FANTASIA OBSCURA: That One ‘Revolutionary’ Abbott & Costello Flick
There are some fantasy, science fiction, and horror films that not every fan has caught. Not every film ever made has been seen by the audience that lives for such fare. Some of these deserve another look, because sometimes not every film should remain obscure.
Sometimes, you need to change the batting rotation, because your chances of winning depends on who’s on first…
The Time of Their Lives (1946)
(Dist.: Universal Pictures Dir.: Charles Barton)
Abbott and Costello are probably one of the more famous comedy duos in the American canon. Their popularity was based on their chemistry as they worked off each other, the slick straight man confounding the lovable rube, which allowed them to move as a pair from burlesque to radio to film and television. Some TV stations well into the 1970s, such as WPIX-TV in New York, would not only run episodes of their TV series, but also devote a regular slot in their weekly schedule to their films (in their case, Sundays at 11:30 AM), giving them multiple spots across the dial.
As “kings of all media” back when making inroads from one outlet into the other was a lot harder, they managed to enjoy the fruits that came out of a good working relationship, even during the occasional period of bad harvests, such as when this film was made.
Nineteen forty-six was a trial for the two comedians. Their relationship had frayed by then, possibly over domestic hiring (Abbott retaining a maid that Costello had just let go), although the long hours together in movies and radio simultaneously over 11 years may have tested their willingness to shake up what might have seemed a stale routine. The result of this was that both films they gave Universal that year, part of their contractual obligation, involved abandoning the formula and having the two do parallel characters that didn’t interact the way they had for years, which resulted in the production of the dramedy Little Giant, and this film.
Opening in 1780, during the Revolutionary War, we have the tinker Horatio Prim (Costello) paying a visit to the object of his desire, the serving girl Nora O’Leary (Ann Gillis) at her estate of her master, Tom Danbury (Jess Barker). Prim is hoping his letter of recommendation from General Washington himself will allow Danbury to release O’Leary and allow her to marry him, something her other suitor, Danbury’s butler Cuthbert Greenway (Abbott) wants to prevent. His sabotaging Prim comes just as Danbury’s efforts to throw in with Benedict Arnold get foiled by the discovery of Major Andre’s treason, with Danbury’s role in the venture discovered by his fiancée, Melody Allen (Marjorie Reynolds). In the confusion surrounding the unraveling of the plot to sell West Point’s plans, both Prim and Allen are mistaken for spies, which gets them shot, their bodies brutally dumped down a well, and their souls cursed and damned for being traitors.
Yeah, this gets real dark real fast as the first act closes…
Rather than end the film there, however, the production goes on, with Horatio and Melody now ghosts under their curse, haunting the estate until their loyalty to the United States can be proven and their reputations redeemed.
Their next chance comes in 1946, after the estate is purchased and restored with most of the original furniture by Sheldon Gage (John Shelton). The first weekend the house can be occupied, he brings up his fiancée June Prescott (Lynn Baggett), her aunt Millie (Binnie Barnes), and Sheldon’s shrink, Dr. Ralph Greenway, a descendant of Cuthbert’s (also played by Abbott), who are greeted at the door by the maid, Emily (Gale Sondergaard), a sensitive who recognizes Horatio and Melody’s presence before the ghosts start interacting with the mortals of the house.
There are some decent laughs here as the ghosts fight their fate and interact with modernity much the same way Gregg Martell did in Dinosaurus! While Costello does some retooling of his usual persona for Horatio, Abbott’s second role as Doctor Greenway is a major effort to go against type that mostly works. And the interaction between Costello and Reynolds for the most part works, showing signs that he could have worked with a number of other partners had he decided to form another act. And while the script has its bad moments (including one interaction where Horatio and Melody flirt that could have been excised without being missed), it meets its purpose well enough to provide service on behalf of setting up the gags and keeping the plot going between the bits.
The film is quite watchable, even enjoyable, yet it has a reputation for being a low point in the Abbott and Costello cycle. It was certainly a disappointment at the box office, and after this film, the two would go back to their established interactive style, a repudiation of the effort to shake it up. And while later audiences seem to have embraced this film more readily than those that caught the first release, because it is an outlier compared to such classics as Hold That Ghost or Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein, the impression of failure is hard to shake.
This raises an interesting question: Is the reputation for the film based on it being a bad movie, or just being a bad Abbott and Costello movie?
In order to consider that, one is tempted to play a game: How would The Time of Their Lives play out if another set of comedy actors were in the roles of Horatio Prim and the Greenway family…?
If we look at some of their contemporaries, we’d have to disregard Laurel and Hardy, who both played off each other as part of their routine, while Olsen and Johnson would probably have found some way to make it work (technically, though, with their tendency towards extreme chaos, who’d notice…?). The early pairing of Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis might have had some issues with the picture, although later in their careers when they aged out of the roles it might have worked. Bing Crosby and Bob Hope each had enough solo time on their own projects, on the other hand, that they might have made a fair go at it.
Moving to subsequent pairings, it’s hard to guess what the result might have been had this been tried with Peter Cook and Dudley Moore (who were both in a film that’ll be looked in a later edition of this column), with some slight edge being afforded Peter Lawford and Sammy Davis Jr., had the potential third film in the “Salt & Pepper” franchise come to pass. It’s a bit of a stretch to see Jack Burns and Avery Schreiber being able to do it, and likewise Cheech and Chong might have been unable to stay away from each other long enough to make it work. Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi might have had a slight chance, insofar as both could have worked their bits in isolation without as much dependence on each other.
In fact, looking at comedies where we were surprised two otherwise independent talents could work together (say, Jack Lemmon with Tony Curtis, or Gene Wilder with Zero Mostel), what may have hindered this film was the expectation of interplay that neither Abbott nor Costello were willing to engage with each other at the time. The fact that the movie is not filled with the give-and-take the stars were known for might be why the picture is not as readily remembered.
Could this be why the film has the reputation it does? I don’t know…
Third base!
…sorry, just had to…
NEXT TIME: The first time should have been enough, after the world ended and the vampires arose, but sometimes the foolish never leave well enough alone…
