Released in 1941 - "In the Navy" was one of the top 5 most popular films of that year. And Abbott & Costello got a lot more screen-time to perform some of their most clever comedy routines, like the hilarious "Lemon Bit", a crooked, sleight-of-hand shell game, and the equally priceless math routine where Abbott proves to Costello that 7 times 13 equals 28.
Just like "Buck Privates", "In The Navy" was also a WW2 service comedy, clearly intended to encourage American men to enlist in the US Armed Forces. And also, like "Buck Privates", this film contains a number of well-staged song & dance numbers, featuring the talents of The Andrews Sisters and crooner, Dick Powell.
Bud and Lou play characters, Smokey Adams and Pomeroy Watson (respectively), a pair of rascally, bottom-of-the-rung, gopher gobs stationed on the US battleship, Alabama.
As one could only expect from Bud & Lou, our navy boys never fail to get themselves into a whole lot of wacky trouble with a whole lot of their fellow shipmates.
I think that it's interesting to note that before "In The Navy" could be released into theaters it was first screened for officers of the actual US Navy.
When offence was found in the sequence where Pomeroy Watson (Costello) impersonates a captain and puts the battleship through a series of madcap maneuvers, it was ordered to be deleted from the picture.
Since this sequence was the film's climax, it couldn't be removed and so Universal Studios solved the officers' complaints by making this sequence Pomeroy's dream. And, with that, everybody was happy.
Just like "Buck Privates", "In The Navy" was also a WW2 service comedy, clearly intended to encourage American men to enlist in the US Armed Forces. And also, like "Buck Privates", this film contains a number of well-staged song & dance numbers, featuring the talents of The Andrews Sisters and crooner, Dick Powell.
Bud and Lou play characters, Smokey Adams and Pomeroy Watson (respectively), a pair of rascally, bottom-of-the-rung, gopher gobs stationed on the US battleship, Alabama.
As one could only expect from Bud & Lou, our navy boys never fail to get themselves into a whole lot of wacky trouble with a whole lot of their fellow shipmates.
I think that it's interesting to note that before "In The Navy" could be released into theaters it was first screened for officers of the actual US Navy.
When offence was found in the sequence where Pomeroy Watson (Costello) impersonates a captain and puts the battleship through a series of madcap maneuvers, it was ordered to be deleted from the picture.
Since this sequence was the film's climax, it couldn't be removed and so Universal Studios solved the officers' complaints by making this sequence Pomeroy's dream. And, with that, everybody was happy.