All the Abbott and Costello starring vehicles have been reviewed, yet for a while now, their very first film, ONE NIGHT IN THE TROPICS I have not discussed - until now. My reasoning is this is not an Abbott and Costello film but instead, a film with Abbott and Costello in it. There is a difference. An 83 minute film where they don’t show up until about the 18 minute mark. At this point, Bud and Lou were really big radio stars and Universal took a chance on them in movies, a chance that paid off big time. I guess in the official sense, they were stars in ONE NIGHT IN THE TROPICS as they received above the title billing. They received the billing with three other actors and were the third listed of the four. In the actuality of how the film played out? Bud and Lou were comic relief, plain and simple.
The actual main characters of the film were played by two male leads and two female leads - Allan Jones, Robert Cummings, Nancy Kelly and a should have been billed much higher Peggy Moran. They tangle back and forth with who is in love with who, but the bottom line is Allan Jones takes out a love insurance policy on Cummings and Kelly, falls in love with Kelly, even though doing so is financially not in his interest. If the name Allan Jones is familiar, he is the same male lead in The Marx Brothers A NIGHT AT THE OPERA. Like in that movie, Jones sings a couple of musical numbers and does a good job. Still, being a casual Jones fan myself, I don’t hold my cigarette lighter in the air until he busts out the hits “Alone” and “Cosi Cosa” which only appear in the Marx vehicle. Look, I’m the wrong guy to review straight romantic comedies without some type of crazy subtext to it. As far as this type of thing goes, it moves at a steady pace and the leads all present themselves well. They have nice voices, look nice, and it’s all pleasant. That being said, not the kind of thing I would have in my collection if Bud and Lou weren’t in it.
As for Bud and Lou, quite interesting in one respect. The majority of their WWII era films I mention how the romantic couples and songs tend to interrupt Bud and Lou. Here, it’s the complete opposite with the comedy stylings of Bud and Lou interrupting the young lovers. Bud and Lou have a very small role in the plot but are most welcome doing their comedy routines, routines which feel like they belong in another world. We get the mustard routine, two tens for a five, Jonah the Whale, 365 Dollars of pay into 1 dollar and of course, Who’s on First. All classic routines that no doubt the public ate up at the time and are the only reason most of us, to this day, still watch this movie. Who’s on First is abbreviated compared to THE NAUGHTY NINETIES but still brilliantly done. Bud turning Lou’s $365 of pay into $1, shaving it down bit by bit is another verbal masterclass.
So yes, ONE NIGHT IN THE TROPICS is historically an important film as it introduced the film world to Bud and Lou. Artistically it started this idea of trying to fit these otherworldly comedians into an ordinary world. Opinions vary, but if you ask me, they fit best either working with monsters or in their TV show, where they created a world of their very own.
