After watching Laurel & Hardy in their second starring M-G-M produced feature, Nothing But Trouble, I'd thought I'd do the same for Abbott & Costello's such for the studio, this one called Lost in a Harem. Speaking of Stan & Ollie, this very movie shares with Bud & Lou a director, Charles Riesner, who previously helmed L & H in The Hollywood Revue of 1929 (the only other directors who worked with both teams were A. Edward Sutherland and William A. Seiter), and a writer, Harry Crane, who did the same for S & O in Air Raid Wardens just the year before. Like what he did with L & H there, Riesner also films a magic act with A & C that doesn't go well either time for each team. While usual A & C writer John Grant contributed many of Bud & Lou's familiar routines, it's possible Crane did the bit where they act like termites. Also on hand is Marilyn Maxwell as the fine looking leading lady and John Conte as the prince from a foreign land looking to help her and the boys escape. Ms. Maxwell and Conte were engaged during production though divorced a couple of years later by which time Marilyn joined But & Lou on their radio program as a vocalist. She's quite entertaining in the beginning production number as are Jimmy Dorsey and His Orchestra in various places. Also entertaining is Douglas Dumbrille as the villain especially when interacting with Costello. Oh, and there's an amusing variation of the "mirror scene" previously done with Groucho and Harpo Marx in Duck Soup and which would later be done with Costello and somebody who looks nothing like him in The Naughty Nineties. Then there's Murray Leonard who does two funny routines with Bud & Lou while playing a derelict in jail with them of which one of them is a variation of the "Niagra Falls" bit that The Three Stooges would do in their short Gents Without Cents in the same year. After this, Mr. Leonard then appeared with them in their first Universal picture back since Lou's bout with rheumatic fever, In Society, though that one was released before this one. Bud & Lou are tops here and the plot moves along nicely in its 90-minute running time. So that's a high recommendation of Lost in a Harem.
Review of Lost in a Harem
