Abbott and Costello Go to Mars
                                                                                       
Director: Charles Barton
Year: 1953
Rating: 5.0
This one is so stupid that it sort of works. Not that A&C are that funny with their typical slapstick shenanigans but the situations they are put in are so absurd and ridiculous that I found it entertaining enough. It is also fairly quick at 77 minutes and considering that they go to New Orleans and Venus that isn't bad. It is also filled with beautiful women - some 20 who were American Miss Universe contestants. In there somewhere was Anita Ekberg in her second film. There are so many good-looking women that I could not pick her out. They are all on Venus of course. Our chuckle-headed friends never actually make it to Mars but they do fly through the Lincoln Tunnel. On a spaceship. If you can buy that they are both so stupid that they land in New Orleans and think they are on Mars and land on Venus and think they are on earth, and not worry about it, then this film may be for you. By this film, they have established their credentials as idiots many times over.



Orville (Costello) hides in the back of a van driven by Lester (Abbott) who takes him to a top secret base that has developed a rocket that can fly to Mars. They get on the ship to deliver supplies and Orville starts pushing buttons and up they go. First, they fly through NYC and then land in New Orleans. It is Carnival time and all the people are dressed up in bizarre contests with giant heads. In their spacesuits A&C fit in fine. They think they are on Mars. They are mistaken for two crooks who just broke out of jail and hightail it back to the ship. Where the two jailbirds force them to fly to Mars. Instead, they land on Venus - easy mistake to make - took a left instead of a right - and think they are on earth. When Orville looks out the window and sees how little he can see, he says we must have landed in Los Angeles.  If only it was earth. It is a female paradise of stunning women who live forever and have not seen a man in hundreds of years. Even I would do well in that situation. Not our boys. Ya, dumb as rocks but would you expect anything else from a A&C film?