Hit the Ice (1943)

Two newspaper photographers get mixed up with gangsters at a ski resort.

Director:

Charles Lamont

Writers:

True Boardman (story), Robert Lees (screenplay),

Stars:

Bud Abbott, Lou Costello, Ginny Simms

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Bud Abbott	...	Flash Fulton
Lou Costello	...	Weejie 'Tubby' McCoy
Ginny Simms	...	Marcia Manning
Patric Knowles	...	Dr. Bill Elliot (Credits) / Dr. William 'Bill' Burns (in Film)
Elyse Knox	...	Nurse Peggy Osborne
Joe Sawyer	...	Buster - Silky's Henchman (as Joseph Sawyer)
Marc Lawrence	...	Phil - Silky's Henchman
Sheldon Leonard	...	Harry 'Silky' Fellowsby
Johnny Long and His Orchestra	...	Themselves
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Nick Thompson	...	Husband (scenes deleted)

Storyline

Flash Fulton (Bud Abbott) and Weejie McCoy (Lou Costello) take pictures of a bank robbery. Lured to the mountain resort hideout of the robbers and accompanied by Dr. Bill Elliott (Patric Knowles) and Peggy Osborn (Elyse Knox), they also meet old friend Johnny Long (Himself) and his band and singer Marcia Manning (Ginny Simms). Dr. Elliott and Peggy are being held in a remote cabin by the robbers, but Weejie rescues them by turning himself into a human snowball that becomes an avalanche that engulfs the crooks.

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Plot Keywords:

resort | gangster | bank robbery | photographer | singer | 

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Taglines:

IT'S THE Daffiest, Happiest SLEIGH RIDE YOU'VE EVER BEEN TAKEN ON!

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Genres:

Comedy | Crime | Music

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Certificate:

Approved

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

2 June 1943 (USA)

Also Known As:

Oh Doctor

Filming Locations:

Westwood, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Universal Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

82 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Recording)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

After completing production, Lou Costello was stricken with rheumatic fever. This would be the last new Abbott and Costello film for more than a year.

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Goofs

When Flash and Tubby arrive at the ski cabin, you can see their shadows on the trees in the backdrop behind them.

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Quotes

Weejie 'Tubby' McCoy: [moaning] Oh I was shot, somebody stabbed me.

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Connections

Featured in Abbott and Costello Meet Jerry Seinfeld (1994)

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Soundtracks

"Prelude in C Sharp Minor, Op.3 No.2"
(1887)
Written by Sergei Rachmaninoff
Played on a record

User Reviews

Bud And Lou On The Slopes

Hit The Ice was Universal Studio's attempt to cash in on the popularity of 20th Century Fox's Sun Valley Serenade which mixed swing music with Sonja Henie's ice skating. Universal didn't have an ice skater of the caliber of Sonja Henie, but they did have Abbott&Costello and Costello on the ice was a sight to see.

As for the swing music, Glenn Miller and his Orchestra were in Sun Valley Serenade and Universal didn't have them either. By this time Glenn Miller had gone to war. So they hired one of the good second line swing orchestras of the period led by violinist Johnny Long. And they also acquired Ginny Simms one of the best female singers from the Forties to appear with Long.

However first and foremost the film is an Abbott&Costello effort and the boys do come through. They're first free lance photographers who take a picture of gangsters Sheldon Leonard, Marc Lawrence, and Joe Sawyer robbing a bank while Leonard is supposed to be in a hospital. Leonard's set up careful alibi about that even with doctor Patric Knowles and nurse Elyse Knox suspicious. Costello's camera work threatens to blow up some best laid plans.

The whole cast winds up at Sun Valley during the ski season, setting up a most excellent chase sequence with the boys and the crooks going down slope. We're not quite sure who's chasing who, but the loot from the robbery is involved.

Bud and Lou do some very good work. Sad to say that the film was badly edited and there are some plot problems because of it. Towards the end you see the boys in tuxedos waiting for Ginny Simms at a train station with no real explanation as to why they're in the formal wear. Simms also gets to play straight girl for the boys, part of her role is to vamp Costello and she does a good job. All that beauty and an incredible set of pipes.

Hit The Ice is not one of their best efforts, but still better than some of what they did in the Fifties and should please Bud and Lou's strong legion of fans the world over.