"Here Come the Co-eds" features Lou Costello in one of his more physical roles, taking his share of bumps in a number of routines including the 'sticky' kitchen scene and the X-Ray dice gag. He's also on the basketball court swishing away (in more ways than one!). I didn't know Lou was a free-throw maven in high school until I read the trivia page and saw a few viewer comments, but something struck me as peculiar when he made his bounce-shot basket. Right after, the cutaway showed Bixby College owner Kirkland (Charles Dingle) cheering Lou's basket along with his daughter (June Vincent), and I had to go 'huh'? Right up till then he had been totally against new Dean Benson's (Donald Cook) attempt to modernize the school's curriculum, which would have included athletics for the girls. When did he make the switch?
As much as I like Abbott and Costello's comedies, the gags do become repetitious after a while. I've seen the oyster stew bit at least four times now, or at least variations of it using a fish ("A&C in the Foreign Legion"), a frog ( "The Wistful Widow of Wagon Gap"), and whale blubber ("Lost in Alaska"). Curious, but this oyster had a lobster claw, how does that work? A wrestling bit was also used in the Foreign Legion picture, but in that one, Bud and Lou were wrestling managers who had to chase down their grappler to Algiers!
This one also seemed to have an awful lot of musical numbers, which are generally OK by me, but this was the first time I ever saw Costello sing in one of his pictures. He joins perky Peggy Ryan in a lively tune, alternating his voice between normal and falsetto. I was curious about the movie's opening credits listing Evelyn and her Magic Violin and didn't know what to expect, but it was a straight performance by a female violinist that was quite exceptional.
So when you think about it, there's an awful lot going on in this story making this quite the entertaining flick. Fan ratings on IMDb place it about the middle of the pack for Abbott and Costello's films, but if you didn't know better, you might consider it one of their best.
As much as I like Abbott and Costello's comedies, the gags do become repetitious after a while. I've seen the oyster stew bit at least four times now, or at least variations of it using a fish ("A&C in the Foreign Legion"), a frog ( "The Wistful Widow of Wagon Gap"), and whale blubber ("Lost in Alaska"). Curious, but this oyster had a lobster claw, how does that work? A wrestling bit was also used in the Foreign Legion picture, but in that one, Bud and Lou were wrestling managers who had to chase down their grappler to Algiers!
This one also seemed to have an awful lot of musical numbers, which are generally OK by me, but this was the first time I ever saw Costello sing in one of his pictures. He joins perky Peggy Ryan in a lively tune, alternating his voice between normal and falsetto. I was curious about the movie's opening credits listing Evelyn and her Magic Violin and didn't know what to expect, but it was a straight performance by a female violinist that was quite exceptional.
So when you think about it, there's an awful lot going on in this story making this quite the entertaining flick. Fan ratings on IMDb place it about the middle of the pack for Abbott and Costello's films, but if you didn't know better, you might consider it one of their best.