The Naughty Nineties (1945) User Reviews

The Naughty Nineties (1945) ***1/2

[JoeKarlosi · 8/10 · 19 July 2005]

This is the film to see if you're fairly new to Abbott and Costello, or if you just want to see a whole bunch of their best routines strung together for merry fun and entertainment! It's an easy 76 minute ride on a cheerful riverboat as Bud plays a ham actor and Lou is his zany assistant. The boat's captain is none other than dear old Henry Travers, best known from IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE. When the kind-hearted Captain Jack gets swindled by a trio of crooked card sharks, they gain three quarters' possession of his ship and try to turn it into a rigged gambling operation. It's then up to Abbott and Costello to help Jack get it back.

It's nice to see A&C in a costume "period picture", and the setting on the traveling riverboat is perfect. Lois Collier makes a beautiful vixen, and Joe Sawyer (who starred with the comedy team in other films) makes the quintessential mean guy who keeps getting foiled by the boys. There are a few little songs, but this time they fit nicely into the air of the proceedings and are never overlong.

But best of all, THE NAUGHTY NINETIES packs more funny routines into its short running time than you can count: Lou tangles with a real bear thinking it's only Bud in costume; Costello mimics Joe Sawyer as a mirror while Sawyer tries to shave; Lou becomes a punching bag during Sawyer's violent nightmare; Costello keeps throwing back every fish he catches to snag an even bigger fish; and on and on they go. But two of the very best gags of all are incorporated into this film -- the first is a classic bit of business where Costello misinterprets stage directions from Abbott, as he tries to sing "My Bonnie Lies Over the Ocean", and the grand highlight is the famous "Who's On First" routine - complete and perfectly rendered in this outing. It was reportedly done in two takes because the crew could not keep from laughing. Listen closely and you can hear them trying not to break up. ***1/2 out of ****

Abbott and Costello on the Showboat

[bkoganbing · 8/10 · 3 February 2006]

It's not surprising that Abbott and Costello eventually got to do a movie on a showboat. Remember it was only 8 years earlier that Universal Studios did their classic version of Showboat and I'm sure that Carl Laemmle, Jr. wanted to take advantage of the set that was still there.

The Naughty Nineties in fact take whole characters from the Showboat plot. Henry Travers's character of Captain Sam is a total ripoff of Captain Andy and Alan Curtis and Lois Collier make a passable nonsinging Gaylord Ravenal and Magnolia Hawkes. Collier sings, but there are no classic duets like in Showboat. And Curtis's character is a riverboat gambler like Ravenal.

That being said the plot such as it is involves Rita Johnson and her two associates, Curtis and Joe Sawyer, gaining possession of Henry Travers's showboat with which they then set up some crooked gambling to make a quick profitable kill.

Abbott and Costello are part of the Showboat crew. Abbott is an actor in the Victorian tradition and Costello is as usual a lovable all around klutz that Travers must be keeping around for laughs.

If it's laughs Travers wants, he's made a sound investment because the boys do provide the public with plenty of that. The Naughty Nineties is famous as the film they did their classic Who's on First baseball routine. It had been done previously in their debut film, One Night in the Tropics, but in an abbreviated form.

Actually there is one routine involving poor Lou as he thinks he's eating a cat, I mean the feline type cat.

Joe Sawyer joins a list of otherwise serious actors like Douglass Dumbrille, Lionel Atwill, and Lon Chaney, Jr., who got in on the comedy with the boys. Sawyer does his own version of the famous Niagara Falls routine involving him sleepwalking and he looks like he's having a ball doing it. Sawyer makes a perfect foil for Bud and Lou's monkeyshines.

And I think the audience will enjoy it as much as Joe Sawyer.

"Naughty" but nice!!

[jimtinder · 8/10 · 1 February 2001]

Abbott and Costello are at their comedic best in their underrated gem, "The Naughty Nineties." It's interesting to note that this could be considered their first film where their characters aren't a team. Abbott plays a ham actor on a show boat, with Costello as a drummer and handyman. It's rumored that A&C began to have a falling out at the time this film was made in early 1945, which may (or may not) have led to playing separate characters. ("Little Giant" and "The Time of Their Lives" are two more examples.)

The film is best known for the classic "Who's on First" routine. While the boys have the routine down pat and perform it almost flawlessly (except when Costello almost forgets the name of Abbott's character), it falls a little flat without audience reaction. Evidently, the director instructed the audience in the show boat not to laugh, which robs A&C of natural audience reactions. The funniest bit in the film is the part where Costello attempts to sing "My Bonnie"; thinking he is being coached by Abbott, he raises and lowers his voice with comedic hilarity -- one of the funniest segments in the entire A&C series of films.

Ably supported by a decent cast, "The Naughty Nineties" comes in at a snappy 76 minutes of fun and laughter. One of their best from their mid-40s period. 8 out of 10.

Throw Me A Life Saver

[DKosty123 · 7/10 · 24 November 2008]

This is a very pleasant Abbott & Costello outing. It is a period piece that puts a lot of the boys routines into it and some extra stuff as well. You just need to put your brain away and sit back & enjoy it.

The riverboat theme used here is appropriate as the naive Costello's comedy bounces well off the bad guys schemes. There are some great throw away lines in the film in addition to the Whose On First routine which today they are most remembered for.

Their supporting cast here is fairly good. The production qualities are good and the music works into the film better than some of their films where the music stops the action. Costello borrows the Marx Brothers Horse Feathers routine about throwing a drowning man a life saver. While even Costello can't perform a the frantic pace the brothers did, he is quite energetic and funny here.

Worth it for Who's on First Alone

[daspiro · 7/10 · 10 January 2005]

This movie is too often considered great just because of the "Who's on First" routine. Now don't get me wrong, that is the best part of it, but there are other wonderful parts of it as well. This is the first costume piece that Abbott and Costello ever did. I don't know that it had to be set on a Riverboat, but it did give them the opportunity to do a lot of great gags. This movie also includes the classic "My Bonnie Lies Over the Ocean" routine where Costello thinks he is getting stage directions from Abbott and the "feathers in the cake" routine.

A couple of comments on "Who's on First": this is one of the funniest comedy routines ever, and you can be easily amused just by reading it. What makes it so great in the hands of Abbott and Costello is their ability to stay in character while doing it. Throughout the routine Abbott cannot understand why Costello doesn't get what he is saying, and Abbott tries many times, in vain, to figure out the names of the players. The routine seems to be shot in one take, and we are the better for it. Watch it many times and pay attention to only Abbott or Costello and you'll get what I mean about them always staying in character. They rarely look at the audience, the continue their thoughts (as their characters) and the fact that neither of them understands why the other is not making sense is what makes this work.

"I think I'm getting a mickey."

[classicsoncall · 7/10 · 6 July 2005]

Setting the stage for this 1945 comedy, Dexter Broadhurst (Bud) and Sebastian Dimwiddie (Lou) team up to save the "River Queen" from a trio of card sharks, who have gained a three quarter interest from Captain Sam Jackson (Henry Travers) in a rigged card game. The Captain's daughter Carolyn (Lois Collier) never gives up hope, and plays on the sympathies of villain Crawford (Alan Curtis) as the boys whiz through a host of their comedic sketches. They include "My Bonnie Lies Over the Ocean", feathers in the cake, the catfish dinner, the fishing routine, and Lou's shaving routine opposite baddie Joe Sawyer. But they all take a back seat to the famous "Who's on First?" routine, which remains one of my all time favorite bits. The comedic timing is flawless, though in this case, the audience reaction is non existent at the request of the film's director - probably a bad decision as one's reaction is that these guys should play off the audience as much as each other.

The movie's finale revs up to a high energy frenzy after the gamblers are dealt a losing hand with a cold deck by a remorseful Crawford in a one hand, winner take all bluff.

Henry Travers is probably best remembered for his role as the angel Clarence, earning his wings in the memorable "It's a Wonderful Life". Though taken advantage of, he maintains his integrity through thick and thin. But with Abbott and Costello on board, you know that the bad guys don't stand a chance. And with all the mayhem, it's easy to forget that the film also stands up as a musical, with an assortment of tunes to lend counterpoint to the sketches along the way.

"This, I must tell.....to the General."

[cyran1031 · 10/10 · 12 July 2005]

What can I say about this movie? I introduced it to my cousin when we were both a bit younger and we were on vacation together. We were both in an Abbott and Costello craze at the time and, over the course of the trip, we probably watched that movie upwards of thirty times. It was great! Easily my favorite of their many films. The film consists of hilarious routine after hilarious routine which occur around a central plot. Three crooked gamblers cheat an honest Riverboat Captain out of 3/4 of his ship. It's up to Bud and Lou (a ham actor and his dimwitted assistant) to get it back. The routines keep on coming with the mirror routine, the catfish, Lou as the "little Indian", My Bonnie Lies Over the Ocean (Hilarious!!), 33 at the roulette table, bird shooting Lou, the out of control ending chase, and of course the full length "Who's On First?" just to name a few. The crew couldn't even contain their laughter during this routine. Listen for them chuckling! The many gags throughout don't hinder the plot of the movie, only enhance it. The music and classic atmosphere of "Nineties" also adds a great deal to the film and gives it that "feel good" vibe which makes it so special and easy to enjoy time and time again. This is the perfect film to introduce anyone to this great comedy team. The boys are in top form here, and I recommend this to A&C fans, classic comedy fans, comedy fans, movie fans, music fans, and to people who just want to enjoy an evening of fun and laughs. Sit back and enjoy!

A mixed bag but mostly positive

[planktonrules · 6/10 · 19 August 2009]

Considering that the previous film, HERE COME THE CO-EDS was such a bad film, THE NAUGHTY NINETIES couldn't help but look good. Overall, NAUGHTY is a mixed bag--with some good Abbott and Costello routines and some bad. In addition, Universal still insists on following a formula they've used in all but one of their previous films--a bunch of sons and a romantic subplot that has nothing to do with Abbott and Costello. Oddly, when the studio dropped both these conventions in WHO DONE IT, the film was a huge success--more than previous films. Why they went back to this material that distracts from the comedy is beyond me.

The film finds Bud and Lou on a riverboat (similar to the one in SHOWBOAT) circa 1890. Bud is an actor (and does a decent job when his routines aren't being ruined by Lou) and Lou is, well, Lou--bumbling about on the ship. A group of crooked gamblers get the ship's captain (Henry Travers) drunk and cheat him out of control of his showboat. As a result, they bring crooked gambling and violence to what had been a family-friendly ship. So, naturally, Bud and Lou try to help out--with very mixed results until the end of the film.

Along the way are a bunch of vaudeville-style routines. On the plus side, you get to see the best filmed version of their classic "Who's on First" routine (an abbreviated one was in their first film, ONE NIGHT IN THE TROPICS). Also, some of Lou's antics that ruin Bud's acting are kind of funny. On the negative side, Universal Pictures really didn't care if any of the routines looked crappy--using very, very fake-looking props and putting little care into the execution of several routines. In the fishing scene, these are the least realistic fish in the history of film. It serves to make the routine look amazingly dumb. In the catfish scene (where Lou thinks he's being served cat), which could have been very funny, there was absolutely no subtlety in its execution...none. In many ways, this stuff looked like Three Stooges routines--but perhaps done with even less subtlety.

Overall, a very mixed bag. For fans of the team, they'll enjoy it. For non-fans, I can't see why this film alone would convert you an Abbott and Costello fan.

A Delightful Trip To The 1890's!

[JWLJN · 10/10 · 28 August 1999]

Although not critically acclaimed as one of the team's best, Abbott and Costello use some of their best loved and remember skits in this film. The movie is worth watching for the "Who's On First?" skit alone. Good, clean, fun for the entire family.

January 23rd - First bridge over the Mississippi opens 1855

[PCC0921 · 6/10 · 3 January 2022]

In order to really appreciate Abbott and Costello, one needs to understand where their careers fell on the timeline. Bud and Lou's careers actually can be broken down into, at least, four different eras, which is a lot when you think about it, since their partnership only lasted about 20 years total. You can break them up into the vaudeville era (1936-1940), the glory years (1940-1945), the tough years (1945-1948), the resurgence (1948-1953) and the end (1953-1956).

This film falls at a moment when they were starting to loose their audience. Unfortunately, Bud and Lou's biggest success came during World War II. A nation needing to be cheered up and needing a morale boost fell for Abbott and Costello during those four horrible years. They were the morale boosters in chief and they became the most popular and the most rich actors in Hollywood during those years. But, as the war began to wind down, so did the popularity of the boys. They needed to start making changes and you see this happening in a lot of their films moving forward into the 1950s.

When this film was released in 1945, Germany had already surrendered a few months before and Japan was just a few months away from surrendering. The war was over and the feelings and attitudes of a post-war America were beginning to change. Also, television was just on the horizon. People were looking towards other things to do or see.

As this film opens up, Dexter and Sabastian (Bud and Lou), get work on a showboat named the River Queen. Dexter is an actor and Sabastian is his trusted "assistant". The owner of the River Queen, Captain Sam Jackson (Henry Travers), falls into the scheme of a handful of con artists, who are bent on getting the showboat for themselves, so they can run their illegal gambling casino. This is something Sam wants nothing to do with. It takes the help of the boys to come help save the Captain and his daughter, Caroline (Lois Collier), from these dastardly criminals.

What sets this film apart from a lot of Abbott and Costello's films from the same time period is this one features a smorgasbord of their different and classic acts, including their best, "Who's on First". Another thing a person needs to know about Abbott and Costello is their talent, their act and all their skits grew out of the vaudeville era. Working in vaudeville meant you were working with everybody. All the talent shared their acts, jokes and skits with each other. It was part of the vaudeville culture. So, when you see the Three Stooges, or Wheeler and Woolsey or even Martin and Lewis, do the same joke or skit that Bud and Lou did, that shouldn't be considered a negative. It's how things were.

It is true this film is not a great one. There are moments that seem sloppy in their design. It makes you wonder if the whole process was becoming stale to whoever was involved in the film or was it just becoming overly repetitious. This is most evident during the "duck shoot" skit. We may be laughing at the absurdity of it all, but we also aren't buying that any of this could possibly fool anyone. What was interesting about all of this, is watching this tired, formulaic development, that would eventually become Abbott and Costello's main direction once they get to television in the 1950s. Foreshadowing maybe?

This film is still worth a watch. It has some rough edges and might seem a little plastic in its design, but overall is a delight to see. They give us one skit after another. They intertwine all of that with a little story and textbook characters (for this kind of a romp), that get us to the end, but adults might seem slightly robbed, because there is a childish nature to some of the performances that happen in the film. But, who cares? It's Abbott and Costello, who were legends of their day. They didn't need to answer to nobody. They were the richest guys in Hollywood. You don't do that when you are making bad stuff. Plus, anything with "Who's on First", is a gold mine.

6.2 (D+ MyGrade) = 6 IMDB.

"Higher...HIGHER....No lower....LOWER."

[theowinthrop · 8/10 · 4 February 2006]

THE NAUGHTY NINETIES is one of those films of Abbott & Costello that is a favorite with their fans for the skits that are in them: the plot about the trio of gamblers plotting to take the showboat away from good old Captain Sam (Henry Travers) is tolerable, because it can be ignored. We like the old Captain, but we await the sketches involving the boys. In the end they help save the Captain, so they do become his pair of guardian angels - his "Clarences", if you will.

But the sketches are priceless, in particular the rehearsal sketch and the immortal WHO'S ON FIRST.

In another review I compared Bud and Lou with Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy. Bud Abbott's persona is not like Oliver Hardy's, although both try to dominate (Bud, with more success) Lou and Stan. Ollie is quite self-important, but is (actually) as stupid as Stan is. His self-delusion is just added on the cake. But Bud normally is street smarter, and bullies Lou. He barks orders left and right to him, orders that Lou thinks he understands. The orders are in abbreviated form, using slang or short form descriptions that most people will understand, and that is doomed to confuse Lou.

In the rehearsal sketch, Lou is studying a song he wants to sing in the showboat show, and if he does it well Captain Sam will let him sing it. Bud is on stage helping direct the putting up of varying scenery. He is asked for help by Lou to help him, and to shut the little guy up, he half-heartedly agrees to do so. But he is concentrating on that scenery. So we hear Lou start singing "MY BONNIE LIES OVER THE OCEAN", and after awhile he hears Bud yelling "Higher", "HIGHER", "LOWER, etc. Of course Lou is not watching Bud directing the men with the scenery, and Lou raises and lowers his voice accordingly. The vast alterations eventually is too much for Lou, who falls into the orchestra pit while an oblivious Bud walks off stage.

The other sequence is even greater. If you say "Abbott & Costello" to anyone today, the phrase "Who's on First" comes up immediately. No other dialog of theirs is as memorable (not even that delectable skit about Niagara Falls). Indeed, due to the popularity of Baseball, the skit is honored in Cooperstown's Baseball Hall of Fame, and Bud and Lou are members of the Hall of Fame too (without being baseball players). No other comedy team approached such a signature dialog - for instance Groucho and Chico Marx did several fractured English discussions, such as "Why a Duck" in COCONUTS, but the dialog is not central to their reputations. Similarly Laurel & Hardy's use of "two peas in a pod" in THE SONS OF THE DESERT is classic, but not central to their reputation.

"Who's On First" works on the same principle as the rehearsal skit - Lou cannot follow the statements fed him by Bud, and yet Bud is not being intentionally difficult. He starts by explaining the crazy nicknames of the baseball players these days, and Lou never makes the logical connection that the nicknames can be terms like "who", "what", "I don't know", and "I don't care". Once I saw someone rewrite Abbott's description as "Mr. Who is on First base; Mr. What is on Second Base...etc." Actually the effect on Lou would probably be minimal: How many people have surnames like "Who" (this was years before the British Doctor in the futuristic tardis showed up). Moreover, they are nicknames, not proper names like "Unconditional Surrender" Grant, or "Old Hickory" Jackson. So it can't be "Mr. Who" or "Mr. I Don't Care".

Interestingly few people seem to be noting that the nicknames don't say much for these players. "Who", "What", "I Don't Know", "I Don't Care", "Today", "Tomorrow" suggests that each of the players has a failing, like "Who" suggests he is confused at the strategy of the team (who is going to be targeted by his team's pitcher on the opposite team), "What" suggests a lack of understanding orders from the team coach or captain, "I Don't Know" suggests confusion, and "I Don't care (the short stop) doesn't give a damn to be on the scene of where the ball falls when he is needed. Lou's willingness to play on the team, which we accept as his fondness of the game (and his constant image of being childlike) may actually have some merit - he may be a better player than these others.

The highpoint (to me) of the dialog is when, giving up momentarily, trying to comprehend Bud's apparent double-talk, Lou shows he can repeat the line-up's name, and describe a baseball play perfectly. Bud shows his approval of this rational approach - only to hear Lou scream out he doesn't understand what he himself has been talking about. To me that was the perfect conclusion of the great confusion known as "Who's on First".

In recent years stores have offered mechanical representations of political and entertainment figures reciting comments they are supposed to be famous for. There was one pair together: of Bud and Lou in costume from THE NAUGHTY NINETIES (Bud wearing the baseball outfit of non-existent St. Louis Wolves), reciting Who's On First. That is immortality folks.

Abbott & Costello do their "Who's on First?" routine in The Naughty Nineties

[tavm · 7/10 · 28 March 2023]

Having just watched Laurel & Hardy in One Good Turn in which they try to save a woman they think is being cast aside because she couldn't pay her bill (it's actually a rehearsal for a play), I then felt the need to once again see Abbott & Costello in The Naughty Nineties in which they try to save their boss, Captain Sam (Henry Travers), from losing his riverboat. As with many of the A & C films of this period, the duo's comedy is mixed with some drama concerning the more serious characters which in this case made this film a little uneven. Still, Bud & Lou are aces when they are on screen together especially when they perform their most famous and popular routine, "Who's on First?", with Costello being as confused as ever. As long as they're on screen, which is most of the time, it's very entertainingly funny. Among the supporting players is Joe Sawyer who gets many great comic scenes with Costello whether in a mirror bit or when Sawyer is sleepwalking with Lou nearby. Also appearing is Alan Curtis-previously in Buck Privates with the boys-as initially one of the bad guys, Joe Kirk-Lou's brother-in-law-as a croupier, and Sid Fields, later to play the landlord in Bud & Lou's TV show, though I admit I didn't recognize him here. Other supporting players I feel like noting are Ed Gargan, brother of William Gargan who was in Keep 'Em Flying and Who Done It? With the boys, who had also appeared with Bud & Lou in Hit the Ice and would also appear with Laurel & Hardy in The Bullfighters in the same year as this one, and Jack Norton doing one of his patented drunk roles. He also appeared with Stan & Ollie in The Big Noise. And Mr. Travers is another player from my favorite movie, It's a Wonderful Life, that I like to cite when he/she is in another movie I'm reviewing like now. So on that note, The Naughty Nineties is highly recommended. With that, I'll just now say that my next review will be Laurel & Hardy's The Laurel-Hardy Murder Case.

Fur and Feathers Fly

[wes-connors · 5/10 · 30 July 2010]

In the 1890s, Bud Abbott and Lou Costello (as Dexter Broadhurst and Sebastian Dinwiddle) are entertainers on a Mississippi River showboat. The captain of "The River Queen" Henry Travers (as Sam Jackson) loses a percentage of his ownership to some unscrupulous gamblers. So, Abbott and Costello lend him their comic hands. Considering the money they were making for Universal, this is a surprisingly slipshod production for the comedy duo. It consists of haphazard routines, tossed in with an irrelevant plot and an ending chase scene. Marx Brothers bits, and even Buster Keaton's "House Falling" scene, are tossed into the mix. The deservedly famous "Who's on First?" stand-up is cheaply dressed; this is not, as touted, their best version of the routine. But, the "Cat Eating" is very well done; helping make the total package medium, if not rare.

***** The Naughty Nineties (6/20/45) Jean Yarbrough ~ Lou Costello, Bud Abbott, Alan Curtis, Rita Johnson

One of Their Best

[Michael_Elliott · 29 February 2008]

Naughty Nineties, The (1945)

*** 1/2 (out of 4)

Abbott and Costello working on a riverboat when a group of gamblers try and take it over. There's very little story here but instead there are countless skits including Who's On First. I'm really not sure why this gets so many negative ratings in various movie books because I think this is one of the duo's best films. There are non-stop gags and for the most part all of them are wonderful. Costello fighting the bear is a highlight as is the terrific cat scene. Nothing else needs to be said about the Who's On First gag, which I think is their best performance of this classic. The crowd I viewed this with also really seemed to love it as the film was getting the biggest laughs and most applause.

Comedy and mayhem on a Mississippi River show boat

[SimonJack · 7/10 · 6 July 2019]

"The Naughty Nineties" is one of more than a dozen comedy films that Bud Abbott and Lou Costello made during World War II. Neither of the men were eligible for military service. At 45, Abbot was too old, and although he was just 35, Costello had suffered from heart disease in early life. He died of a heart attack three days before his 53rd birthday.

But the two comedians contributed mightily to America's war effort. In one 35-day cross-country tour in 1942, they sold $85 million is war bonds. From 1942 to early 1943, they toured and performed at Army bases in the U.S. Their 1941 movie, "Buck Privates" was a huge success and propelled them to stardom. Their many films of the time, and their radio show (1942-45) surely helped keep up the spirits of many Americans on the home front during the war years.

The setting of this film is a Mississippi River paddle-wheeler that traveled the river and the Ohio tributary giving shows at ports of call along the way. The film has subplots. One is of crooked gamblers trying to take over Captain Jackson's showboat, and another is a romance. The supporting cast all are very good. The best known of the bunch is Henry Travers as Capt. Sam Jackson. Travers would become etched in filmdom memory forever in 1946 for his role as the angel, Clarence, in "It's a Wonderful Life."

But the main interest and fun in this film is the several skits and comedy scenes that Bud and Lou have. They reprise their famous "Who's on First" baseball skit with a fuller version. They first did a short version of it in the 1940 film, "One Night in the Tropics." Other hilarious scenes include the two fishing and Lou catching one after another large fish and throwing it back in as bait for an even larger one. Lou bakes a cake that leads to a room full of flying feathers. There's a cat-shooing scene in which Lou thinks the cook is killing a cat for lunch. And a frenzied chase around the boat with the bad guys is quite funny.

This is a fun and funny Abbott and Costello movie that must have garnered many laughs in 1945. It's a good family film today, and one that even the youngsters should enjoy for most of Costello's antics.

Who's On First?

[itamarscomix · 6/10 · 15 July 2013]

The one and only reason to watch this film, as far as I'm concerned, is that it contains the full-length, and probably the best, version of the famous 'Who's On First?' routine. The delivery of that routine is perfect, and it's a few of the most side-splittingly funny minutes ever put on film, and since it takes up nearly ten minutes of the film's 76 minute run, you might as well just go ahead and watch the whole thing, but unless you're an Abbott & Costello fan, you could well skip it and not lose any sleep about it. The Naughty Nineties has a couple of good routines and gags, and two or three very funny scenes of physical comedy; Costello is always tons of fun and Abbott is the ultimate straight-man, and when they're together on screen the dynamic is always great. But there are far too many scenes where only one of them is featured, and those always fall short; and the truth is, once you pass the 'Who's On First?' scene, nothing else comes close.

Funny vehicle from the comic duo

[apararas · 7/10 · 31 March 2020]

Abbott and Costello was the big comdedy duo during the 40s.they made lots of films together.Their career lasted for a decade till it started falling.This particular vehicle is different.It has sense of humor,witty dialogue and some memorable songs.Highlights:1)the chase where Costello brings the passenegers and Abbott hits them on the head 2)the scene where Abbott gives orders for the curtain and Costello sings till he falls off stage.

March 6th,2006 / Lou Costello's 100th .

[happipuppi13 · 10/10 · 6 March 2006]

Today Lou would have been 100 so I decide to write a review of,"The Nauhgty Nineties".

Back in the late 1970's and into the early '80s,every Universal produced Abbott & Costello film was shown on local TV. As a kid I found them to be just fall down funny! Being someone who reads and writes a lot,their constant word-play routines would make me laugh 'til I cried! I even found their "slap in the face" gag funny. (I laugh now but kind of cringe at the slightly unwarranted smacks Lou had to endure,fake or not.

Anyhow,I bought this on VHS in 2004,brand new and hadn't seen it in a long,long time. Happy to say "Who's On First","The Cat-Buger Gag" and more still are as funny now as then. My favorite routine,even more than "Who's",is the scene where Bud Abbott is giving directions to a riverboat stage-hand about how to arrange background scenery. Lou comes on-stage wanting to rehearse his song,"My Bonnie Lies Over the Ocean".

While Lou tries to do his song acapella,Bud is still talking to the stage-hand but...Lou thinks the directions are for him! "Higher!" (Lou sings a little higher) "Higher"!! (Lou sings higher until he screeches! Then "Lower",then "a little to the right",to the left. "Lift the left leg (a stage left piece of back-drop)Lou lifts his left leg,then his right until he's jumping up & down and still trying to sing!! I wont give away the pay-off!

The overall plot is good and standard for a comedy of the 1940's. The captain of the riverboat is deceptively taken over by crooked people. Bud and Lou wok on the ship. Bud is a "ham" actor (full of himself). Lou fixes things on the boat & other duties. It's up to them to get the boat back in the hands of the captain & his daughter somehow. I'll let you rent or buy the movie to see how it all plays out.

Easily one of their top ten best,if not #1,comedies. This is the duo just before the pinnacle of their rise to success. Much as I don't exactly like straight comedy mixed w/musical comedy,I'll forgive it here because unlike in Marx Brothers films where it slows the pace of the laughs,it's not so here. Thank goodness.

Happy 100th Lou,it's your birthday but you are the one who left us the best present.

The Abbott & Costello Show on the Showboat! One of the greatest verbal comic banters of all time is performed here.

[SAMTHEBESTEST · 7/10 · 17 July 2022]

The Naughty Nineties (1946) : Brief Review -

The Abbott & Costello Show on the Showboat! One of the greatest verbal comic banters of all time is performed here. Anything that many popular post-60s comedies have shown us was either inspired by the silent classics of Chaplin, Keaton and Lloyd or the talkie comedies of WC Fields, Marx Bros, and Abbott & Costello. The Naughty Ninties has given birth to many iconic comic segments that we have been enjoying for years. Be it the mirror segment (quite different from what Max Linder did in the 20s) or the Bear is loose segment, all those iconic gags can be found here. That "Who, what and I don't know" segment is arguably the greatest verbal comic banter I have ever seen in the history of cinema. This film has been noted for that segment mostly. I mean, even I was curious to see the iconic "Who's on First?" segment, and what I saw simply blew my mind. When their captain is swindled out of his riverboat by a trio of gamblers, stage show star Abbott and his bumbling sidekick Costello must put things right. The duo try to save the showboat with their tricks, but fail. In the end, as expected, they get it right, but before that it's a complete knockout comedy riot. Costello rules the film with his signature gags, be they physical or verbal. Abbott, too, is in fine form with many good scenes on his side, while Alan Curtis wins your heart with his conversion. Rita Johnson as a female antagonist fits perfectly for the role. Whether it is her looks or behaviour, she is top-notch in every scene. Lois Collier, Henry Trevor and Joe Sawyer are seen less and don't do anything notable. The Naughty Nineties is a pacy film with a fantastic screenplay and the flawless direction of Jean Yarbrough. There isn't anything that you can hate about this, so it's recommendable.

RATING - 7/10*

By - #samthebestest.

Excellent, excellent, excellent . . .

[dspires · 10/10 · 17 September 1999]

If you want the complete, though edited, "Who's On First" script, here it is! ("I don't give a damn" is "I don't care" in this one). Henry Travers as good ol' Capt'n Sam Jackson of the River Queen is slipped a Mickey Finn and, in a crooked poker game, ends up losing control over the honestly-run river boat -- and losing it to 'shudder' dishonest gamblers.

One for the entire family. Watch the show, relax, and enjoy this glimpse of the 1890s (Well, for the boys that was only fifty years ago...).

what's on first is, well, that scene

[lee_eisenberg · 7/10 · 23 July 2021]

No doubt you've seen or heard the skit where Lou gets confused by Bud's naming of the baseball players. What you might not know is that "The Naughty Nineties" has a plot outside of that (involving an attempted takeover of a showboat). The movie DOES contain some cringe-inducing material, but as long as we understand that, we can enjoy Bud and Lou engaging in their silliness.

Henry Travers (the captain) is best known as the guardian angel in "It's a Wonderful Life". Because his character here is named Sam Jackson, I naturally imagined Samuel L. Jackson in the role.

A Reliable Old Gut-Buster

[jzappa · 9/10 · 20 October 2010]

Abbott and Costello had either run out of routines by this point or they had such fondness for their already classic ones that they reckoned it was reasonable to rehash them. They even draw their trophy chestnut Who's On First, which by the time this movie came out was so completely ancient it's amazing they don't go red. Indeed, it's acknowledged film trivia that one can hear camera operators struggling to stifle their laughter during the scene. I think there was an audience back then that was far less disdained during the studio era, moviegoers who go to laugh, jump or cry not so much at surprises or fresh revelations but at fulfilled expectations, expectations so particular that they could literally be duplicated from what they'd seen many times before.

But regardless, each time I've put myself through this emergency outing, I've laughed hard and frequently. Above and beyond the arbitrary Who's on First? Centerpiece, The Naughty Nineties features the too-funny schtick where Costello sings during an audition while Abbott is hollering instructions to the crew to adjust the backdrop curtain. Costello thinks the directions are for him and he follows them, by singing higher or lower, or on one foot. It all relies on Costello's inimitable gift for physical comedy. There's also the scene where one of the wicked gambler's accomplices slips poison into his wine. He catches on, distracts her and swaps their glasses. But she does the same to him, and then they get into bluffing the swap. There is also the sketch where Costello inadvertently bakes feathers into a cake and the pieces are fed to everyone in the tavern. When they all take a bite, they end up coughing up the feathers until the entire bar is overflowing with them. Then there's the old routine where Costello and the villain mirror each other's actions, which can also be seen in the Marx Bros. Classic Duck Soup. The scene where Costello tussles with a real bear, thinking that he's wrestling Abbott in a bear suit. Bears were frequently deployed in Abbott and Costello routines.

Universal was so eager to keep them in the theaters that they didn't have any principles about what class of material they played. And the one in this case is an emphatic case of floating shipwrecked debris. There are wicked gamblers and a sweet old showboat captain. They are so much superfluous baggage. This is, as usual, just an Abbott & Costello romp, with the boys giving a routine imitation of themselves in their golden days.

The Naughty Nineties review

[JoeytheBrit · 6/10 · 8 May 2020]

Abbott & Costello on a Mississippi riverboat at the end of the 19th Century. Their captain is duped into gambling away two-thirds of his boat by a trio of card sharks and quickly finds it turned into a crooked gambling den. The so-so plot starts brightly but soon becomes background noise to some decent routines, including the definitive version of the duo's famed 'Who's on First?'

The 1890's.

[AaronCapenBanner · 5/10 · 27 October 2013]

Abbott & Costello play Dexter Broadhurst & Sebastian Dinwiddle, two actors on the River Queen, a boat on the Mississippi river during the 1890's under the command of Captain Sam Jackson(played by Henry Travers) that he loses ownership of to a trio of conniving cardsharps who proceed to turn it into a crooked gambling house. The boys then become determined to thwart their plan, and restore ownership to Captain Jackson. Oddly flat period costume comedy is only remembered for putting their hilarious and immortal "Who's On First?" routine on screen complete to live forever. Aside from that admirable distinction, this film is pretty forgettable.

Show Boat Antics

[lugonian · 7/10 · 14 July 2019]

THE NAUGHTY NINETIES (Universal, 1945), directed by Jean Yarbrough, stars the comedy team of Bud Abbott and Lou Costello in their first film in period setting, the 1890s. Somewhat inspired by Edna Ferber's SHOW BOAT, that was later musicalized on Broadway and the basis of two (1929 and 1936) screen adaptations, THE NAUGHTY NINETIES doesn't provide memorable melodies as "Ole Man River" nor its passage of time elements, but mostly sight gags dominating plot and songs to better advantage for Abbott and Costello's world of comedy.

Following the original screenplay by Edmund L. Hartmann, John Grant, Edmund Joseph and Hal Fimbers, the photo-play introduces Captain Sam Jackson (Henry Travers), head of The River Queen Show Boat with entertainment suitable for family and children. Along with his daughter, Caroline (Lois Collier), who sings and acts in its stage productions, Jackson's company includes lead actor, Dexter Broadhurst (Bud Abbott), and his bumbling assistant, Sebastian Dinwiddie (Lou Costello). After the boat docks in St. Louis, Captain Jackson, having encountered Bonita Farrell (Rita Johnson), Crawford (Alan Curtis) and Bailey (Joseph Sawyer), who have recently run out of town by the sheriff (John Hamilton), a trio of card sharks, unknown to him their attempt on acquiring The River Queen and turning it into a gambling casino. While at The Gilded Cage, Captain Jackson loses his River Queen to those crooks, now acting as his new partners. Holding a $15,000 note against the show boat, it is up to Broadhurst and Sebastian to save the River Queen from further ruin. Also in the cast are Joe Kirk (The Croupier); Jack Norton (The Drunk); Sam McDaniel, Edward Gargan, Donald Kerr, among others.

New songs by Edgar Fairchild and Jack Rose include: "The Show Boat is Coming to Town," "My Blushin' Rosie" (by Edgar Smith and John Stromberg); "On a Sunday Afternoon" (sung by Lois Collier); Minstrel Show tap dance; "I Leave My Opium for You," "No Luck Malone," "I Can't Get You Out of My Mind" (sung by Lois Collier); and "Heaven" (performed during the "Uncle Tom's Cabin" segment featuring Lou Costello playing Little Eva). Though set in the 1890s, Lois Collier's rendition and orchestration to "I Can Get You Out of My Mind" definitely belongs to the modern era of 1945.

Of all the Abbott and Costello comedies, THE NAUGHTY NINETIES contains more individual comedy routines than usual. Whether these gags enacted were originated from vaudeville skits or earlier motion pictures featuring other notable comic performers, the try and true routine best associated with Abbott and Costello is their one and only "Who's on First?" performed here in its entirety. Taking place 39 minutes into the story, this seven minute enactment remains fresh and funny. Though the team performed this routine on radio and later television, they used it briefly for their debut film, ONE NIGHT IN THE TROPICS (1940). The segment where Costello's Sebastian auditions by singing "My Bonnie Lies Over the Ocean" and mistaking Abbott's Broadhurst behind him giving orders to his stage crew and not to him, was similarly enacted by Louise Fazenda and Teddy Hart in READY, WILLING AND ABLE (Warner Brothers, 1937) starring Ruby Keeler. The "life saver" bit was earlier done by Groucho Marx to Thelma Todd in HORSE FEATHERS (Paramount, 1932), while the mirror routine between Costello and Joseph Sawyer is lifted from Groucho and Harpo Marx's classic DUCK SOUP (Paramount, 1933). Let's not overlook the head clunking gag originated from Harold Lloyd's classic, THE KID BROTHER (Paramount, 1927), and the "cat meal" sequence borrowed from The Three Stooges. Amazing how much gag material got squeezed into this 76 minutes.

While not exactly a comedy masterpiece, THE NAUGHTY NINETIES is a delight to fans of the comedy team, particularly their "Who's on First?" Along with frequent commercial television broadcasts from the 1960s to 1980s, THE NAUGHTY NINETIES, formerly distributed on video cassette and cable television's American Movie Classics (2000-2001), is available on DVD as part of Universal's Abbott and Costello classic film collection. (**1/2)