Comin' Round the Mountain (1951)

Director:

Charles Lamont

Writers:

John Grant (additional dialogue)
Robert Lees (writer)

Release Date:

26 July 1951 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Musical

Plot:

Bud and Lou get mixed up with hillbillies, witches and love potions. |

Plot Keywords:

Hillbilly | Potion | Title Based On Song | Skunk | Elevator

Cast

Bud Abbott	...	Al Stewart
Lou Costello	...	Wilbert Smith
Dorothy Shay	...	Dorothy McCoy
Kirby Grant	...	Clark Winfield
Joe Sawyer	...	Kalem McCoy
Glenn Strange	...	Devil Dan Winfield
Ida Moore	...	Granny McCoy
Shaye Cogan	...	Clora McCoy
Margaret Hamilton	...	Aunt Huddy
Guy Wilkerson	...	Uncle Clem McCoy
Robert Easton	...	Luke McCoy (as Bob Easton)
Virgil S. Taylor	...	Jasper Winfield
Russell Simpson	...	Judge
Hank Worden	...	Target Judge
Jack Kruschen	...	Gangster in Night Club

Also Known As:

The Real McCoy (USA) (working title)

Runtime:

77 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Recording)

Certification:

Finland:K-8 | Sweden:15

Company:

Universal International Pictures (UI)

Quotes:

Al Stewart: What's going on out there?
Wilbert: My in-laws are acting like out-laws.

Movie Connections:

Featured in The World of Abbott and Costello (1965)

Soundtrack:

You'll Be Another Notch on Father's Shotgun

Bud&Lou Go a Feudin'

The feud is on between the Wingfields and the McCoys when Bud Abbott discovers his clients, hopeless magician Lou Costello and the Park Avenue hillbilly Dorothy Shay are both McCoys and Costello's inherited concertina holds the secret to a treasure of hidden gold. So off they go to the Appalachins where Costello's arrival sets off the feud that had pretty much died down.

Bud and Lou get themselves a good supporting cast with a group of players used to rustic roles. I'm wondering how the folks at Universal missed getting Judy Canova and Marjorie Main and Percy Kilbride in this film. Lou's best scene involves him haggling with a hag played by Margaret Hamilton in her wicked witch makeup over some love potion with each making a voodoo doll of the other to poke holes in.

Dorothy Shay was just about at the end of her peak of popularity which started post World War II. She was a singer with a warm contralto who decided to play up her southern roots. Dorothy made a whole lot of hillbilly ditties popular back in those days and her big hit song, Feudin' a Fussin' and a Fightin' was still selling good in 1951 when Comin' Round the Mountain came out. I have it and also a vinyl record of a Bing Crosby radio show where she sang that song as a trio number with herself, Bing, and Groucho Marx. She did what very few did in Abbott and Costello pictures, hold her own with the boys and not get lost in the supporting cast.

It's not the best of their films, but still enjoyable and just wait till you see the treasure that they do find.