ABBOTT AND COSTELLO-LITTLE GIANT

 

ABBOTT AND COSTELLO in LITTLE GIANT

Perhaps there’s something to be said for low expectations. As a kid, LITTLE GIANT was my least favorite Bud and Lou film. It always made me quite sad. By the time Lou loses the canary he bought for his mother, I was crying! Thus, up to this in my marathon, I avoided it for weeks, afraid it would spiral me into a sadness! Perhaps because nothing in the movie can rival the problems real life has currently presented itself to myself and my family, LITTLE GIANT didn’t do that this time. That Bud and Lou do not come together for the first 20 minutes or so of the movie, didn’t annoy or even seem to be a drawback.

 

First, the first 15 minutes of the movie sets up Lou at his farmhouse with his mother and his lessons about business. Presumably, his father is no longer alive. That said, the first 15 minutes, far from being maudlin, are quite funny. No small part of that is Sidney Fields appearance as a customer who finds everything negative in what Costello (Benny Miller here) tries to sell him. It’s hilarious.

 

I had forgotten a lot of the rest of the plot and frankly, it’s not that bad. The team are not a team in this movie and it is an interesting experiment and different. Bud plays two parts, EM and his nicer cousin Chandler. It’s hard to remember that he is, in fact, the same man playing two very different people. He is that good in the roles. In fact, the cast is a strong, likeable one. Elena Verdugo as Benny’s love Martha, Mary Gordon as Ma, and Brenda Joyce (soon to be Johnny Weissmuller’s and then Lex Barker’s Jane in TARZAN) as nice gal Ruby are the strong female good gals. Even Jacqueline deWit as not so nice gal, wife of EM comes across as less villainous and more in it for her husband. George Cleveland as Uncle Clarence is also quite nice.

 

The scene on the train where Benny tries to change clothes in a cramped upper compartment is funny. His scenes with the bubbles is nice. The Margaret Dumont vacuum scene falls flat. The other scene at a farmhouse where Benny tries to demonstrate a vacuum to a woman who has no electricity is cut from the completed film but can be seen, in a different form with a different actress in the ABBOTT AND COSTELLO SHOW episode VACUUM CLEANER SALESMAN. In fact, it isn’t that funny. Yes, this movie isn’t not the funniest ABBOTT AND COSTELLO film but it’s not a bad film either and it has its moments.

 

The 7 into 28 routine is pacier and funny. And the ending with all the nice characters together and a happy ending makes for a good film.

 

All in all, LITTLE GIANT will never be a TIME OF THEIR LIVES or ABBOTT AND COSTELLO MEET FRANKENSTEIN but it’s not as bad as I remember and as such, is an interesting movie that almost, but not quite, seems classic and fun. At its worst, it’s tolerable and at its best, it’s a quiet little movie that presents a lot of nice things happening to someone who’s luck and experience was low but who’s caring and love was high. I’m sorry I put it off for so long.