Well for starters - early in the film, the nurse Bud is chasing down the hall is Suzanne Ridgeway. Secondly, when Lou falls through the wall into another couple’s bed, the lady in the bed is none other than Rebel Randall. Yes, THE Rebel Randall. I recognized both ladies and used IMDb to confirm what I already know - my freakish ability to spot Stooge actresses in blink and you’ll miss ‘em roles is second to none. I’ll have to put it on my resume.
Now that we’ve established who the Stooge actresses are, HIT THE ICE is another in a long line of Abbott and Costello World War II era films that don’t really make much of an impression over the others. It’s strange with Bud and Lou. They never hit lows like Laurel and Hardy, The Three Stooges, Buster Keaton and most other comedians with a long resume - everyone of their films have moments to recommend and HIT THE ICE is no exception. Yet Bud and Lou made less all time classics than the others as far as feature films go, and HIT THE ICE is no all time classic either.
As far as best moments go, my favorite part, by far, is the packing/unpacking scene. One of my favorite Bud and Lou routines which yes, like most others, can also be found on the television show. The routine is done expertly here and what I love about it is both Bud and Lou are equally put to great use here. Bud gets to do his fast talking changing of the mind as to if they should stay or go, his intensity in delivery building and building each time his reasoning changes. When Jerry Seinfeld calls Bud a great straight man, I imagine it’s stuff like this he had in mind. Lou is equally brilliant, physically handling the fast paced packing and unpacking with ease and his frustration builds up at an equal pace, keeping in perfect harmony with Bud’s ramblings. The fact the bed on the wall gets used to comic effect and climaxes with Lou landing in bed in the next room with Rebel is icing on the cake. Simply a great comic scene. Other highlights are Lou getting the word “shoot,” as in camera versus gun in a great verbal mix up with the criminals and the piano miming scene. Fun stuff. I also enjoy Lou’s fourth wall breaking almost fall into the pool bit. The punchline is great there, which I won’t give away. I also dig the fireman scene which reminds me of Keaton.
So yes, there are good moments like in any other Abbott and Costello film, but there are flaws as well. The plot gets a little too dark and heavy at times and dominates the film for long stretches in the second half in place of the comedy. The musical numbers are all over the place both musically and where they show up. Ginny Simms, like all these others singers, had talent, but we get a jazzy number on the train, a sentimental number, a cheery number at the end - great for showing her musical diversity, but it is also one of the things that makes the film seem all over the place. She was a very pretty girl but a little on the straight side, so I prefer my Lou crushes to have a comic edge to them like Joan Davis or Martha Raye. The comic chase at the end is another that relies too heavily on long shots as does the ice skating slapstick scene in the middle. I enjoy the handkerchief gag, but it was more developed on the television show.
HIT THE ICE is not a bad way to spend a Saturday afternoon. It also doesn’t stand out from the other films, either, so I guess pleasantly generic is the best way to describe it. This has always been my impression of most World War II era Bud and Lou films. HOLD THAT GHOST and WHO DONE IT? stand out for being great straighter comedies without the extra bells and whistles and PARDON MY SARONG has been the great surprise so far for me because it is the one case where all the bells and whistles strike the right mood. The military films only stand out for being military films and the rest of the Universal films...I can barely tell the difference. Let’s see if going forward any of the pre LITTLE GIANT films PARDON MY SARONG me, but HIT THE ICE won’t do the trick.
