IT AIN'T HAY  

(1943)
With Bud Abbott, Lou Costello, Grace McDonald, Cecil Kelloway, Eugene Pallette, Patsy O'Connor, Shemp Howard, Leighton Noble
Directed by Erle C. Kenton
Black and White
Reviewed by JB

     Take a Damon Runyan story, add production numbers, some gags and situations borrowed from Buster Keaton, Laurel and Hardy and The Marx Brothers, sprinkle in a few in-jokes and topical gags, and you've got IT AIN'T HAY, a somewhat offbeat Abbott and Costello film.  It's a good film, but just a little strange. Within the first half hour, there are three musical numbers, but after that, not one is too be found until the rousing final. Since the story is about horses, the Boys do the "Mudder, Fodder" routine, but they split it up, using the "Fodder" gag in one scene and the "Mudder" gag several scenes later. 3 - JB

Abbott and Costello      The Age of Comedy