Watch KEEP ‘EM FLYING in the link above
KEEP ‘EM FLYING was the fourth Abbott and Costello film in a ten month period in 1941. These films were between 80 - 90 minutes, so if they seem a bit formulaic for the next few years, it’s understandable since Universal felt the need to crank them out at that pace. 1942, with a little help from MGM, would also see four films! As far as the formula, it’s romance, music and comedy all hodgepodged together with no element lasting long enough in the film to gain any consistent momentum. To add further to the formula, pre U.S. official involvement in World War II, three out of these four movies were peacetime draft military films. Previously, we had the Army and Navy featured, now it’s the time for The Air Corp. We get the scene of the officer, camera glued to him in close up, talking up The Air Corp and a big musical number with dancing servicemen and women shaped like a “v” for victory. The volunteer effort is really being ramped up and consider the release date was 11/28/41 - nine days before Pearl Harbor. RIDE ‘EM COWBOY was delayed in production to get KEEP ‘EM FLYING in theaters. If they waited a week and a half longer to release KEEP ‘EM FLYING, it no longer would have been a peacetime draft film.
The straight dramatic plot is, let’s just say, not to my taste. It’s a cliched plot of a bad boy, played by Dick Foran, wooing over the pretty girl, played by Carol Bruce by (spoiler alert if you can’t already guess) doing a brave heroic deed to show he has a heart of gold. His worthiness is redeemed. That’s about it. Like everything else in the movie, the plot doesn’t sustain enough because the music or comedy takes over, but the plot is the part I cared about the least here. Really a shame because in HOLD THAT GHOST, it’s quite obvious Bud and Lou can sustain a feature without having to rely on cliched love stories. If anything, there was comic potential for a feature completely missed here. Bud and Lou fall for identical twins, both played by Martha Raye. There is confusion as Lou doesn’t realize they’re twins. Some gags are done with this but all is revealed to Lou mid film. This is a plot that had feature potential and Martha Raye was a fine comedienne in her own right who could have easily carried this plot along with Bud and Lou.
Concerning the music, I suppose Carol Bruce has a pleasant voice, but it’s really not my style. Really, me reviewing her musically is like asking a person who digs show tunes to understand the majesty of an Iron Maiden concert. It ain’t happening. Martha Raye’s singing is a little more my style as she hits those loud blue notes and those blue notes musicians were doing back then lead to rock ‘n’ roll. So yeah, Martha Raye is my favorite singer here, but take my music criticism for what it’s worth.
As far as the comedy, most of it is good. The scene ordering the food was done previously by Laurel and Hardy on a couple of occasions. Ollie is somewhat more cultured than Bud and Stan more pantomime than Lou. Bud and Lou, especially Bud, are just an explosion that suddenly goes off. I dig both styles and Bud Abbott really excels in scenes like this. The whole umpire/baseball bat scene at the beginning is a nice mechanical gag Bud and Lou pull off real well. The scene in the cave with Lou getting the scare reactions - at least they learned one good thing from HOLD THAT GHOST - may be my favorite part of the film along with the scene where they’re ordering food with the twins. Scare comedy and Lou Costello are like peanut butter and jelly, or Martha Raye kisses and burnt toast. She really is fantastic too even if I wish more was written for her. The only thing, comedy wise, I don’t like - again - is the airplane scene with the long shots and reactions.
It’s been a while since I’ve seen most of these films but I have a feeling a lot of these films until the mid forties will have the same tone -disorganized films with really good comedians I’d like to see more of. I hope a few of these films surprise me, but we shall see.
