The Best of Abbott & Costello Volume 2

Volume 2 of The Best of Abbott & Costello contains eight movies that show the classic comedy duo in the middle phase of their career. Eschewing the faults of their earlier movies—romantic plots not involving them, too many musical numbers—this disc clearly captures the evolution of the team as they became the top box office attraction during World War II. It also points the way to their golden age, which will be showcased partly on this disc, and even more on Volume 3.

Volume 2 of The Best of Abbott & Costello starts off with a movie that sets the stage for most of the plots to follow. In Hit the Ice Bud & Lou play two photographers who want to get a job with a newspaper by snapping pics of something exciting. They get their chance when they’re confused as hit men, of all things! Eventually this wacky film moves to Sun Valley and features a hilarious routine involving Lou at the tail end of an ice skating crack the whip. The final chase on skis is also very, very funny.

In the next movie, In Society, the boys once again play blue collar workers who get caught up in things beyond their control. This time they start out as plumbers and wind up masquerading as high society types caught in a web of suspense. It sound outrageous and it is. The sequence in which Lou tries to get directions to the Susquehanna Hat Company is a recreation of a famous vaudeville routine and it alone is worth your investment.

Here Come the Coeds represents a kind of throwback to the earlier Abbott & Costello movies in that there are a few too many musical numbers. This one isn’t the duo at their top level best, it is still enjoyable if only for the sight of Lou in drag, as well as the Jonah routine.