COMIN' ROUND THE MOUNTAIN (Universal-International, 1951),directed by Charles Lamont, stars the comedy team of Bud Abbott and Lou Costello in another one of their funny outings. Having already appeared in an earlier hillbilly romp titled THE WISTFUL WIDOW OF WAGON GAP (1947) where the strong presence of Marjorie Main assumed the title role, their second and final venture in them thar hills places them in the middle of a hillbilly feud. Dorothy Shay, introduced in the opening credits as "The Park Avenue Hillbilly" makes her first screen appearance here, and last, though it didn't hurt her chances for the duration of her career as both night club and television entertainer.

The fun begins at New York's Club Chez Bleu where Al Stewart (Bud Abbott),a theatrical agent, introduces two of his latest discoveries, Dorothy McCoy (Dorothy Shay),and The Great Wilbert (Lou Costello),an escape artist. While Dorothy's singing style proves popular with the patrons, Wilbert is not so lucky with his Harry Houdini act, unable to break free after being padlocked in chains. A mishap not only sets him free but he and the others fired by the boss. As a mouse has Wilbert belting out a distress yell only known by Dorothy's family back home, she learns Wilbert to be both kin folk and grandson of the late "Squeeze Box" McCoy, leader of the Kentucky clan. With his grand-pappy's photo and concertina proving him to be the sole heir to a fortune, Wilbert and Dorothy venture back to the hills, with Al tagging along for his ten percent commission, to claim the fortune of gold with whereabouts known only by Grandma McCoy (Ida Moore). During the course of the story, the trio find themselves in one misadventure after another, ranging from being caught in the middle of a long running feud between the Winfields and the McCoys, to a turkey shoot at the county fair, and finally a love potion leading to mismatched partnerships. While being constantly menaced by Devil Dan (Glenn Strange),Wilbert tricks a young hillbilly gal named Matt (Shaye Cogan) into giving both he and Al the treasure map to the Lost Springs Mine, which turns out to be in Winfield territory.

Often dismissed as a lesser Abbott and Costello comedy, COMIN' ROUND THE MOUNTAIN is redeemed by Costello's magic show performance; the presence of Margaret Hamilton as the bewitching old hag who sticks Costello for the money owed her for love potion jug by holding a voodoo doll looking very much like Wilbert; and Glenn Strange (The Monster in ABBOTT AND COSTELLO MEET FRANKENSTEIN) playing the nitwit menace constantly yelling out Wilbert's name in a strong hoarse voice which, on a personal level, gets funnier each time he does it; and the climatic chase leading to the buried treasure. Hamilton, best known in her long screen career as the Wicked Witch of the West in THE WIZARD OF OZ (1939),is somewhat of a Hollywood in-joke here. Her role leaves one guessing (Wilbert, too) whether she's a witch or not. Her few minutes of glory with Bud and Lou, especially Lou, makes up for the weakness in the story. This witch-voodoo sequence is clipped as one of the highlights to the documentary titled THE WORLD OF ABBOTT AND COSTELLO (1965),with the narration of Jack E. Leonard that can be a bit annoying. Among the many classic Abbott and Costello exchanges, the "You're forty, she's ten" routine where Wilbert finds himself engaged to a teenage mountain girl sure fits the bill.

Setbacks for many happen are the handful of songs interludes provided by Dorothy Shay, including "Agnes Wink," "Why Doesn't Someone Marry Mary Ann," "Sagebrush Sadie," "You Broke Your Promise" (actually the film's best song) and "Another Noth on Father's Shotgun." Also in the cast are Kirby Grant in straw hat playing Clark Winfield; Joseph Sawyer as Kalem, leader of the clan; Guy Wilkerson as the long bearded Uncle Clem McCoy; and Virgil Taylor as the dim-witted Jasper Winfield. Ida Moore makes an ideal Granny (don't ever call her an "old woman"),a forerunner to Irene Ryan's characterization in the popular TV series of "The Beverly Hillbillies" (1962-1971).

Aside the fact that the title had been used previously in a 1936 Gene Autry western for Republic Pictures and again for a 1940 Paramount comedy starring Bob Burns and Una Merkel, that featured for the first time radio's Harold Peary as The Great Gildersleeve, COMIN' ROUND THE MOUNTAIN starring Abbott and Costello remains the better known of the three. As much as hillbilly comedies where mountain people caricatures with silly developments being a matter of taste, COMIN' ROUND THE MOUNTAIN is good enough to be seen and believed either on VHS or DVD format.(**)

I almost feel ashamed of myself to admit that I liked this ultra-lowbrow comedy starring Abbott and Costello. The humor sure isn't sophisticated and the film almost made me cringe at times, but I did enjoy it. Perhaps I am losing my mind.

The film begins with Dorothy Shay singing some hillbilly-type songs. What made this weird is that this was in a fancy club in the big city and her accompaniment was a normal orchestra. As for the songs, she sang way too often in this film but I was also surprised that I actually did like most of the songs, as the lyrics were very funny. But, a little sure went a long way! Shay soon learns that Lou is her long lost cousin. Lou had no idea that he was from hillbilly stock and agrees to accompany her to Kentucky to meet all the kinfolk he didn't know he had. Unfortunately, he walks into the middle of a century-old feud as well! What comes next is pretty much every stereotype of hill people you can imagine--pigs in the bedroom, marryin' 12-14 year-olds, shootin', chawin', drinkin' and whatnot. While I did laugh at some of the antics, I also realized that there are some folks out there that cringe at this sort of thing--especially people in the Appalaccian region of the United States (like my in-laws!). Funny...but also very tacky and like the worst and most stereotypical episode of "The Beverly Hillbillies".

Additionally, some of these stereotypes got very, very creepy. Lou's new kin think he should be married and some of them want him to marry his cousin who is practically an old maid--"she's pert near 14!!". The idea of this middle-aged man with a young teenager is just nasty. The only things that save this is that the girl sure doesn't look like she's 13--she could pass for twice that. The other thing in its favor is that this relationship is never consummated. Ewwwww!! However, despite these shortcomings, the whole movie is goofy fun and it tries really hard to entertain. Plus, for once, it's nice to see Bud and Lou completely out of their element and doing something different. Not a great film but certainly one worth seeing--especially for the funny surprise ending.

The feud is on between the Wingfields and the McCoys when Bud Abbott discovers his clients, hopeless magician Lou Costello and the Park Avenue hillbilly Dorothy Shay are both McCoys and Costello's inherited concertina holds the secret to a treasure of hidden gold. So off they go to the Appalachins where Costello's arrival sets off the feud that had pretty much died down.

Bud and Lou get themselves a good supporting cast with a group of players used to rustic roles. I'm wondering how the folks at Universal missed getting Judy Canova and Marjorie Main and Percy Kilbride in this film. Lou's best scene involves him haggling with a hag played by Margaret Hamilton in her wicked witch makeup over some love potion with each making a voodoo doll of the other to poke holes in.

Dorothy Shay was just about at the end of her peak of popularity which started post World War II. She was a singer with a warm contralto who decided to play up her southern roots. Dorothy made a whole lot of hillbilly ditties popular back in those days and her big hit song, Feudin' a Fussin' and a Fightin' was still selling good in 1951 when Comin' Round the Mountain came out. I have it and also a vinyl record of a Bing Crosby radio show where she sang that song as a trio number with herself, Bing, and Groucho Marx. She did what very few did in Abbott and Costello pictures, hold her own with the boys and not get lost in the supporting cast.

It's not the best of their films, but still enjoyable and just wait till you see the treasure that they do find.