Reviews


RKO Brown & Carney Collection (The Adventures of a Rookie / Rookies in Burma / Girl Rush / Genius at Work) - Warner Archive

Abbott & Costello meet the Clones

The new Brown & Carney set has arrived! Woo-hoo! (I get thrilled over the STRANGEST things, eh?) When the Mexican Spitfire series ended in mid-1943, RKO decided to replace it with a series of Abbott & Costello pictures. Not having the ACTUAL Abbott & Costello, of course, didn't dissuade them -- they had comics Wally Brown (the thin straight man type) and Alan Carney (a fat rubber-faced guy) already under contract. Voila! Instant Abbott & Costello clones! Which is, of course, your basic problem right there - love 'em or hate 'em, Abbott & Costello were Abbott & Costello. These guys weren't. So, last night, I watched Adventures of a Rookie (1943, dir. Leslie Goodwins). The running routine they do here - 'A and B leave for Chicago' (part of the induction quiz) is actually pretty funny, so much so that I found myself laughing, not at Brown & Carney doing it, but how funny it would've been with Bud 'n' Lou doing it. (The whole thing ends up in a discussion of Carney's imaginary two sisters and how Brown isn't allowed to date them. Don't ask.) So, it's an induction comedy, and several of the boys end up quarantined in a house full of women and doing their drills right there in the living room. That's your plot, more or less. Buck Privates it ain't. It's way more 'odd to see two guys not being Abbott & Costello' funny than 'ha-ha' funny. The best sequence has Alan doing impersonations - he was very, very good at it. His Edward G. Robinson'll slay ya. They do their own version of the Drill Bit, and it's as if 'We're Not Abbott & Costello' was flashing on the screen the whole time. Million-dollar Dialog: Wally, of Alan: 'The last time I saw a mouth like that it had a hook in it.' The guys were either encouraged to ad-lib or were scripted to appear to ad-lib, which was admirable; their little asides to each other are the only thing appealing about the act. Carney lacks Costello's manic energy or charisma, though. Richard Martin, Margaret Landry, and John Hamilton round out the cast. I'm shocked - SHOCKED! - that RKO didn't find three gals in Poughkeepsie that kinda/sorta looked and sounded like the Andrews Sisters. Brown & Carney stuck around as a team at RKO for three years, even hitting the road for a vaudeville tour at one point to hone/promote their act. Here's their films: Adventures of a Rookie (1943) Rookies in Burma (1943) Step Lively (1944), a remake of Room Service, with Frank Sinatra instead of Harpo Seven Days Ashore (1944) Girl Rush (1944) with Robert Mitchum Radio Stars on Parade (1945) Zombies on Broadway (1945) with Bela Lugosi Genius at Work (1946) with Bela again Since I know you'll want each and every one of these for your own collection to watch and re-watch as the eons go by, note that the new Warner Archives set includes the two Rookies movies, Girl Rush, and Genius at Work. Step Lively is available in the Frank Sinatra: The Early Years boxed set. Radio Stars on Parade is available from Warner Archives on a double-feature with The Mayor of 44th Street (1942), another film that doesn't have Abbott & Costello in it. Zombies on Broadway is part of the Karloff & Lugosi Horror Classics set from Warners. Abbott & Costello meet Frankenstein is available on Blu-ray and DVD from Universal. Just sayin'. Seven Days Ashore, then, seems to be the only Brown & Carney team comedy not yet available on DVD. I'm holdin' my breath.