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Rating:  -
In the early 1940's Bud Abbot and Lou Costello produced many many 'b' films for universal. The usual pattern was that bullying Abbot and Child like Costello somehow get involved with mad scientists, gangsters and adventurers concocting wild schemes. Prat falls and chases are their stock in trade. This film however was a break from that pattern and the effect is magic.
It starts in Revolutionary New York where Lou is a struggling tinker and Bud the major Domo for a Tory land owner. This seems pretty much in their usual patter but in short order Lou is mistaken for a British spy and along with the lady of the mannor murdered and cursed by patriots.
Time passes and their ghosts, trapped by the curse, are doomed to linger on the grounds of the manor until they can prove their innocence.
Into the 1940's, in move the new owners including the decendand of major domo Abbot, now a man of learning. At first the ghosts don't want more people in 'their house' and try to figure out how to haunt it to drive out the intruders, but as the ghosts haunt the house, the truth of their murder comes out and the decendant of Budd's tormentor sets out to save him.
Usually these films are marked by the patter between the two comics but in Time of the Lives, the ghosts cannot be seen or heard by the living which leads to a very different pace and let the actors break out of their usual roles showing their range to better effect-oh, and it's a darn fun story too.
Rating:  -
The Time of Their Lives
This film is set in 1780 Kings Point NY during the Revolutionary War. A servant is in love with Horatio the tinker, who has to pay her bond to free Nora from service. Tom Danbury expects to have a title if the war ends; he is working with Benedict Arnold to surrender West Point to the British. Maid Nora hears their plans and is abducted. When Horatio and Melody Allen try to escape, they are mistaken for traitors and shot. The General curses their burial spot. The abandoned Danbury mansion is burned to the ground. Then time passes to the current day.
The Danbury mansion has been rebuilt to be as it was some 160 years earlier. Horatio and Melody discover the magic of electricity as they haunt the house. Emily the maid hears the ghosts; she is psychic. The two ghosts search for the missing document to prove their loyalty as true patriots. The inhabitants of the house are awakened by the noise. Is the new house haunted by the past? The special effects are amusing. Something supernatural seems to be happening. Modern science says seances don't work. Yet they hear knocks on the table in response to their questions!
The voice of Tom Danbury comes from Emily and tells about a secret drawer with the missing letter. They figure out it was the library clock but there is a problem here. Dr. Greenway takes action to solve the problem, but there is a complication. There are comic scenes using the technology of those days. Then a happy ending as their curse is ended. Are the legends always true?
The political viewpoints underlaying this story may make it the least comic of all the Abbot & Costello films. Bud and Lou are opponents, they do not work as a team. Can any long-lost document ever cause history to be rewritten?
Rating: -
THE TIME OF THIER LIVES
Universal Pictures
Release Date(s):August 16, 1946
Runtime: 82 minutes
Director:
Charles Barton
Producer:
Val Burton
Writing Credits:
Val Burton
Walter DeLeon
John Grant
Bradford Ropes
Cast:
Bud Abbott......Cuthbert Greenway/Dr. Ralph Greenway
Lou Costello....Horatio Prim
Kirk Alyn.......Dandy
Lynn Baggett....June Prescott
Jess Barker.....Tom Danbury
Binnie Barnes...Mildred Prescott
Robert Barrat...Major Putnam
Vernon Downing..Leigh
Marjorie Eaton..Bessie
Ann Gillis......Nora Leary
Selmer Jackson..Curator
Rex Lease.......Sergeant Makepeace
Marjorie Reynolds....Melody Allen
John Shelton....Sheldon Gage
Gale Sondergaard...Emily
Music by:
Arthur Lange
William Lava
Milton Rosen
Cinematography by:
Charles Van Enger
Film Editing by:
Philip Cahn
Art Direction:
Jack Otterson
Other Crew:
Plot Summary:
Horatio Prim and Melody Allen become two ghosts who were mistakenly branded as traitors during the Revolutionary War. Their spirits were cursed to never leave the property of the Danbury Estate unless cleared of being traitors. Now in 1940's New England, with the help of Dr. Ralph Greenway and some guests, they search to retrieve a letter from George Washington which would prove their innocence and free their spirits.
Routines & Hilarious Moments:
Lou's problems with invisibility
Ghost Lou toying with Bud
Trivia (...): (1)This would be the first Abbott and Costello feature directed by Charles Barton, who is generally regarded as their best director.(2)The cost of the special effects made this the most expensive Abbott and Costello feature up to that time.(3)This was the second, and last, feature in which Abbott and Costello did not play as a team.(4)Lou Costello's practice of taking home props proved to be a major promblem for the special effects crew. Some of the special effects shot required the sets and props to remain intact for shooting with, and without, the actors. Reportedly on one occasion when Lou removed a prop, it required two days of re-shooting for the special effects department.(5)When this film was scheduled to be shot, Bud Abbott and Lou Costello were in the midst of one of their feuds, and were not speaking to each other. Consequently, the two have very few scenes where they appear together. They were also feuding when they began to shoot "LITTLE GIANT" (1946), which is why they also have few scenes together in that picture.(6)Writing in the Saturday Evening Post in 1949, Bud Abbott said this was his favorite film role, because for a change he was the butt of all the punishment, instead of Costello.
Rating: -
and I even cried at the end - happy tears.
This is for usre one and Abbott and Costello's best films.
Luckily it is available in DVD now on the Best of Volume 2 alone with 7 other gems.
Don't miss it!
Rating: -
I just finsihed reading everyone's reviews and agree wholeheartly: this is the BEST Abbott & Costello movie ever! I remember watching their movies every Sunday morning at 11:30 when I was a kid. But this one is by far the best and is my all time favorite! The funny thing is, I haven't met too many peoole who know this movie!
Bring on the DVD!!
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