Charles Lamont Movies

When a man buys an otter for a pet, he gets more than he bargained for as he tries to keep the animal in his bathtub. He and his pet soon find life in London is not the place for such and animal, so the two head for the coast. The man enlists the help of a local female doctor to help in the care and feeding of his beloved otter in this family feature from the writers of Born Free. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide

The Kettles in the Ozarks was the eighth of Universal's "Ma and Pa Kettle" series--minus "Pa" (actor Percy Kilbride had left the series). Carrying on without the Kettle paterfamilias, Ma Kettle (Marjorie Main) and her large brood of children head for the Ozarks to visit her brother-in-law Sedge (Arthur Hunnicutt). She spends a good portion of the film's running time outwitting three bootleggers who've set up shop in Sedge's barn. Ma also accelerates Sedge's marriage to Bedelia Baines (Una Merkel), to whom he has been engaged for two decades. Kettles in the Ozarks suffers from the absence of Percy Kilbride, but the climactic slapstick battle with the bootleggers is well up to par. Una Merkel, who played Sedge's erstwhile sweetheart, would recall years later that she fought tooth and nail with her agent to get out of Kettles in the Ozarks, but eventually had a wonderful time on the set thanks to the kindness and cooperation of star Marjorie Main. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Abbott and Costello Meet the Mummy is the last of the team's vehicles for Universal-International. Stranded in Egypt, Bud and Lou hire themselves out as travelling companions to archeologist Kurt Katch. Before long, Katch is murdered by a group of cultists, and a medallion, embossed with a map which leads to a sacred burial site, is accidentally swallowed by Costello. The boys become the unwilling pawns of the cultists, led by Richard Deacon, and a greedy adventuress, played by Marie Windsor. The last scene finds Costello being menaced by three mummies, two of them bogus. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The best thing that can be said about Abbott and Costello Meet the Keystone Kops is that it's better than the team's previous outing Abbott and Costello Meet Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Set in 1912, the film casts Bud Abbott and Lou Costello as a couple of New Yorkers who are swindled out of their life savings by a crooked lout (Fred Clark). Pursuing the villain to Hollywood, the boys discover that the double-dealer is now posing as an autocratic Russian film director. To put A&C out of the way, the crook and his partner in crime (Lynn Bari) hire the boys as stunt men, intending to kill them off at the first opportunity. But the comic duo save the day when they enlist the aid of the Keystone Kops in capturing the fleeing villain, who has absconded with the studio payroll. Pretty dull stuff for most of its 78 minutes, Abbott and Costello Meet the Keystone Kops finally comes to life during the climactic chase, which is every bit as funny and thrilling as anything put together in the silent era. Though the film is rife with anachronisms, a measure of authenticity is achieved by such silent-era guest stars as Mack Sennett (who gets to throw a pie at Costello), Heinie Conklin, Herold Goodwyn and Hank Mann. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Judy Canova is right in her element in the rowdy Republic musical Untamed Heiress. Canova plays Judy, the daughter of a famous opera singer who once bankrolled prospector Andrew "Cactus" Clayton (George Cleveland). Now Clayton hopes to repay the favor, but first he must reclaim his stash of gold from the crooked Williams (Hugh Sanders). Judy helps the old coot by taking on not only Williams, but duplicitous private detectives Walter Martin (Taylor Holmes) and Eddie Taylor (Chick Chandler), not to mention gangsters Spider Mike (Donald Barry) and Louie (Jack Kruschen). It'd be cute to say that too many crooks spoil the broth, but the truth of the matter is that Untamed Heiress is most entertaining, even for non-fans of the rambunctious Canova. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This was the last in a string of spoofs that found the comedy duo tangling with various classic Universal Studios monsters. In this case, Slim (Bud Abbott) and Tubby (Lou Costello) play American detectives who cross wits with Dr. Henry Jekyll (Boris Karloff) in Edwardian-era London when they visit to compare techniques with their British counterparts. Meanwhile, Dr. Jekyll is conducting the usual lab experiments on animals before injecting himself with serum, transforming into the vicious Mr. Hyde and launching a killing spree against fellow doctors who scoffed at him. Slim and Tubby participate in the ensuing investigation, and havoc breaks out when Tubby himself is injected, with predictable results. Karloff lends gravity to the film, but by the time this one followed up earlier efforts like Abbott And Costello Meet Frankenstein and Abbott And Costello Meet The Mummy, the team had mostly exhausted the series' comic possibilities. ~ Don Kaye, All Movie Guide

They don't really go to Mars, they go to Venus, but first they go to New Orleans. While working at a missile base, Bud Abbott and Lou Costello inadvertently launch a rocket ship with themselves aboard. After a wild ride around New York City (the Statue of Liberty ducks when the rocket heads her way), Bud and Lou land in the outskirts of New Orleans. The boys are convinced that they've reached Mars, and their faith in this supposition is affirmed when they come across several strangely costumed "creatures" (actually revellers at the Mardi Gras). Meanwhile, bank robbers Jack Kruschen and Horace McMahon stow away on A&C's rocketship. When Bud and Lou return, the crooks force them to make a quick getaway into outer space. After several days of weightlessness, the four space travellers land on Venus, a planet populated by the gorgeous winners of the Miss Universe contest (including Anita Ekberg). Venusian queen Mari Blanchard falls in love with Costello, only to order him and his companions to return to earth when Lou proves to be unfaithful. Reportedly, this bizarre melange of sci-fi and slapstick was based on a story by Charles Beaumont, who received no screen credit (it's worth noting that Beaumont's later Queen of Outer Space boasts a remarkably similar plotline). Long considered the team's worst film, Abbott and Costello Go to Mars ("and about time!" quipped the New York Times' TV-movie reviewer) is rather likeable in its own incoherent way. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The aggressively Irish Maureen O'Hara and the staunchly American Jeff Chandler are cast as Arabian Nights types in Flame of Araby. Chandler plays Tamerlaine, a Bedouin chief who is engaged in a hunt for a legendary black stallion. Also coveting the prize steed is Tunisian princess Tanya (O'Hara), who wants to capture the horse to race in competition against her hated brothers Borka (Lon Chaney) and Hakim (Buddy Baer). After reels and reels of deadly rivalry, Tamerlaine decides to join forces with Tanya to trap the stallion--and in the process, the two fall in love. Listed as associate producer of Flame of Araby is Ross Hunter, whose later cinematic efforts would eschew desert-sands escapism in favor of lush soap operas and frothy sex comedies. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The best of Universal-International's followups to Abbott & Costello Meet Frankenstein, Abbott & Costello Meet the Invisible Man casts Bud and Lou as mail-order private eyes. The boys champion the cause of boxer Arthur Franz, who has been framed for murder. Utilizing the formula created by Claude Rains in the original Invisible Man (1933), Franz vanishes before Dr. Gavin Muir's astonished eyes. Cloaked by invisibility, Franz talks Bud and Lou into helping him nab the real murderer, gangster Sheldon Leonard. A string of uproarious gags and comic setpieces is highlighted by a boxing-ring finale, wherein Lou, backed up by the invisible Franz, dukes it out with a behemoth prizefighter. A clever special-effects closing gag caps this delightful A&C vehicle. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The title tells all--or at least most--in I Was a Shoplifter. The title character, played by Mona Freeman, is Faye Burton, a well-off socialite suffering from kleptomania. Faye falls into the hands of a professional shoplifting ring headed by Herb Claxton (Charles Drake) and Ina Perdue (Andrea King), who want to exploit her high-society connections. It's up to undercover agent Jeff Andrews (Scott Brady) to save Faye from the villains--and from herself. Cast as a brutish henchman is one Anthony Curtis, who grew up to become you-know-who. Featured in a role so small that it wasn't listed in the studio's official credits is still another star in the making: Rock Hudson. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Bud Abbott and Lou Costello play wrestling promoters whose star attraction, Wee Willie Davis, skips town to return to his home in Arabia. While scouring the desert in search of Davis, Bud and Lou inadvertently purchase slave girl Patricia Medina, and with equal inadvertence join the Foreign Legion. In their own bumbling, inept fashion, our heroes manage to foil a desert uprising fomented by shiek Douglas Dumbrille and traitorous Legion commandant Walter Slezak. The film's highlights include an opening-scene parody of pre-rehearsed wrestling matches, a "mirage" routine capped by one of the hoariest vaudeville punchlines in history, and a runaway-jeep climax. All in all, however, Abbott & Costello in the Foreign Legion is one of the team's lesser efforts. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The title couple and their enormous brood of bumpkins made their movie debut in the film version of Betty McDonald's humorous book The Egg and I (1947) where they appeared as supporting characters. Audiences found them funny and so the characters got their own long-running series of B movies. Ma and Pa Kettle is the first in that series and centers on the exploits of the impoverished hayseed family after Pa wins a contest by writing a jim-dandy slogan for a tobacco company. The Kettle's prize is a brand new, ultra modern, fully automated home. It's a good thing too, for Ma, Pa and their 15 kids were about to get booted out of their previous wreck of a home. Of course the film is at its funniest when the Kettles are trying to figure out how to operate their fancy new digs. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Slave Girl is the sort of fare that the Universal higher-ups used to dismiss as "tits and sand;" nonetheless, this kind of entertainment (along with the equally lowbrow Abbott and Costello and Ma and Pa Kettle pictures) paid the bills for the studio's more ponderous projects. The slave girl of the title is Yvonne DeCarlo, one of many in servitude to a 19th century Tripoli potentate (Albert Dekker). Two-fisted American diplomat George Brent, accompanied by brawling sailors Broderick Crawford and Andy Devine, has been sent by his government to negotiate the release of hostages captured by the potentate. When negotiations break down, DeCarlo agrees to help Brent free the prisoners through more direct means, provided he takes her away with him. If Slave Girl was supposed to have been taken with a straight face, Universal would never have included brief cutaways to a wisecracking camel (!), whose name is "Humpy" and whose voice is provided by Buddy Hackett. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide