Pardon My Sarong (1942)

A pair of bus drivers accidentally steal their own bus. With the company issuing a warrant for their arrest, they tag along with a playboy on a boat trip that finds them on a tropical island, where a jewel thief has sinister plans for them.

Director:

Erle C. Kenton

Writers:

True Boardman (original screen play), Nat Perrin (original screen play)

Stars:

Bud Abbott, Lou Costello, Virginia Bruce

1 nomination.

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Bud Abbott	...	Algy Shaw
Lou Costello	...	Wellington Pflug
Virginia Bruce	...	Joan Marshall
Robert Paige	...	Tommy Layton
Lionel Atwill	...	Varnoff
Leif Erickson	...	Whaba (as Leif Erikson)
Nan Wynn	...	Luana
William Demarest	...	Detective Kendall
Samuel S. Hinds	...	Chief Kolua
Marie McDonald	...	Ferna
Janet Warren	...	Amo (as Elaine Morey)
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
The Ink Spots	...	(as The Four Ink Spots)
Maria Montez	...	(scenes deleted)
Tip Tap & Toe	...	(as Tip Tap and Toe)

Storyline

A pair of bus drivers accidentally steal their own bus. With the company issuing a warrant for their arrest, they tag along with a playboy on a boat trip that finds them on a tropical island, where a jewel thief has sinister plans for them.

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Plot Keywords:

bus | island | bus driver | playboy | kidnapping | 

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Genres:

Adventure | Comedy | Musical | Romance

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Certificate:

Approved

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

7 August 1942 (USA)

Also Known As:

Road to Montezuma

Filming Locations:

Salton Sea, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$400,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Mayfair Productions Inc.,Universal Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

84 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Recording)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Universal had smash hits with Bud Abbott's and Lou Costello's service comedies. With this film (originally titled "Road to Montezuma") they tried to duplicate the box-office success that Paramount was having with the Bing Crosby and Bob Hope "Road" pictures. The experiment worked and this film exceeded the box-office grosses of their service comedies to become Abbott and Costello's biggest hit to date.

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Goofs

During the drink switching scene between Lou Costello and Whaba, Lou Costello tricks Whaba into thinking that he switched the glasses when in fact he didn't. The two take a drink and put their glasses down, but in the very next shot, the glasses are back in their hands.

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Quotes

Wellington Pflug, aka Moola: [after being told he has to go into the temple on top of a volcano, from which no one has ever returned] I'll go up there into that temple. I'll face danger.
Algernon 'Algy' Shaw: I knew you would.
Wellington Pflug, aka Moola: I don't care if the boogeyman's in there.
Algernon 'Algy' Shaw: Thatta boy.
Wellington Pflug, aka Moola: There's only one thing I want you to do.
Algernon 'Algy' Shaw: What's that?
Wellington Pflug, aka Moola: Talk me out of it.

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Connections

Edited into Song of the Sarong (1945)

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Soundtracks

Island of the Moon
(1942) (uncredited)
Written by Don Raye and Gene de Paul
Sung by an offscreen chorus at the end

User Reviews

Pardon My Sarong was perhaps the most fun of the early Abbott & Costello movies

Having reviewed Laurel & Hardy in Pardon Us a few days ago, I'm now commenting on Abbott & Costello's Pardon My Sarong. The significance of these two being submitted so close together is what I'll mention when I'm nearing the end. Right now, I'll just say that this is the funniest of the early A & C vehicles that I've just rewatched on YouTube. And not only are Bud & Lou at the top of their game-how refreshing to see Abbott get a few good laughs himself here-but the rest of the cast, including the romantic leads of Robert Paige and Virginia Bruce seem to be having fun every step of the way. I mean, William Demarest as a cop and Leif Erickson as the "Biggest Stinker of Them All" (LOL) are great foils for the team. And the musical interludes by The Four Ink Spots and Nan Wynn are soooo enjoyable to me! Really, Pardon My Sarong is one of the most fun of the A & C pictures. Okay, so the reason that Pardon Us and Pardon My Sarong have gotten comments from me on the closest of days is because since Black History Month is only a few days away, I've been mentioning the contributions of various performers of color to these movies. So with this one, we have not only The Four Ink Spots (Deek Watson, Charles Fuqua, Hoppy Jones, Bill Kenny) but also a tap dancing trio named Tip, Tap, and Toe (Ted Fraser, Samuel Green, and Ray Winfield who was the innovator of the sliding style of tap as evidenced by the way he glided on that table during The Four Ink Spots second set. Really impressive, that was especially when I watched it a second time!), and the choreographer of those island dances led by Ms. Wynn was Katherine Dunham. They were quite sexy especially "Vingo Jingo". By the way, Ms. Dunham studied and began practicing her art in Chicago, Ill., my birthtown (Chicago was also where the bus driven by Bud and Lou in the picture's beginning came from). One more thing, I always like to acknowledge whenever players from my favorite movie, It's a Wonderful Life, are in other films and TV shows. Here it's Charles Lane as Bud & Lou's superior at the bus terminal and Samuel S. Hinds as one of the natives. They both previously were in A & C's last Universal movie before this one, Ride 'Em Cowboy.