User Reviews

One of the less memorable Abbott and Costello(A&C)films, but nonetheless quite worthwhile for A&C fans. Both boys had preproduction issues with the script or casting. The boys have separately come to a particular Mexican bull fighting arena, having swindled some investors in an oil well stock issue. Lou has taken the pseudonym Humphrey Fish. Two detectives looking for them are already there. One of the detectives (I assume the short beefy one)is Lou's older brother, Pat, who sometimes doubled for Lou.

Lou's ex-girlfriend, Mary(known professionally as Montana), played by Virginia Grey, has come to Mexico to become a real rarity: a woman Matador. She performs that day, and at the end, throws her hat into the stands to determine who will be the 'good-will ambassador' for the next week. Seeing Lou in the stands, she throws it at him in anger, and he catches it. She was supposed to throw it to a con man friend of Abbots, sitting with Abbott. A reporter interviews Lou, so monopolizing the conversation that Lou doesn't have time to answer one question, before he has another question or comment: rather funny. Since Lou will have to give speeches during the next week, Abbott hires an elocutionist to improve his speaking. Of course, it does no good.

Dagmar(Luba Malina), who was sitting with Abbott during the bullfight, sings "Is it you or is it me"?, while Lou dances the samba, having won a samba dancing endurance contest. Lou has hidden the money from selling stock in a bogus silver mine in his hotel room, with a complex series to steps to find it. While he's there, Dagmar looks around for the money, Lou shows her how to find it, and steps out of the room for a few minutes, while she retraces the path and absconds with the money. She later claims she took it to prevent Abbott from getting it.

A skit has Abbott riding in a car with the 2 detectives. They have a blow out, and discuss what to do about it, when Costello comes along, dressed as a old women, selling hot tortillas. He gets going kneading the dough, making a lasso out of it! and roping the detectives together. Abbott takes this opportunity to drive off in their car, while Lou hustles back to where he came from.

To evade the detectives, A&C dress as Mexicans and pretend to play musical instruments in a street band, near the entrance to the bull fighting arena. Dagmar is inside, with the money from the silver mine swindle. For some reason, she puts the money in her hat, and throws it into the ring, it being speared by the bull's horn.(very unclear to me how the money would stay in her hat during and after this action). Lou goes out in the arena and tries to retrieve the hat. This is the climax. Of course, Lou is chased all over the arena, and even rides it for a brief spell. The takes of the bull are especially good. I leave the rest of the finale for you to see. Most of the top comics or comedy teams of this era did one film involving them involuntarily acting as a toreador. I don't see this versions as being much different from the others.

As in most A&C comedies, we have a peripheral romantic couple developing or continuing. Also, here we have the sometimes romantic pairing of Costello and Dagmar providing some light comedy. Lou wanted Carmen Miranda to play Dagmar, but she was probably too expensive for the casting director.

I saw this movie when I was a kid back in the Fifties, and even though I was familiar with the bullfighting terms in my summary line, I didn't know what Joe Bascom (Lou Costello) meant when he said "And they'll carry me out like a cuspidor"! Now that I know what a cuspidor is I have to think to myself, gee, that was kind of icky, wasn't it? Oh, well.

This picture falls into the lower tier of Abbott and Costello's comedies but it still has it's share of laughs. Bud is at it again with one of his shyster schemes as con man Harry Lambert, this time selling shares of stock in a phony silver mine, with Joe entangled in the mess and on the run from a pair of Iowa cops portrayed by Tom Powers and Lou's older brother, Pat Costello. For Pat, this was his biggest on screen role; usually he wound up doubling for Lou in a bunch of the A&C films.

I liked Sid Fields in the picture as the newspaper reporter who wouldn't let Joe Bascom get a word in edgewise. He had a similar role in "Little Giant", taking some of the heat off of Bud as a mean spirited partner to Lou. Even so, Bud's Lambert does his best to snooker Joe with all the illegal stuff to make him look like the crook.

After watching this film I clicked on the trailer to see how the movie was advertised back in the day. It was captioned in both English and Spanish, with the foreign title listed as "Sangre y Harina". The literal translation for that in English is "Blood and Flour", which made no sense to me at all. It was the working title of the picture in Chile, but I can't imagine how that title would have brought customers into the theater. Something else that seemed kind of icky.