Main Cast: Bud Abbott, Lou Costello, Mari Blanchard, Robert Paige, Horace McMahon
Release Year: 1953
Country: US
Run Time: 77 minutes
Plot
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
Charles Lamont - Director, Russell Schoengarth - Editor, Herman Stein - Composer (Music Score), Joseph E. Gershenson - Musical Direction/Supervision, Robert F. Boyle - Production Designer, Alexander Golitzen - Production Designer, David S. Horsley - Cinematographer, Clifford Stine - Cinematographer, Howard Christie - Producer, Clifford Stine - Producer, David S. Horsley - Special Effects, Leslie I. Carey - Sound/Sound Designer, Robert Pritchard - Sound/Sound Designer, Daniel D. Beauchamp - Screenwriter, John Grant - Screenwriter, D.D. Beauchamp - Short Story Author
Abbott and Costello Go To Mars is a 1953science fictioncomedyfilmdirected by Charles Lamont and starring the comedy team of Abbott and Costello. The film follows the misadventures of Lester and Orville who accidentally find themselves on a rocketship bound for Mars, which accidentally lands at the New Orleans Mardi Gras. The pair are forced by bank robbers Mugsy and Harry to fly to Venus where they encounter a civilization comprised entirely of women. Despite the title, no one in this film actually goes to Mars.
Orville (Lou Costello) is the oldest orphan at the Hideaway Orphans Home. He accidentally winds up inside a truck heading to a top secret laboratory, where he is placed under the guidance of lab worker Lester (Bud Abbott) to help load supplies onto a rocketship. While onboard, Orville hits the ignition button and the rocket launches, and flies across the country to New Orleans, where Mardi Gras is in progress. They exit the ship and witness "hideous creatures", which are actually costumed celebrants, and conclude that they have landed on Mars.
Meanwhile, two escaped convicts, Harry the Horse (Jack Kruschen) and Mugsy (Horace McMahon), enter the rocket, put on the available spacesuits, and head to New Orleans to rob a bank. Lester and Orville, also clad in spacesuits, are wrongly accused of the crime and rush back to the rocketship, where Mugsy and Harry force them to launch.
After landing on Venus, the four men leave the rocketship, and Orville is quickly captured by local guards and brought to Queen Allura (Mari Blanchard), who informs him that Venus is only inhabited by women as men were banished a long time ago. She takes a shine to him and decides that he can stay if he promises to be true to her. He agrees, and has Harry and Mugsy imprisoned for their crimes. Mugsy then convinces one of the female guards to flirt with Orville to prove that he cannot be trusted. Orville "takes the bait", and the Queen orders all of the men to leave her planet. Upon returning to Earth, they are lauded as heroes, and Allura, who is watching the celebration from Venus, sends a spaceship to drop an egg on Orville's head.
The Venusian women were played by contestants in the Miss Universe competition. Anita Ekberg, the winner of the Miss Sweden competition, was among the glamorous ensemble.[2]
Robert A. Heinlein did a story idea in 1950 called Abbott and Costello Move to the Moon[3] that may have inspired the screenplay.
DVD releases
This film has been released twice on DVD, on The Best of Abbott and Costello Volume Three, on August 3, 2004, and again on October 28, 2008 as part of Abbott and Costello: The Complete Universal Pictures Collection.
August 3, 2004
References
^ Furmanek, Bob and Ron Palumbo (1991). Abbott and Costello in Hollywood. New York: Perigee Books. ISBN 0-399-51605-0
^Jim Mulholland (1977). The Abbott and Costello Book. Popular Library. pp. 204.
