When I plug this film into my list of Abbott and Costello films I've reviewed, it comes out Number #1 using IMDb's ranking system. That surprised me a bit because it beat out a couple of my favorites, "A&C Meet Frankenstein" and "Hold That Ghost". I enjoyed the movie but I didn't think it would have been that popular.
Anyway, this was Abbott and Costello's ninth film and the first with no musical numbers. They portray a pair of soda jerks, operative word being jerks in Lou's case but I mean that in a good way. Aspiring to be mystery writers for a radio station, the boys quickly switch gears when an actual murder is committed during a live broadcast, and decide to play detective to investigate the crime before the homicide squad shows up. It turns out that the murder of Colonel J.R. Andrews (Thomas Gomez) resembles the plot of the radio's 'Steel Chair Murder Case' in which the victim was electrocuted when a switch was thrown on cue.
You can tell Lou is having some genuine fun here, hamming it up with fellow players Patric Knowles, Mary Wickes, and especially Walter Tetley, the elevator boy who constantly outfoxes Lou's character Mervin Milgrim. William Bendix manages to fall victim to Lou's handcuff gag, possibly the only police detective in cinema history more clueless than Costello. Throughout, Bud and Lou offer up some of their zaniest routines, with a couple references to their famous 'Who's on First' bit, but with a twist so they didn't actually have to do it.
Coming out prior to the Second World War, "Who Done It?' cemented Abbott and Costello's reputation as the most popular entertainers of the era. They were always favorites of mine growing up as a kid in the Fifties, the kind of comedians whose routines have a way of staying with you through the decades. There just weren't that many 'who done it' the way these guys did.
Anyway, this was Abbott and Costello's ninth film and the first with no musical numbers. They portray a pair of soda jerks, operative word being jerks in Lou's case but I mean that in a good way. Aspiring to be mystery writers for a radio station, the boys quickly switch gears when an actual murder is committed during a live broadcast, and decide to play detective to investigate the crime before the homicide squad shows up. It turns out that the murder of Colonel J.R. Andrews (Thomas Gomez) resembles the plot of the radio's 'Steel Chair Murder Case' in which the victim was electrocuted when a switch was thrown on cue.
You can tell Lou is having some genuine fun here, hamming it up with fellow players Patric Knowles, Mary Wickes, and especially Walter Tetley, the elevator boy who constantly outfoxes Lou's character Mervin Milgrim. William Bendix manages to fall victim to Lou's handcuff gag, possibly the only police detective in cinema history more clueless than Costello. Throughout, Bud and Lou offer up some of their zaniest routines, with a couple references to their famous 'Who's on First' bit, but with a twist so they didn't actually have to do it.
Coming out prior to the Second World War, "Who Done It?' cemented Abbott and Costello's reputation as the most popular entertainers of the era. They were always favorites of mine growing up as a kid in the Fifties, the kind of comedians whose routines have a way of staying with you through the decades. There just weren't that many 'who done it' the way these guys did.