on the trail of the real thugs to clear their names. Pratfalls aplenty in Sun Valley.