In Society (1944)

For their first film in a year, Bud Abbott and Lou Costello played it safe with a medley of old burlesque routines and slapstick setpieces -- and never mind a coherent plot. The boys play Eddie and Albert, a pair of plumbers hired to fix the pipes of a fancy society mansion. While a masquerade party takes place on the first floor, our heroes wreak havoc in the bathroom on the second floor. The angry owners (Thurston Hall, Netta Packer) shoot off a letter of complaint to the plumbers which gets mixed up with an invitation for a fancy weekend party. Thus it is that Eddie and Albert, accompanied by their female cab-driving pal Elsie (Marion Hutton), show up dressed to the nines at a posh country estate. While the boys get mixed up in further comic complications, Elsie carries on a romance with wealthy and handsome Peter (Kirby Grant). Things come to a head when a valuable painting is stolen, prompting Eddie and Albert to chase after the thieves by commandeering a fire engine! Released in most areas simply as In Society, this slapped-together comedy proved beyond all doubt that Abbott and Costello's appeal had not slipped during their screen absence. Highlights include a variation on the burlesque chestnut "Floogel Street" (here renamed "The Susquehanna Hat Company"), a wild and crazy fox hunt, and the climactic fire-engine pursuit, which was lifted virtually in toto from W.C. Fields' Never Give a Sucker an Even Break (1941). ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi