DVD review of Hit the Ice, starring Bud Abbott and Lou Costello

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Abbott and Costello's 'Hit the Ice' starring Bud Abbott and Lou Costello - DVD

Abbott and Costello‘s Hit the Ice (1943) starring Bud Abbott and Lou Costello

Bud Abbott and Lou Costello are sidewalk photographers who get mixed up with bank robbers and wind up at a ski resort. As you can imagine, various hijinks ensue. This film has the trademark Abbott and Costello verbal humor, and plenty of visual comedy, too. Lou’s mishaps on a skating rink are amusing, and a frantic chase finale has Lou turning into a giant snowball! The supporting cast features Sheldon Leonard as the criminal mastermind, and fans of ‘40s music will enjoy vocalist Ginny Simms.

I rate it 4 clowns on a 5-clown scale.

Trivia about Abbott and Costello’s Hit the Ice:

The film was started by director Erle C. Kenton. However, he and Lou Costello clashed on several occasions, and Kenton was fired and replaced by Charles Lamont.
Lou Costello always suspected that Universal wasn’t giving him and Bud Abbott the agreed-upon share of the profits made by their films (a suspicion later proven, in legal action they took against Universal, to be true). Therefore, he developed a habit of picking out furniture he liked from the sets of their films and taking it home, considering it payback for what he believed to be Universal’s cheating. One day director Charles Lamont showed up on the to shoot a scene at the ice skating rink only to discover that all the wrought-iron patio furniture that had been there the previous day had disappeared. Costello denied any knowledge of it, and Lamont said he would shoot no more scenes until the furniture was returned. A compromise was finally reached where Costello would bring back the furniture, the scene would be shot, and then he would be allowed to bring all of the furniture back home.
After completing production, Lou Costello was stricken with rheumatic fever. This would be the last new Abbott and Costello film for more than a year.