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Abbott & Costello: Funniest Routines - Vol. 2 (2007)
R1 - America - Legend Films Review written by and copyright: Jari Kovalainen (6th April 2008). |
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The Show
 (Note: Since this release is a companion piece to “Abbott & Costello: Funniest Routines - Vol. 1”, I´ll advise you to read my review of “Vol. 1” from HERE first. Review of “Vol. 2” will be a brief overview of the contents of the DVD, while the review of “Vol. 1” has more background of the comedy duo and their style. The “video”, “audio”, and “overall” sections are very similar with these two reviews.) “Abbott & Costello: Funniest Routines - Vol. 2” is another compilation of their most famous performances on “The Colgate Comedy Hour”, all in front of a live studio audience. This popular, live musical-variety TV-show ran on the “NBC network” on a weekly basis between 1950-1955. “Abbott and Costello” (Bud Abbott and Lou Costello) first appeared on “The Colgate Comedy Hour” on January 7, 1951, while their 20th - and final appearance on the show was broadcast on May 15, 1955. Again, the boys are doing a fair share of different comedy “routines” and plenty of goofing around is expected (there are “bloopers” again). While “Vol. 2” feels “fuller” in terms of the content, some routines can last a bit too long and are often focused on Costello. Still, don´t get me wrong; you´ll have a good time also with this second compilation, this I can guarantee. There are wild, slapstick bits (like “The Initiation Bit”, with all the “spitting”), silly, but effective humour (“Cotton in the Ears Bit”), old favourites (“Moving Candle Bit”, with Frankenstein), verbal interaction (“A Figure of Speech”) and even some strange from of (mild) “surrealism” (“Crazy House”). If you liked “Vol. 1”, this is a no-brainer. Here´s the list of the routines that are included on the DVD (sometimes they´re just one part of the bigger comedy number), and you can find more info about “The Colgate Comedy Hour” episodes HERE and HERE. 1 - “Getting Down Off a Duck's Back” and “The Ice Cream Bit” 2 - “Bryant-4444” 3 - “Get Out of the Office” and “The Handkerchief Gag” - both featuring Sid Fields (who played the landlord Mr. Fields in “The Abbott and Costello Show (1952-1953)”) 4 - “Higher and Lower” A.K.A. “The Scenery Bit” 5 - “Cotton in the Ears Bit” 6 - “The Dancing Partner” 7 - “The Initiation Bit” A.K.A. “Buzzing the Bee”, featuring Bruce Cabot (e.g. “King Kong (1933)”) 8 - “Oh! Charlie” A.K.A. “Moving Candle Bit”, featuring Sid Fields and Lon Chaney Jr. (e.g. “Of Mice and Men (1939)”) 9 - “The Porthole Bit” A.K.A. “The Hammock Routine” 10 - “Go Ahead, Play the Music”, featuring Sid Fields 11 - “A Figure of Speech” 12 - “Crazy House” (and farewells at the end of one show)
Video
“Legend Films” is known for film colourisation and it has re-done several classic films in colour over the recent years. They have also special tools for film restoration. Old TV-shows like “The Colgate Comedy Hour” are not entirely ideal for DVD-format, since they´re usually taken from the old “Kinescope” sources (“a recording of a TV program made by filming the picture from a video monitor with 16 mm or 35 mm film camera”). As such, it´s nowhere near todays standards, even in preserved form. Even the best and remastered Kinescope-source can´t match the look of the proper film elements. “Abbott & Costello: Funniest Routines - Vol. 2” is presented in 4:3. The B&W footage can be soft, grainy, and partly murky, with some film artifacts and minor print damage. There is also strange “ghosting” that I´ve seen in the other Kinescope-sources, which means that you get some occasional “black halos” around the object during movement (probably less in “Vol. 2”, though). Minor distortion can occur around the edges. As expected, some of the footage fares better than others (some can be very soft and murky). I still have to say that the footage generally looks probably as good as it eventually can, and the print damage or film artifacts are not very severe. The cover states that the material is “re-mastered and fully restored” and with this DVD I could believe it (in some degree). Definitely good work from “Legend Films”, even when the results ultimately can´t look “pristine” in any way. “Single layer” disc is coded “R1” and runs 78:46 minutes (NTSC). There are 15 chapters.
Audio
English Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono is the only audio choice and there´re no subtitles, nor closed captions. Audio can be quite decent in the majority of the routines, but there´s hiss and muffled dialogue. Like the visual quality, the audio is better in some and more mediocre on the others (some have heavy hiss on the background). All things considered, still a good effort.
Extras
A few minor, but interesting extras are included. Since “Legend Films” is in the film colourisation business, we get two “samples” of their work: -“Who's On First” routine (in colour - 4:48 minutes) is the “trademark” of Abbott and Costello and performed countless times by them, but this version isn´t from the “The Colgate Comedy Hour” (“Vol. 1” included that, though). The “Hollywood Canteen” operated in Hollywood between October 3, 1942 and November 22, 1945, offering free food, dancing and entertainment for the servicemen. Many big stars at that time performed and worked there on a voluntary basis, as did “Abbott and Costello”. In this colourised segment (originally broadcasted by “NBC”), you´ll see the boys on the stage in “Hollywood Canteen” (I´m not sure when, even when they performed at least in the “Grand Opening” in 1942), performing “Who's On First” for the house full of servicemen. I have to admit, that this time the certain “spark” is missing, but it´s still great to see this routine in colour(ised), since it adds that certain depth to the vintage bit like this one. -“E-Z Pop” commercial (in colour - 3:59 minutes) also includes “Abbott and Costello”, this time advertising popcorn (with pop-in-pan container). This could actually be a series of commercials (there are 4 segments), not fully sure. Note that the running times also include new credits after the routine/commercial (so this commercial actually runs 3:00 minutes), probably due to the copyright reasons.
Overall
There seems to be several DVD-releases out there from various “budget-labels”, including material from “The Colgate Comedy Hour”. I haven´t personally seen many of them. That being said, I can´t really say how well “Abbott & Costello: Funniest Routines - Vol. 1 & 2” compares to these other releases quality wise. Based on the very decent quality, I still assume that this is one of the “better releases” out there and a few interesting extras keep the curious fans happy. Ideal way would be to release full season-sets of “The Colgate Comedy Hour” (not sure if that is really possible?), but as a “best of”-collection these DVDs work very well. For more info, please visit the homepage of Legend Films.
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