Don't Believe the Hype

Did you people see the same film I saw?

It’s an especially fun movie from a director and cast who are clearly having a good time allowing themselves to let loose.

Great example of an old-fashioned, pure-at-heart escapist event movie that doesn't pretend to be anything that it's not and has boat loads of fun being its own ludicrous self.

I admire and enjoy Costello's manic energy. He may do a lot of the same things again and again but certain humorous ideas never get old. He must execute 30 double-takes throughout the movie but they're all amusing. He's like a child with constant ups and downs of excitement and confusion. He often becomes flustered and then grabs his hat, needs to be held back, bumps his head into something or falls over. It's very silly but the way he does it is inherently funny.The story here isn't of much consequence. You really have to suspend disbelief because the plot has huge gaps and the characters put up with all kinds of ridiculous things. Abbott and Costello movies seem to function by taking a standard movie format and sticking them in the middle, free to roam and tinker, create any skits or jokes they might imagine.Here they're thrown into a murder mystery, a whodunnit. They work in an ice cream parlour as a way to be close to a radio station. They like writing murder mysteries and want to get a chance to be on the air. A man is murdered during one of the night shows (about murder) and then they pretend to be detectives investigating the crime. They run into the murderer a number of times as well as many suspects. But even more often they have hijinks with the actual detectives working the case.Many of their movies feature a famous movie monster like Frankenstein or The Mummy. We still get the aspect of horror in this movie via the murderer. Abbott and Costello remind me of Scooby Doo cartoons, the way Shaggy and Scooby are constantly running into ghosts or monsters and scaring themselves silly. The format seems very similar with a lot of the same gags. Costello often becomes speechless and starts to stutter and then either faints or sprints away.Highlights would include Costello leaving silhouette outlines after bursting through doors and then getting stuck in a wall, the water bubbler bit, the accidental or intentional playback of radio recordings which someone then thinks is really happening, tricking a police officer into cuffing himself, jumping around on stage during a show as part of a chase sequence. There's also a funny bit about Watts and Volts which is reminiscent of their famous skit about baseball positions. In fact, they overhear their baseball skit on a radio at one point and Costello remarks that he doesn't like it much, that the short fat guy isn't any good.This isn't a brilliant satire or even a parody of whodunnits, it's purely a lowbrow comedy. But it's got a lot of energy and funny ideas. As long as you're willing to be patient with its silliness and not worry about the story or characters making sense, you should have a very enjoyable time. I found myself laughing at many points without knowing or caring exactly why.

Man, nothing was sacred to Abbott and Costello! In the wacky "Who Done It?", they play soda jerks who pitch an idea to a radio station, and then find themselves in the middle of a murder case! This of course is an excuse for a series of hilarious gags (namely Alexander 2222 and the ledge of the building).One of the things that I liked about this movie is that it's not a musical. I'm just not into musicals. When I watch a comedy, I expect to laugh, and musical numbers cut into that. Here, just get to see Bud and Lou do their stuff. And some funny stuff it is. They must have had fun making it. Really funny!

This Abbott and Costello spoof of whodunits contains some laugh-out-loud moments ("I was holding the gun backwards!"), but IMO would have been even funnier if it had focused more on the "A & C posing as detectives" idea: the scene where they "interrogate" the suspects ("what kind of murder is this without a butler?") is possibly the highlight of the film and predates by decades similar scenes in the "Pink Panther" sequels. But the rest of the movie has the boys mostly trying to evade the real policemen rather than investigating the crime(s). Luckily, "Who Done It?" is not just a succession of comic routines - it also has a functional mystery plot and a well-done climactic set piece with Bud and Lou trapped alone with the killer on the roof of a skyscraper. (**1/2)

There are better films featuring Bud Abbott and Lou Costello, but "Who Done It" is as good a way as any to discover why the comedy pair was one of the 1940s' most consistent box office draws. It's a marvelously elongated piece of slapstick comedy that showcases Bud and Lou in peak form.Chick (Bud) and Mervin (Lou) are soda jerks at the Radio Center Drug Store, located in the same building where GBS broadcasts radio shows across the country. The pair want to write a mystery, so when the network director is mysteriously murdered on the air, they jump at the chance to solve the case and prove their smarts. Needless to say, this impromptu sleuthing annoys the real police, and Chick and Mervin are soon on the run.Just about a year into their 16-year run, "Who Done It" finds Abbott and Costello bursting with energy, utilizing the confines of a radio station as background for their trademark pratfalls and patter. Even when the dialogue is less than stellar, it works at sustaining the energy and proving there was nothing too illogical for Abbott and Costello."Why wasn't this murder reported yesterday," Mervin demands as he shows up seconds after the murder, playing a cop.Because it didn't happen yet, is the answer."Why wait until the last minute...You're going to get the electric chair, and two years besides!"Before you can register enough to groan about that one, Chick is educating Mervin on watts and volts. "What's volts?" "Exactly, watts are volts." "That's what I'm trying to find out...Next thing you'll tell me watts is on second!"Then you get one of the best bits Abbott and Costello ever did on film, the Alexander 2222 routine, where Mervin tries to call the radio station from a drug store across the street and can't get through, even as a bevy of bizarre characters step into the same phone booth to call places like Nome, Alaska and Moscow. "Long distance, get me Brazil. Hello, Brazil. Is this Joe? Hi Joe! How's the coffee business?" There's lots of great silliness here, my favorite being when Lou for no reason bursts into opera.As theowinthrop notes in his review, this is an interesting Abbott & Costello film for its focus on radio, which broke them as a national phenomenon and where they continued to work throughout their film career. There's a nice bit where Chick and Mervin, behind the counter of their drug store, act out their radio script with ice-cream scoopers ("'The Midget Gets The Chair,' or 'Small Fry'") and clever use of the tools of radio, like recordings that are activated at the wrong moment, and a prop door Mervin mistakes for the real thing. Walk through one door, and you are in a dark office where a murderer lurks, walk through another and you are in the middle of an acrobatic act.Why is there an acrobatic act being performed at a radio station? Why are Chick and Mervin entrusted with the one piece of evidence by someone who knows they aren't cops? How does Mervin manage to climb up the side of a building after taking a flagpole in the crotch? Watching an Abbott and Costello movie, you have to ignore stuff like that.But what you get in "Who Done It" is worth the sacrifice. You get a first-rate supporting cast including the memorable Mary Wilkes, Patric Knowles from "The Adventures of Robin Hood," Edmund MacDonald from "Flying Tigers," and most effectively, William Bendix as a dopey detective who actually manages to get himself tricked by Lou. There's also a great finale on the roof of a building that combines laughs and suspense as effectively as anything in the more-heralded "Meets Frankenstein."Later on, the films got weaker as Lou pushed Bud to the side and showcased himself more as cuddly man-child. But here the pair was still hungry for laughs and experienced enough to understand what worked. They gave the public what they wanted with "Who Done It," and its a tribute to their lasting genius such a light endeavor still holds up today.