Abbott and Costello Meet Captain Kidd (1952)

Rocky and Puddin' Head are waiting tables at an inn on Tortuga when a letter given them by Lady Jane for delivery to Martingale gets switched with a treasure map. Kidd and Bonney kidnap them to Skull Island to find said treasure.

Director:

Charles Lamont

Writers:

Howard Dimsdale, John Grant

Stars:

Bud Abbott, Lou Costello, Charles Laughton

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Bud Abbott	...	Rocky Stonebridge
Lou Costello	...	Captain 'Puddin' head' Feathergill
Charles Laughton	...	Capt. William Kidd
Hillary Brooke	...	Capt. Bonney
Bill Shirley	...	Bruce Martingale
Leif Erickson	...	Morgan
Fran Warren	...	Lady Jane

Storyline

Rocky and Puddin' Head are waiting tables at an inn on Tortuga when a letter given them by Lady Jane for delivery to Martingale gets switched with a treasure map. Kidd and Bonney kidnap them to Skull Island to find said treasure.

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Plot Keywords:

parody | pirate captain | spoof | abbott and costello | song | 

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Taglines:

They're Raising Cain on the BOUNDING MAIN!

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Genres:

Adventure | Comedy | Musical | Romance

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Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

27 December 1952 (USA)

Also Known As:

Abbott y Costello contra el Capitán Kidd

Filming Locations:

Motion Picture Center Studios, Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$450,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Warner Bros., Woodley Productions Inc.

Technical Specs

Runtime:

70 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound System)

Color:

Color (Supercinecolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

In the opening scene of It Started with Eve, an assistant newspaper editor comments that if Jonathan Reynolds Sr. had lived two centuries earlier, he would have made a great pirate - "Captain Kidd himself." Three years later, Charles Laughton, who played Jonathan Reynolds Sr., played the title role in Captain Kidd and again in Abbott and Costello Meet Captain Kidd.

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Quotes

Capt. Bonney: If I weren't a pirate I'd cry.

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Connections

References Who Done It? (1942)

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Soundtracks

"Away Ay Aye Ay"
by Bob Russell and Lester Lee
Performed by Leif Erickson, Bill Shirley and chorus

User Reviews

Romantic, rousing, raucous and rotting away

I taped this off UK TV in 1988 – the washed out condition of the print even then made it look as if it could be from 300 years ago, but recently seeing the even more degraded copy TCM US is showing made me think it really was! How did this get into such a state – the wobbly cheap colour and choppy copies from multiple TV dupes haven't helped to be sure, but it all makes it a bit of an ordeal to sit through without rose-tinted glasses on.

At the cutely named Death's Head Tavern Bud & Lou unwittingly join forces with Charles Laughton playing Captain Kidd on the track of a treasure island – much fun is made of the map of Skull Island continually getting mixed up with Lou's supposed My Darling Darling Darling love letter. Add a deliberately devilish Leif Erickson as a sidekick for Laughton and elegant Hilary Brook as a pantomime Captain Bonney for something good to look at and you have the main crew. There's plenty of lusty non-pc songs, maybe too many but some not too bad and all well sung, my favourite being the romantic Speak To Me sung by the corny romantic leads on the pirate ship. It was the 2nd of the two films A&C did for Warners in 1952 (this was Bud's choice, Jack was Lou's), and was amazingly successful noisy slapstick at the time; the reason given by Laughton as to why he accepted the role was to learn how to do double takes from Costello. He generally hammed it up nicely and he and the boys in particular seemed to enjoy themselves, but it all seemed a bit too laboured at times.

For anyone new who might be interested in A&C this is not the film to start with, unless you're under 10 years old. And yet … I still end up watching this jolly nonsense every five years or so, never mind the grotty condition.