Abbott and Costello Meet Captain Kidd

Rocky and Oliver `Puddin' are happy go-luck folk in a port town. When they try to deliver a love letter from Lady Jane to sailor Bruce they get trapped on the ship of Captain Kidd. Kidd's treasure map gets mixed with Bruce's love letter and Oliver finds himself in a whole heap of hot water.

The story doesn't really matter – every A&C film has a silly setup for them to do their stuff, what does matter is the comedy. Here fans (of whom I'm one) will be happy that A&C are their usual selves despite looking older and fuller around the waist. Their routines are good and Captain Kidd gets involved well.

The problem with the film is that it moves away from the values of their older films. The Technicolour is pretty horrible and actually takes away from the film – making it feel like a gaudy matinee C-movie instead of a comedy classic. What is worse is the tonne of poor musical numbers – they really slow down the comedy, in fact they seem to take up most of the film. The romance element is also dull. However fans will be happy with both A&C's performances and Charles Laughton, who could easily have looked done hi nose at this, joins in really well and hams it up.

Overall this is not one of their best, but Abbot and Costello fans will enjoy their antics, but feel free to fast forward all the songs.