Little Giant (1946) User Reviews

A truly unique Abbott and Costello film that I really liked...really!

[planktonrules · 8/10 · 19 August 2009]

This is one of Abbott and Costello's most unusual films, as it's the first of two that made where the characters were NOT friends. In addition, Bud Abbott plays dual roles--one a nice enough guy and the other a total scum-bag! Plus, and here's the oddest part, the film is a traditional story in many ways-as both play honest-to-goodness people! As a result, it really isn't a comedy per se--as the film is not built around gags but people. Sure, there are a few laughs here and there, but that is all.

While I know that the film was a bit of a flop and many people disliked its style, I frankly liked it because it was such a departure. You see, by 1946, the team had already made 16 films in only 6 years--and all but one of them (WHO DONE IT!) followed roughly the same formula. With this formula, there was a love story, some Abbott and Costello comedy and lots of singing. As far as the love story goes, this time it actually involves Lou and a girl back home. However, there is no singing and little what anyone would consider comedy.

I think one thing that bothered people is the pathos in the film. Lou plays a nice guy who gets hurt pretty badly at times in the film. You want him to win but time and again, jerks take advantage of him. Near the very end, this hit practically epic proportions, though smartly, the film didn't stay mired too long in pathos--coming to a nice and quick resolution.

The film begins with Lou living on the farm with his Mom. He wants to make good, so he's been taking a correspondence course in salesmanship. Unfortunately, he isn't very good at it and when he goes to the big city to make his mark, he makes a mess of it. He loses his job and gets another job with the same vacuum cleaner company in another town. However, in an odd twist, his co-workers play a joke on him--convincing him he's psychic. The gag works too well, as Lou is convinced it's real. The jokes on them when he turns into an amazing salesman--setting a sales record the very next day.

As for Bud, in Los Angeles, he plays a crooked and thoroughly nasty jerk. He takes pleasure in firing Lou and it's interesting to see them working against each other instead of with each other. In his next job, Lou goes to work for Bud's cousin--played once again by Bud (with a slightly different hairdo). This time, he's more of a normal guy and confides in Lou that he can't stand his stupid cousin in L.A.! It was an interesting acting challenge for Bud--as rarely did any of his characters in other film have any depth. Here, he plays two parts and quite well. In fact, it worked out well enough that they had him do the same in the next film, THE TIME OF THEIR LIVES. Another, more practical reason they did this was because Bud and Lou were having a horrible spat at the time--and they would only play in films where they acted separately!! Fortunately for the team, the managed to patch things up for other films.

One of the only comedy routines in the film was also used in one of the team's earlier films, IN THE NAVY. This is the funny math routine where Lou explains (rather convincingly) that 7x13=21! While it is a retread, it's redone well.

Overall, while this is hated by most people, I liked the film a lot--nearly giving it a 9. Why? Originality and both Bud and Lou stretched themselves--trying new things even if the public wasn't 100% ready for THIS big a change. Maybe much of the reason I respect this film so much is that I have re-seen all the Abbott and Costello films leading up to LITTLE GIANT and it just felt like a breath of fresh air seeing such a completely original film.

Little Giant Cleans The Air!

[Ziglet_mir · 8/10 · 4 January 2010]

What first pops into your head when you think of the names Abbott and Costello?... Most anyone you ask will say slapstick, humor beyond it's years, and acting of the most ridiculous scenarios of their time.

All I have to say is that "Little Giant" defies it all. This film is thankfully free of all those "thrown in" ditties in every other A&C film (besides "Who Done It?" at this time), and finally gives Lou the main romance. The duo, although not working as a comedic team, pull off a great film with the unseen talents (at the time) of each other.

Abbott and Costello were a great duo making people laugh for a good 20 years (I believe). The general population of people will tell you that both A&C were ONLY made for comedy, and that is where they're wrong.

"Little Giant" is a film which contains the rare abilities of Bud Abbott and Lou Costello acting out a character driven drama. First, the supporting cast is phenomenal with the talents of Brenda Joyce, Jacqueline deWit, and George Cleveland as the people who take Costello under their wing at his new job.

Then the charming Elena Verdugo plays Lou's love interest. She doesn't drop the ball... and Lou and herself play it off as a poor, soon-to-be-married couple who would like to settle down. And we see clearly that Lou doesn't love anyone more than his mother who takes care of him and believes in him.

Bud Abbott executes his roles firmly as (both of) Costello's sales bosses, and shows how much more of an acting ability he had playing two roles that parallel each other from the extremes.

And finally, Lou Costello... plays a poor farm-town boy-- clumsy yes... but out to prove he can be a salesman. His character has a lack of confidence and throughout the film we see him slowly take low blows from the other salesman he comes to meet. There are a few scenes which made me really feel for Lou's struggling character. When the salesman are making fun of him without him knowing, and especially when he's standing in the mud- as miserable as anyone can be- looking at the mangled bird cage, that had the bird he so willingly wanted to give his mother... bringing home nothing else but his failed attempts to be successful.

This film is NOT completely sad-- (if that's how I'm making it out to be...) there are moments where you can really smile toward Lou's character.

Costello also manages to throw in a few laughs when he can, and one of the ol' A&C skits are thrown in (7x13=28).

Really-- Bud and Lou really hit something here... maybe not a perfect film, but one enough to make you really feel for the struggling protagonist. And honestly, not many comedians can really pull these kind of performances off...

"I'm Benny Miller From Cucamonga"

[bkoganbing · 7/10 · 13 September 2010]

Little Giant is the most unusual Abbott&Costello film ever made with Bud and Lou not functioning as a team per se. They did one other film like that for Universal at the time. According to the Bob Thomas book on the team the two were close to breaking up at the time and it was decided to treat them separately. Eventually things were patched up.

Bud has a dual role as the evil general manager of the Hercules Vacuum Cleaner company who's been skimming off the books to pay for his expensive, but secret wife Jacqueline DeWit. His other roles is as his own cousin and branch manager of the Stockton office of the said company. Bud as the cousin has a girlfriend in secretary Brenda Joyce.

Not enough is said about Bud's acting here in two fairly straight roles because he got lost in the praise for Lou Costello's best show of pathos. Little Giant is the film where he is fairly compared with such silent screen comedians like Charlie Chaplin, Harry Langdon, or Roscoe Arbuckle. If Little Giant had been a silent film, any one of these comic greats could have done the Costello role. Lou measures up to all of them here.

Lou's a simple kid from the farm who's taken a correspondence course in salesmanship and wants to be a vacuum cleaner salesman in the tradition of his uncle George Cleveland. With the best wishes of his mother Mary Gordon, Lou goes off to Los Angeles to get a job with the Hercules Vacuum Cleaner company.

Costello's various adventures both on the job and amorous show him at his best as an innocent. Not even Stan Laurel ever responded to vamping the way Lou does with Jacqueline DeWit.

Today's viewers will not get the joke, but Costello's character Benny Miller coming from Cucamonga was a guaranteed laugh every time the town was mentioned. It took years for the town to live down its reputation as a place for hicks, but that was as a result of the Jack Benny Show and the famous announcement that occurred every so often in one of the broadcasts about a train leaving for Anaheim, Azusa, and Cucamonga. Imagine that with every letter Cucamonga enunciated to the fullest. When you got off at Cucamonga you were in the equivalent of Hooterville. And Costello's very character was a typical Cucamonga resident as the Jack Benny Show told the world.

For the biggest and most successful extension of Lou Costello's range as a comedian, one should view Little Giant.

Not bad at all

[SanteeFats · 7/10 · 9 January 2015]

This Abbott and Costello movie was a departure from their norm. Bud plays a dual role as the number two man in a large vacuum cleaner company with offices all over and also he plays a cousin exiled to Stockton with impossible quotas, both are pretty straight ones. Lou gets the funny man role as usual. He plays a farm boy who has taken a mail order course by records no less on being a salesman. He goes to the big city to try and get a job, screws it up and gets sent to the Stockton branch. Here he gets fooled in to believing he can read minds, goes out and breaks the all time one day sales record by selling nine cleaners. Meanwhile Bud in his main role has been keeping not only double books but skimming off the profits into a secret account. Then at a company meeting Lou finds out the mind reading thing was all a hoax, so he goes back home only to find the company president and some others waiting. They want to hire him as the regional sales manager for his local area and so all ends well. Oh yeah he also gets the girl.

Not the "last" Abbott and Costello flick, by far

[DeanSpeir · 19 December 1999]

While I certainly agree with the other viewer that Little Giant is atypical of the Abbott and Costello oeuvre, it is definitely not their last movie together!

It also had the one singularly saddest scene in my 50+ years of movie-going.

Seemingly failed vacuum-cleaner salesman "Benny Miller" is returning home to the sticks with a little bird in a small wooden cage, a gift for his mom (Mary Gordon, of course). He stops to aid a neighbor whose mule-drawn wagon is stuck in a big muddy patch. He puts his shoulder to the rear of the wagon, the whole ensemble takes off without so much as a "thank you" from the neighbor, "Benny" goes face first into the mud and when he manages to get himself erect, he discovers that the bird has escaped.

He's standing there, covered with mud from eyebrows to knees in his best Sunday suit, holding the empty cage, and says, his lower lip quivering, "M-m-my bird... it was for my Mom.."

This 12-year-old dissolved into tears right there in the fifth row of the Macomb Theater in Mount Clemens, Michigan. Years later I could still well up at the thought of that scene, and when, as an actor, I needed to play a certain value, it was that "sense memory" I called upon.

Little Giant marked a temporary new direction for Abbott & Costello

[tavm · 7/10 · 24 March 2023]

Having just rewatched Laurel & Hardy's Our Relations in which both stars played twin brothers. I then felt the need to then rewatch this one in which Bud Abbott played two roles-a Mr. Morrison and a Mr. Chandler, revealed to be cousins by their mothers being sisters. Oh, and Abbott also posed as the grandmother of them as shown by the portrait hung in Chandler's office. Before I reveal their function in the story, let me first mention that Lou Costello plays Benny Miller, a farm boy who's been listening to correspondence records on being a salesman. So he goes to Los Angeles to meet Mr. Morrison and, well, something goes wrong that I won't reveal here. So Benny then goes to Mr. Chandler's who reveals the backstory I mentioned above. Now when I first watched this in 1980 as a 12-year-old kid watching this on a late Saturday night on "The Abbott & Costello Theatre", I remember being a little confused by the direction of the story since for once, the two stars weren't presented as friends as many others of their movies had done up to then. When I later read bios of Bud & Lou, including Lou's daughter Chris' book "Lou's On First", I found out two things: first, the box office of a couple of their last movies weren't doing as well as before, and second, the two weren't getting as much along as before to the point of avoiding each other when not performing. So a decision was made to change the formula of their movies starting with this one. Their next one, The Time of Their Lives, also dispensed with the usual A & C formula. Actually, at least one routine was reprised here-"7 x 13=28" which they previously did in In the Navy. Also, as a kid watching, I remember not liking so much drama permeating this one, I mean, previously, Lou had some lines meant to provoke feelings but then went back to the comedy, here, it took a while to get back to that. Having now watched this again on YouTube, I actually like this much better now. Also, what a treat to now find Sid Fields, best known as the landlord in the comedy team's TV show, as one of Benny's first customers who gives it to him good concerning his family's health in order to avoid getting sold on anything. Another treat is seeing Fifth Marx Brother Margaret Dumont being the victim of Benny's vacuum cleaner demonstration. She had also appeared with W. C. Fields and Laurel & Hardy during this period. Speaking of L & H, the director here was William A. Seiter who previously helmed Stan & Ollie's Sons of the Desert. Among the fellow salesman Benny associates with is one played by Joe Kirk who was his brother-in-law who, like Fields, also appeared in that TV show as an Italian friend. One more supporting player I have to mention is Chester Conklin, a Sennett veteran who also once worked with W. C. Fields during the late silent era (I only know this because I once read a filmography book on Fields which had pics of the three now lost films he and Conlkin made). Here he's a hotel valet. Okay, so with all that, I'll just say, if you're interested in a different sort of A & C flick, Little Giant is recommended. Oh, and my next review will be Laurel & Hardy's Hog Wild...

surprising pathos-filled change-of-pace for Abbott and Costello

[django-1 · 9/10 · 12 May 2004]

Included in the second of Universal's multi-disc DVD sets of Abbott and Costello, LITTLE GIANT is a charming film, full of pathos, and NOT a standard A&C comedy. First, Abbott and Costello are not a team here. It's basically Costello's film, with Abbott in a dual role as both the film's antagonist and the antagonist's cousin, who befriends Costello. Second, the comedy is more physical than is usual for A&C and less verbal. It proves what a fine physical comedian Costello was. Third, the film tries for pathos instead of pure slapstick, and strays into territory more associated with Chaplin or Harry Langdon or even Jerry Lewis (as in Hardly Working, which this film reminded me of). Once again, Costello proves his talent as an actor of quality and depth. I applaud Universal for trying to develop the talents of Abbott and Costello in films such as this one and THE TIME OF THEIR LIVES, which followed it. Interestingly, after these two changes-of-pace for A&C, Universal played it safe by doing a sequel to BUCK PRIVATES, their first solo smash. Abbott does a nice job in both roles (obviously, the "positions" of his toupee were intentional!). A shame he did not get more character roles such as these. With the wide circulation the new DVD boxset will give LITTLE GIANT, I feel it will gain a new and understanding audience who will appreciate the chances the film takes. Finally, the wonderful Elena Verdugo is as charming as ever.

Costello Door To Door

[DKosty123 · 7/10 · 17 January 2008]

This is a little appreciated A&C film that actually is quite good. It has almost no music to interrupt it. Abbott has a dual role & is only with Costello in small parts of the film. When this was made, the boys were fighting so they tried not to do scenes together.

Director William Seiter has a lot to do with a lot of the difference here. Sidney Fields has a great sequence doing the straight man with Costello early in the film too.

This film has a funny/ fuzzy math routine (common core) that obviously is drawn straight from A&C's radio shows they did before the movies. There is a lot of good support for A&C in this movie. This is the only film where Costello does "pathos" type comedy and he is actually quite good at it.

Some critics rated this as the best A&C film that few people have seen. It is the first of 2 films which departed from their standard format. Maybe they should have fought more often as they are 2 of the stronger films the team did.

Overall, this is a good outing, and worth seeing. Universal has it on their DVD Franchise Collection, Volume 2 of 4 volumes.

The Critics are wrong-Little Giant is a little gem!

[mike48128 · 8/10 · 23 April 2016]

Bud Abbott only appears occasionally as the sales managers (they are cousins) from different branches of "The Hercules Vacuum Cleaner Co.". They have two great sketches together. "13 goes into 7-28 times" and when Lou is asked to disrobe to pose as Hercules in an ad. Costello plays a sweet and naive country bumpkin that has charm and very little else going for him. Of course one of the cleaners has to malfunction and spray black soot over everything! He carries almost the entire movie by himself. Once you get used to that, sit back and enjoy a film you haven't seen for years! The first 20 minutes introduce several characters including his mom and fiancée. The movie would play fine without an annoying and complaining "customer" who only "buys" free air. He charms all the pretty "girls" who find him cute. The "boys" (salesmen) play an old bar-room gag on him, convincing him that he can read minds. The next day he sells 9 "Little Giants"! He wins a $10,000 salesmanship prize. In 1946 that was a lot of money. I enjoyed it! (Now playing on TCM.)

Good comedy in this departure from their usual roles

[SimonJack · 7/10 · 6 July 2019]

"Little Giant" is a big departure from the usual pairing of Bud Abbott and Lou Costello. In most of their films, they operate as a pair. But in this film, they are individuals who meet some time into the film. That is, Lou meets "one" of the But Abbotts - Eddie Morrison, and then he later meets the other Abbott, T.S. Chandler. That's the second unusual pitch of this plot - with Abbott playing two roles.

This is a fine comedy, but it also has a serious side with Costello having center stage throughout. It's interesting that this film was made during the falling out between the two men. During this and the other 1946 film that completed their Universal contract ("The Time of the Their Lives'), they reportedly seldom spoke to one another. Their off-screen lives which had been friendly and close, was likewise strained. Within a couple of years, they would get back together as friends.

This is the film in which Abbott and Costello first do their math skit, "7 times 13= 28." In a discussion about the quota of vacuums that the sales force must sell, Chandler says that with seven salesmen, each man would have to sell four vacuums. But Costello's Benny Miller says that 28 divided by 4 is 13. That leads to Chandler challenging him to multiply and add as well. In each instance, Miller does the math to show the number according to his way of thinking. This is a humorous skit that the two men repeated on their TV program years later.

That is the only real skit between the two comedians. But Costello has several solo scenes or comical scenarios with others. One occurs on an overnight train from Los Angeles to Stockton, California - a distance of just 337 miles by driving on I-5 today, but nearly 500 miles by rail then. On that ride, Costello struggles trying to bed down in an upper berth.

As with many Abbott and Costello films, the supporting cast are mostly little known or lesser known actors of the time. But they all do a good job in this film. The most recognizable is George Chandler who plays the salesman, O'Brien. Chandler has a distinctive face that movie fans will recognize, and he had supporting roles in more than 460 films in a career that lasted more than 50-years (1928-1979). Another familiar face to fans of older films will be Donald MacBride who plays the conductor. He was in more than 160 films, mostly comedies. The most recognizable female performer from the film will most likely be Brenda Joyce who plays Miss Ruby Burke. She was known for playing the role of Jane in five Tarzan films of the 1940s. She made 27 films over 10 years, but walked away from Hollywood after "Tarzan's Magic Fountain" of 1949.

This is an Abbott and Costello film that comedy fans should enjoy. Only, be prepared for a different "look" than the usual Bud and Lou pairing.

Here are some favorite lines form the film.

Benny Miller, "I feel like a tin can with a dog's tail tied to it."

T.S. Chandler, "Did you ever go to school, stupid?" Benny Miller, "Yes, sir, and I came out the same way."

Miss Ruby Burke, "What's the trouble, Benny? You're lower than a caterpillar with fallen arches."

Benny Miller, "I penetrate people's brains and leave my mind blank."

Hazel Temple Morrison, "Oh, you shouldn't choke." Benny Miller, "How do I not choke?"

A Natural Born Salesman

[lugonian · 4/10 · 30 April 2017]

LITTLE GIANT (Universal, 1946), directed by William A. Seiter, from an original story by Paul Jarrico and Richard Collins, became what is categorized as the first of two split-up partnerships of the popular comedy team of Bud Abbott and Lou Costello. Though Abbott still resumes billing over Costello, Costello, in title role, is the basic character from start to finish, almost as if this were Costello's solo effort without the presence of Bud Abbott. What makes LITTLE GIANT so interesting is the fact there is a story to back it up. To make sure their public won't be disappointed, some gags were inserted into proceedings, whether it be Costello with Abbott or Costello with some other character actors. As much as this is classified a comedy, in some ways, it's a comedy/drama where the somber moments falling on Costello's character. Unfortunately Costello wasn't able to endure the same effect in comedy/drama to great effect in the manner of legendary comedian, Charlie Chaplin as he did in for THE KID (1921) and CITY LIGHTS (1931). For much of the 1940s, Abbott and Costello were extremely popular, and made their audiences laugh. For LITTLE GIANT, this time it was something completely different.

The narrative begins on a farm in Cucamonga where Benny Miller (Lou Costello) lives with his beloved mother (Mary Gordon). He is loved by Martha Hill (Elena Verdugo), the girl next door whom he hopes to someday marry. Benny's ambition is to become a successful salesman, and has been studying night and day through his record correspondence school. Upon graduation, Benny leaves the security of his happy home to find his fame and fortune in the outside world. He leaves by train for Los Angeles for the company for which his Uncle Clarence Goodwin (George Cleveland) is employed as bookkeeper under John Morrison (Bud Abbott) for the Hercules Vacuum Cleaning Company. Mistaken for a Hercules male model (George Holmes), and not wanting to be embarrassed, Mr. Morrison offers Benny a job for his company, unaware that he is Clarence's nephew with his strict rule of having no relatives at the firm. What Clarence knows but won't reveal is the fact that Mr. Morrison is secretly married to his secretary, Hazel Temple (Jacqueline De Wit), the advertising manager. Due to his failure as vacuum cleaning salesman, Clarence suggests he be transferred to a smaller branch in Stockton, California. While there, Benny works under Morrison's look-alike cousin, Thomas Chandler (Bud Abbott). Benny continues to fail in his profession, forcing Chandler to have his private secretary, Ruby Burke (Brenda Joyce) to present him his letter of dismissal. Feeling sorry for Benny, she doesn't. While at a saloon, the fellow salesmen build up Benny's confidence as a mind reader, leading Benny to become a top salesman, selling nine vacuum cleaners in a single day. This success brings him back to the corporate office under Mr. Morrison and its president, Van Loon (Pierre Watkin), but an unexpected turn of events leads Benny to a different direction.

Unlike prior Abbott and Costello comedies, LITTLE GIANT doesn't contain song interludes, romantic subplots or an exciting chase finish. It does rank one of their longer features as opposed to 79 minutes or shorter. Minus the formatted material the public has become accustomed to seeing, some burlesque routines were thrown in for assurance. The opening minutes starts off with great promise with yokel farm boy Benny trying his salesman approach on an irate customer, wonderfully played by Sidney Fields (Mr. Fields, the landlord, on television's "The Abbott and Costello Show." in the 1950s). Interestingly, when LITTLE GIANT aired on broadcast television in the 1970s and 80s, this great Costello and Fields segment was cut in order to fit this 91 minute feature with commercial breaks into its usual 90 minute time slot.

Abbott and Costello don't come together until 21 minutes into the start of the story, and only have simply one familiar routine together, their famous 7 X 13 = 28, lifted from their earlier service comedy, IN THE NAVY (1941), being a highlight. Other than that, whatever comedy there is, Costello does it alone or with others like Sid Fields or Donald MacBride in the train sequence segment. Sadly, Groucho Marx's most frequent straight lady of stage and screen, Margaret Dumont (Mrs. Hendrickson), is reduced to only a two-minute bit, making one wish she had much more to do. Brenda Joyce and Jacqueline De Wit make due in their roles, and are properly cast.  

After frequent viewing, LITTLE GIANT is one movie with potential that should have been a worthy departure for Abbott and Costello. The problem was the material, which seems more like something out of director D.W. Griffith silent era days of local boy making good, may not seem suitable for Lou Costello. As much as Costello is capable of being a serious actor, devotees simply refuse to accept him as one. Casting Abbott as two different characters is fine,in fact, excellent. Having Costello in a movie all to himself is satisfactory, yet, like his character, he tries too hard to be both funny and serious at the same time. The mixing of gags with straight story helps, but there are times where it throws it off balance. The problem mainly falls upon its scripting during its second half which should have been better handled. Critics and fans wanted Abbott and Costello in surefire comedy, and didn't seem ready for sentimental pathos on Costello's character. Distributed to video cassette in 1993, LITTLE GIANT has become available onto DVD some years later.

Regardless of its pros and cons, LITTLE GIANT is never really boring. Just different. Though Bud and Lou returned to formula comedies where they belonged, the team worked in one more split comedy again, to much better results, in THE TIME OF THEIR LIVES (1946).(**1/2)

The change of pace for Abbott and Costello works fine.

[weezeralfalfa · 8/10 · 7 September 2017]

I don't see this film as being quite as revolutionary for A&C as some others do. Sure, A&C aren't partners in misadventures, but Abbott is there, in the person of 2 characters, both as Lou's current supervisor, with whom he interacts periodically. Some claim it's filled with pathos, in place of funny sketches. Again, I see this claim as overblown. The second half is more filled with drama, and less humor. However, it's notable that there is no music and no handsome male singer to romance the leading lady. Instead, Costello gets his girl of choice. Thus, in effect, the increase in drama partly replaces the usual musical numbers, as well as some comedy. Here are some examples of humorous sketches:

Costello has been listening to some records telling how to be a good salesman, and wants to try out what he has learned on a man who has stopped by their little store to fill his tires with air(free). Lou tries to sell him everything they have for sale, giving reasons why he would be better off with them. But, the man is resistant to all temptations. Finally, as he is about to drive off, Lou puts a box of various things in the back of his station wagon, then runs to tell his mother(Mary Gordon) he made a sale. He runs and falls over the bottom half of their Dutch door, the top half being open. Then, he realizes he didn't get paid. This prat fall through the door is repeated at the end of the film, when he wants to tell everybody that he just got engaged.

Then, there's the incident where he is in the outer office of Abbott's office, when the secretary/wife is speaking to a candidate to represent Hercules in advertisements of the Hercules vacuum cleaner. He steps out for a few minutes to get a drink of water. The secretary also steps out for a few minutes, leaving Costello to hear on the intercom Abbott say "Send that young man in". Costello assumes he means him, so he enters. Abbott is not impressed with his potential as Hercules, but tells him to undress so he can see his muscles. This he does in the office. Then the secretary and the real Hercules enter the office, and Abbott immediately hires the other candidate. Abbott runs to the closet to put his clothes on. Abbott wants to dismiss him, but his secretary talks up giving Lou a chance.

Lou gains entrance to the home of Margaret Dumont with his Hercules vacuum cleaner, and wants to demonstrate its utility. He pours a good amount of powdered charcoal on her carpet, then sweeps over it. It takes up the material on top, but leaves that which got down into the carpet. Then, he wants to demonstrate the ability of the vacuum as a blower, by putting the hose on the other end. It blows the dust it picked up from the carpet all over the room. Abbott wants to fire him, but Uncle Cleveland, who works there, suggests that he instead be reassigned from this LA area to the Stockton area, where Abbott's look alike cousin is the manager. On the overnight train to Stockton, Lou has trouble getting to his upper berth, trouble staying there and trouble undressing in the cramped quarters of his birth.

The last portion of the film is relatively lacking in humor, other than the 'sleeping pill scandal', involving Lou and Abbott's wife. Rather, its interest relies more on Lou's alternating extremes of depression and elation. He's depressed because he hasn't sold any vacuum cleaners, and because his girlfriend dispossessed him after the 'sleeping pill scandal'. Then, one day his luck changed, and he sold 9 cleaners: a new record. He's supposed to attend an evening celebration of his feat, but is late because of the 'sleeping pill scandal'. He listens at the door as Abbott belittles his accomplishment as due to increased confidence caused by the mistaken belief that he was unusual in being able to read people's minds. So, he walks out, very depressed, and makes his way toward his home in Cucamonga. On the way, he buys a bird in a cage for his mother. But, the cage is smashed and the bird escapes when he stops to help a farmer get his stubborn mule to continue pulling his 'egg buggy'. But when he gets home, he's greatly elated because his girlfriend? greets him very enthusiastically. Also there are Abbott's cousin and his secretary, his mother, and the president of the company. He receives a $10,000. bonus for showing the other salesmen the way, and is made sales manager for the Cucamonga district. In addition, Abbott has been fired, with his cousin taking his former position.

Bud and Lou, not as a team

[lee_eisenberg · 7/10 · 24 July 2021]

Abbott and Costello star in "Little Giant", and it's got some of their usual stuff, but they don't appear as a team in this movie. Lou is a sap hoping to make his way in the business world, only to repeatedly run into trouble in the process. Bud appears in dual roles, playing the managers of the company's branches. My favorite scene was Lou performing some twisted mathematics.

While more serious than most of A&C's movies, it does let Lou engage in his usual clumsiness. The main point is that in this setting, there are plenty of folks eager to use his naivete against him.

I understand that Bud and Lou were starting to have a falling-out when they made this. They made a few more movies together, but by the end, their relationship had soured so much that Bud learned of Lou's death by reading about it in the newspaper (at least that's what I've heard).

Anyway, an interesting movie, if nothing great.

Weak on comedy; a poor entry in the A&C series

[jimtinder · 3/10 · 4 February 2001]

The idea of "Little Giant" seemed a natural for great comedy; Costello plays a country fellow, well-intentioned but naive, who dreams of success in the big city. Having completed a record correspondence course, he becomes a vacuum cleaner salesmen, with Abbott as his boss. Success and failure for Costello follow, with plot twists aplenty.

"Little Giant" is considered a weak entry in the A&C series, and for good reason. While one can appreciate the chances A&C took in making a film with much pathos, along with making a film where Bud and Lou don't play a team, the end result doesn't measure up to the promise of something different. After all, this is Abbott and Costello, and one expects some great routines and laughs. While their "7 x 13 = 28" sketch is reprised here (it originally appeared in "In The Navy"), it is weakened by the boss/worker relationship of Abbott and Costello (and the noticeable shift in Abbott's toupee from scene to scene). There are a few other chuckles here and there, and this film marks the attempt to have Costello emerge as a tragi-comedian, in the mold of his idol, Chaplin. The end result just is not very funny. 3 out of 10.

"I penetrate people's brains, and leave my mind blank."

[classicsoncall · 7/10 · 10 September 2018]

What one notices right off hand is that Abbott and Costello aren't the usual sidekicks to each other in this picture. Abbott portrays two different characters who are cousins, one mean spirited and one who takes to Costello's character as the story progresses. Lou is generally funny as ever, but with an often disconcerting mood of sadness and poignancy to his persona. At times, even he's unaware of it, as in the diner scene when his co-workers at the Hercules Vacuum Company give him the business about reading minds and have a good laugh at his expense.

There are a few bits that caught my attention in the picture relative to prior A&C projects. The 'seven times thirteen equals twenty eight' bit got a workout here, first seen in "In The Navy". I also got a chuckle out of the road sign directing Benny Miller (Costello) to 'Anaheim, Asuza, and Cucamonga', a railroad station gag that got some mileage on the old Jack Benny TV program courtesy of Mel Blanc. My recollection also says the bit appeared in one of those old Warner Brothers cartoons featuring Bugs Bunny; it was the pronunciation of 'Cucamonga' that always had me roaring.

Even with some of the darker aspects the story touches on, Lou still comes out a winner at the end of the movie, having been named vacuum cleaner salesman of the year and winning the heart and hand of his girlfriend back home (Elena Verdugo). What I still can't figure out is how his commission on the sale of nine vacuum cleaners contributed to a ten thousand dollar bonus. A stand up vacuum cleaner in the Forties with a 'powerful brush motor' would set you back a whole forty dollars, so for Hercules to break even at a fifty percent profit, they'd have to sell about five hundred!

Though some of the reviews for the film here on IMDb consider it one of the weaker Abbott and Costello entries, I didn't find it to be too bad. It may have deviated from the usual formula of their early stories, but sometimes a change in style isn't the worst thing for a film series. As for the pathos that some fans aren't comfortable with, the one A&C picture that really disappoints is their very last one with Bud and Lou completely out of character, with a muddled story line that includes gangsters and a murder. It's called "Dance With Me, Henry", and though not terrible, it's just not very entertaining.

*** Trivia note for "Little Giant" - During the railroad car scene, when the train porter asks Benny Miller what his berth is, Benny begins to reply March 6th before he gets cut off. Lou Costello's birthday was March 6th, 1906.

Not enough Abbott

[craig1960 · 5/10 · 31 January 2005]

Reading the trivia about this film answered my own question.Why so little of Abbott? Well,the boys were feuding, so they did not play as partners. Costello pours on the pathos in his scenes without Abbott and it starts to get tiring. You will notice the chemistry of their earlier films is missing.When Bud finally appears with Lou the pace and comedy pick up considerably. My favorite scene is when Abbott interviews Costello but mistakes him for the strongman. A very original and very funny scene.The significance of this film is important to all the rest of their films because it proves their worth as a team. Having said that, I have to give Lou his props for the next movie they did acting not as a team, "The Time Of Their Lives", here both actors do a better job in what is a better movie all around, one of their best.

I own 3 volumes of the "Best of Abbott and Costello". It was well worth getting. Some of their movies are clunkers but "Little Giant" is not one of them. There is a good supporting cast and enough funny scenes to make it worthwhile. Not great, but not bad.

Little Giant not in Abbott and Costello spirit

[MarkusK · 4/10 · 8 August 1998]

This, being the last Abbott and Costello film, I'm not surprised that it went downhill. In my opinion, Abbott was a minor character, and I didn't laugh once in watching this movie. We've gone from good old slapstick and walking into walls to making fun of the stupidity of Lou. He loses everything, and we get that horrible tragedy atmosphere. Then they squeeze a 2-minute happy ending in, and you never lose it. All in all, this movie, although it has a nice blurb on the back, stinks.

A Different Comedy For The Team.

[AaronCapenBanner · 5/10 · 27 October 2013]

Abbott & Costello work apart in this experimental film that sees Lou as Benny Miller, a young man living in the country with his mother(played by Mary Gordon). He has just recently completed a correspondence course in becoming a salesman, and goes into the city to become a vacuum cleaner salesman, where he goes to work for it's crooked president played by Abbott, who uses him for his own purposes. He is a bust as a salesman however, though his colleagues play a cruel trick on him that eventually backfires... Elena Verdugo plays Lou's understanding fiancée. Strange film works at keeping them apart, but is seldom funny, and pretty contrived, though innocuous enough to be acceptable viewing.

The vacuum cleaner sucked out all the humor.

[mark.waltz · 3/10 · 12 April 2016]

Going against their usual formula of slapstick, Bud Abbott and Lou Costello are barely funny in this post-war comedy that seems to focus more on pathos then on gags. More naive than dumb, Lou is a small town buffoon who ends up in the big city selling the Hercules, the newest contraption for home cleaning and for some reason begins to think that he has the ability to read minds. But Abbott is the head of the vacuum cleaner company, and has very little to do. Well comedy teams often took the different steps to change their image or type of material, in the case of Bud and Lou, it really didn't work. A lot of the gags are familiar, including one involving a math problem that I am sure I saw in a Wheeler and Woolsey comedy that was most likely made a decade before this.

This is strictly for Abbott and Costello fans, and even they might be slightly disappointed in the change of format. This certainly is not in the league with the two Fuller Brush movies made with famous comic redheads just a few years later, although there are attempts to toss in gags that would be perfected in those two Columbia classics. There is one amusing sequence with Margaret Dumont as a befuddled society matron (what else?) where Lou practically destroys her gorgeous all white living room, all white that is until he gets there.

In spite of the disappointing changing format, there is a great supporting cast, most notably Mary Gordon as Lou's devoted mama, George Cleveland as his uncle who made it big in the bug city and might be country bound if Lou doesn't work out and Jacqueline DeWit as a statuesque vamp who slips into something more comfortable in order to get Lou to do her bidding. This ends up being a missed opportunity that might have worked for Buster Keaton and Jimmy Durante in the early 1930's but lands with a thud in post war times. If Hercules held up the world with this, Zeus would have disowned him.

Spotty, at Best

[dougdoepke · 24 February 2012]

A countrified Costello goes to the city to sell vacuum cleaners and ends up a mind reader.

It's a departure for A&C, more scripted with a structured storyline than previous entries. That's understandable since the war is over and audiences are looking for more than simple escapism. Actually, the entry is more a curiosity than a straightforward comedy. Abbott plays multiple parts, showing a talent for the occasionally sinister and low-down, while Costello plays something of a lovable Chaplin-like simpleton. There're a couple of funny routines and a few gag lines, but fewer than usual, plus a pacing that lacks needed snap.

I liked the 7x13=28 routine, which shows a lot of amusing ingenuity. There's also Costello's extended seduction routine where the statuesque deWit hovers above him in a drop-dead sexy gown. But, I'm sort of surprised the screenplay doesn't make more of the comedic potential of a door-to-door salesman since that could lead to a whole series of funny situations. Instead, we get only one sales set-up, a really funny one with Margaret Dumont and her poor besieged carpet.

Anyway, this move toward a more serious and structured storyline appears not to have been very successful since the boys soon turned to the highly successful A&C Meet… series of straightforward comedies. After seeing this rather tame effort, I can understand why.