As that famous silent film comedian Charlie Chaplin said, Lou Costello had pathos and its unfortunate that he and Abbott did not meet up with the Keystone Kops when they were in their prime.The setting is at the beginning of the film industry and the boys get taken by conman Fred Clark and his moll Lynn Bari. Never mind that they're in pursuit of Clark and Bari and their pursuit takes them out to the new film colony of Hollywood. It's one of those Clark Kent/Superman situations where Clark puts on a rug and adopts and accent and Costello keeps thinking he's seen him some where, but he's not sure. Which would make Costello brighter than Lois Lane or Jimmy Olsen who never had a clue.The worm turned somewhat in Abbott And Costello Meet The Keystone Kops because Abbott gets to take the hits and falls. That might have been at Lou's instigation, but quite frankly it doesn't work though it does show Bud's versatility.Several original Keystone Kops join in the final chase scene and Mack Sennett himself makes an appearance here to give it that ring of authority. Not the best of their films, sadly their best days were left in the Forties.

Good movies about the early days of movies are scarce, which is strange and disappointing considering what a wealth of good material exists about that era. Peter Bogdanovich's NICKLEODEON started off pretty well but descended into trite soap opera before it finished. One of the best movies about silent movies is this one, maybe because it has a real feel for the time and the characters and presents them with a certain degree of authenticity. All that aside it's also a lot of fun. Bud and Lou are on form, the supporting cast (especially the great Fred Clark) is good, and the stunts are funny and well executed with nary a CG shot in sight. One of the best things about it is the lively musical score, in part by an uncredited Henry Mancini who recycled some of it for the chase scenes in Blake Edwards THE GREAT RACE. Recommended for slapstick fans.

I've seen 28 A&C movies, and I have to say that this comedy team is consistently enjoyable. The only movie that's no good is their last ("Dance w/Me, Henry"); all the others range from fall-over hilarious to innocently droll. In a couple of films Costello seems distracted and campy, but in most he manages to be sympathetic, as he is in this one.I have especially enjoyed sorting through their later "lesser" movies, like "…Go to Mars" and "…Go to Alaska", which I found quite entertaining, and I am entertained by this movie for most of the same reasons: Costello's cherubic character seems more warm and ingratiating as the movies go along. To me, the more relaxed timing in their acting and partnership makes them more engaging. Instead of so much verbal patter, the later movies emphasize character, and may actually be funnier and more appealing to anyone speaking English as a foreign language (Cantinflas movies, with their long stretches of static action, are miserably boring to watch if you don't know Spanish).In "…Keystone Cops", I found myself once again watching a cartoon-like feature-length movie that just happened to have, miraculously, Abbott and Costello as main characters. How do you go wrong with that, especially if you have an 8-year-old mind in a 56-year-old body? Nope, there are none of the classic verbal routines here, but how many of those can you watch over and over again? A&C are plenty amusing as protagonists—a classic duo like Laurel and Hardy, and although they did not make me roll with laughter, the movie certainly kept me smiling with its convivial mood and enjoyable cast.The movie has good production values, with lots of real out-of-doors shots, steam engines, single prop airplanes, and lots and lots of stunts. It is more of an "action film" than some of their other films; in fact, it's worth watching just to see the stunt men, who are really fabulous. Generally I am offended when one of these films stops being an A&C movie and becomes a stunt-man movie (as Buster Keaton famously said, "Stunt men aren't funny", meaning they don't convey character). But here, the director sets up the stunts so clearly (sometimes frightening, like the train-in-the-tunnel), that they come across as very funny events. The actors playing the Keystone Cops are stupendous. I had to stop-motion parts of the final chase because I couldn't believe what they were doing.The film has an excellent final joke.By the way, has anyone else noticed that in some movies, like this one, the lip sync is way off during some of the long shots?

Abbott & Costello as Harry Pierce and Willie Piper are scammed into buying the Thomas Edison studio lot by a gentleman named Gorman (Fred Clark), who takes them for $5000. Together they decide to follow Gorman's trail to Hollywood where Gorman has taken up the identity of a foreign film director named Sergei Toumanoff. Predictably Pierce & Piper wind up involved in the shooting of one of Toumanoff's film and end up becoming stunt doubles for his films, while Toumanoff, who's really Gorman, tries to have the bungling Piper & Pierce done away with permanently before they realize who he really is. Those looking for The Keystone Kops here might be somewhat disappointed as the antics of the Kops aren't exactly here in full force although there's an entertaining Kops style chase towards the end. Also this is a lesser effort from Abbott & Costello, whose routines had started to become predictable by this point in time. Still there's good fun to be found here especially if one is more capable of suspending disbelief and just having fun with what's on the screen. My favorite moments here include: the opening silent movie sequence with Costello's Piper being emotionally affected by the dramatic story of a woman on the run from some nasty villains and the following scene outside the theater where Abbott's Pierce is the one who for once winds up in trouble. the mistaken identity police-robber sequence throughout Gorman's house. Clark is quite funny in this scene which is a classic Abbott & Costello "who's who" routine all the way.