In the Navy
Writer: Arthur T. Horman, John Grant
Director: Arthur Lubin
Cast: Bud Abbott, Lou Costello, Dick Powell, The Andrews Sisters
I figured that since I did a positive review of Abbott and Costello's Buck Privates (1941) for Pop Heist, I should give their follow-up film In the Navy (also 1941) a shot.Â
In the Navy was the second of Abbott and Costello's four 'service' comedies, where the two hapless chums wind up in the US Armed Services. The duo kicked off 1941 with Buck Privates, where they joined the Army, rounding out the year with Keep 'Em Flying, their Air Force picture. Buck Privates Come Home trailed in 1947. With Pearl Harbor occurring just days after Keep 'Em Flying's release, the genre of feel-good, no combat enlistment comedies came to an end and the team started a well-received string of genre comedies like the Western Ride 'Em Cowboy and the detective Who Done It?
With In the Navy, Bud Abbott and Lou Costello go back to their old roles of a shyster and a goofball, respectively, but this time they're playing out their gags in the Naval Academy, then aboard a battleship, then finally docked in Hawaii. The Andrews Sisters up the ante from their roles in Buck Privates, where they were just singers inexplicably attached to the Army camp, by having Patty act as the romantic foil for Lou. He's been catfishing her via US Mail, claiming to be more than just the pastry chef he is. Once she gets a look at him, she's no longer interested.
Bud and Lou get much more screen time in this one than they did in Buck Privates, presumably because Universal Pictures saw they could carry a film themselves without relying heavily on a B-plot with other actors. In Buck Privates it was Lee Bowman and Alan Curtis sparring over Jane Frazee, and I'll admit, it was one of the better subplots in someone else's comedy. Here it's Dick Powell (serving out his time as a light studio actor before taking on tough-guy noir roles in 1944) playing a crooner so desperate to escape the limelight that he enlists in the Navy under another name. He's dogged by a photographer, Claire Dodd, who's determined to expose who he is. Powell's great, but the plot is threadbare even at its most engaging.
Abbott and Costello are in fine form, Lou in particular, with more and more setups to draw out laughs. Regular Navy duties like figuring out how to sleep in a hammock and betting over a "lemon under a cup" version of 3-card monte are prime opportunities for slapstick. There are gags everywhere you turn, with Costello's shrieking indignation heightening every bit of dialogue. The big climax – where Lou, dressed in Captain's regalia, blindly barks orders over the radio to impress Patty, while inadvertently firing torpedoes, launching aircraft, and causing multiple near collisions at sea – is tremendous. Alas, it's only a dream.
For the most part, In The Navy takes the best parts of Buck Privates and triples them. More gags, more just-for-laughs set-ups, more locations, and much more Shemp Howard, who only could steal one scene in Buck Privates. The Andrews Sisters, deprived of such big hits as "Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy" and "You're A Lucky Fellow, Mr. Smith" that propelled the earlier film, get more involved with the plot this time. In fact, In The Navy clearly wears the badge of the first film with pride, using the "You're A Lucky Fellow" theme music at the beginning and the end, and having Lou accidentally call the film "Buck Privates" in the opening credits before he's corrected.
Plot-wise, I don't think it holds up as well as Buck Privates, and the music doesn't leave its mark, but the comedy scenes are what you're watching this for and this one has way more than Buck Privates. Lou Costello shines in a way only he can, while Bud Abbott finds ways to get Lou into more trouble. A fun film for a slow afternoon.
In the Navy is available as part of Abbott & Costello: The Complete Universal Pictures Collection from Shout! Factory.
