Almost lost in Abbott & Costello's prodigious output of the early forties is a funny little movie called 'Hit The Ice.' It's easy to see why it's been overlooked; in one two-year period, 1941-42, the team came out with EIGHT new films. After that, they slowed down to a more reasonable pace of two to three movies a year. And while 'Hit The Ice' isn't as well-known as the earlier 'Buck Privates' or the later classic, 'Abbott & Costello Meet Frankenstein,' it shows the duo still at a peak of humor and popularity, operating like a well-oiled machine, turning out hit comedy after hit comedy. If there was a problem, it was the obvious strain on the comedians and their writers to come up with enough new funny material to sustain such a production schedule. This is why A&C films almost inevitably feel 'padded,' with too much attention paid to either a pair of young lovers or musical numbers. In 'Hit The Ice,' it's definitely the latter. The big band singer Ginny Simms has way too much screen time, singing five songs (or maybe six; forgive me for not counting), which is all the more unforgivable as none of them are memorable and a couple are stupid beyond belief. There is one sung at an ice-skating rink called 'The Slap-Happy Polka,' during which the women skating periodically slap their partners. And no, unfortunately it does not evoke a Monty Pythonesque sense of humor. Abbott & Costello though have a number of funny scenes and the film starts off with a couple of the best. Playing photographers who hope to prove their worth to the local newspaper, they stumble upon a crook playing sick in a hospital (Sheldon Leonard) and his two thugs, who mistake them for a pair of hit men from Detroit. There is a hilarious exchange of dialogue between the bad guys and A&C, built entirely around double entendres. A short time later, Bud and Lou are accused of robbing a bank and so consider leaving town. While Abbott delivers a long monologue where he agonizes between leaving and staying, so Costello alternately packs and unpacks a suitcase, another great example of the team's expertise at physical comedy and timing. The rest of the film takes place at a ski resort; A&C's hopes of clearing themselves depend on them proving the crooks from the hospital guilty. This leads to another funny scene in a log cabin where Bud and Lou try to bluff the bad guys (as only they can). A climactic ski chase down the slopes suffers from too much rear-screen projection and obvious stunt work and is typical of comedies at the time, not just Abbott & Costello's. Then we get yet ANOTHER song from Ms. Simms before the not-so-happy (for Lou anyway) ending. 'Hit The Ice' is very much worth seeing, and one of the nice things about it is that the boys' routines are not as familiar as from some of their better-known pictures. I know for me, it was almost like watching a 'new' Abbott & Costello film. And you can always fast-forward through those godawful songs.
Review of Hit the Ice
