Pardon My Sarong

Starring: Bud Abbott, Lou Costello, Virginia Bruce, Robert Paige, Lionel Atwill, Leif Erickson, Nan Wynn, William Demarest, Samuel S. HInds, Marie McDonald
Directed by: Erle C. Kenton
Rating: Approved
Genre: Comedy
1942

Times Seen:
Tim: 1

Summary: Two bus drivers (Bud Abbott, Lou Costello) accidentally steal their own bus, leading them on a far-reaching and unexpected adventure.

Review:

Tim: This is the 7th Abbott and Costello movie I've seen (their 8th collaboration total- I've had a hard time finding Rio Rita, the oddity film where MGM took advantage of a contract clause that allowed the duo to do 1 movie a year for another studio). Here, they are back at Universal. Pardon My Sarong might not be the most memorable of their collaborations, but it takes our boys on such a journey and is consistently entertaining. I found myself enjoying the movie far more than I didn't.

I do want to highlight the formulaic nature of this film. Having now seen 7 of their first 8 films together, I can see warning signs on the horizon. This film follows a similar structure to the others- Abbott and Costello are cast as supporting characters, when they really are the stars. There's a good-looking guy and a beautiful actress who are "the leads", but their story intersects strongly with Abbott and Costello. Zaniness ensues, the "main" story with the two "leads" moves forward, but it doesn't really matter. It's just pretense to hold the film together and get to the next Abbott & Costello gag. There's also famous singers, who get a surprising amount of screen time. This formula works, but it's flimsy. I can see a time in the not-too-distant future when these films all start feeling the same. That will not be good.

As far as this film, yes, that same formula is in place. However, there's such earnestness in the performances of Abbott and (especially) Costello that it's fairly easy to forgive the film some of these flaws. I'm not sure the story is really worth exploring here- we have bus chases, yacht races, oceanic storms, isolated islands, natives, corrupt businessmen and volcanoes. The approach to the film is to throw everything into the mix. None of it makes a lot of sense and the narrative holds together by the tiniest of threads. This is a film where the story is absolutely secondary. You need it there, but it's primary purpose is to create the next sequence for Abbott and Costello to do their comedy shtick. That may never result in a great movie- it certainly hadn't at this point of their career.

I felt like the comedy was solid, but only decent throughout the film. I chuckled along at the craziness of the film, but there didn't feel like any truly standout sequences. I know "The Tree of Truth" was supposed to be the big routine, but it felt like it was unsatisfactorily leveraged. That could have been one of the best, most memorable sequences this team delivered, but it doesn't work as well as it should have. It's over too quickly and isn't quite funny enough. There's a few humorous sequences- the bus and miscommunication with directions is absolutely a great gag. The shipboard scenes mostly work and create some real laughs, although the joke with Abbott convincing Costello to kill himself felt unnecessarily dark. The magician scene works well, too. I also have to give the group Tip, Tap, and Toe some credit- they deliver one of the greatest tap-dancing scenes I've ever seen. It's funny, because it's totally pointless in the context of the narrative, but it's wonderfully filmed and they are so unbelievably talented, you don't mind at all. It was tremendous fun to sit back and watch their stunning, wonderful dancing. That was absolutely a highlight.

I do believe Pardon My Sarong works because it leans into the craziness of the script. It throws everything into this film, making it impossible to summarize. None of it makes any kind of particular sense, but there's joy in that. Ultimately, we want to watch Abbott do his straight-man thing, and watch Costello melt our hearts with his earnest brand of comedy. We want to see misunderstandings and zaniness and this film delivers in those areas. Sure, there are some uncomfortable moments with the islanders that will make modern audiences cringe, but it also serves as a reminder of how different the world was in 1942. This film absolutely has flaws, but getting to see Abbott and Costello in their stride makes up for many of them. I consider this a good film.

Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating: 7



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