I saw this first when young so maybe my rose-tinted specs are kicking in, but I still really like this film. Just as Britain's box office no. 1 George Formby was enlisted by the movie industry to help the War effort with a string of "service comedies" so were Abbott & Costello, America's no. 1 cinema attraction at the time. And same as Formby, keeping the same formula but with varying results. Universal were also cashing in on the previous hit Buck Privates – for speed and cheapness most of this film was shot in front of a back projection of stock footage and on a handful of sets. Hold That Ghost had already been finished but had to wait while In The Navy had its day in the Sun first.Bud and Lou are a pair of ordinary gobs, Dick Powell is an idolised crooner who wants to escape the attention to become an ordinary gob but is hounded by Claire Dodd ace reporter, while Dick Foran had his gob shut for most of the picture. Powell might have considered himself a "Forgotten Man" in 1941 but he still got equal billing with the boys. The farcical but at the time controversial nautical climax (without it being only a dream) was lifted from Jack Ahoy with Jack Hulbert from 1934, but I've no doubt it was lifted for him as well. The songs by Don Raye and Gene de Paul were hit and miss, the best being the lovely Starlight, Starbright (for Powell) well up their usual lustrous Wartime Universal mark, and the peppy Gimme Some Skin and Hula Ba Luau (both for the Andrews Sisters). Patti must have been standing in for Martha Raye – who came back for Keep 'Em Flying one year later. Foran for all of his fine singing voice was slightly in the way here and only got to do a bit of A Sailor's Life For Me. Favourite bits: The Condos Brothers dance routine – I feel my ankles cracking just recalling it; Find the submarine; genuine fun with the Sons of Neptune initiation ceremony; Powell's efforts to thwart the photographer; There's a second chance a few years later to check it out in Little Giant but no matter which way you look at it – 7 x 13 = 28!Not quite up to Buck Privates, but still with that unique Universal atmosphere pervading and thus one of my favourites from the boys.

If you liked Abbott and Costello in BUCK PRIVATES, then boy are you in for a treat. Their next film was less a new film for them but the last film reprised almost exactly--except now they are in the Navy instead of the Army. Once again the boys are in the service and they are supported by the Andrews Sisters--with lots and lots of singing--too much if you ask me. And, the laughs are pretty much the same once again with no major surprises, though some of the routines are pretty cute (such as Costello teaching Abbott math). It's a pretty well-made but very formulaic film. It also wasn't helped by the extensive and silly use of cheap toy models and a romance that comes out of no where for the finale. How much you like the film is strongly dependent on your love for this comedy team. Kids and some adults probably will enjoy it most, while those who hate old movies will probably be bored by the whole thing. Now I know my opinion is probably NOT that shared by many Abbott and Costello fans. I like their early films but really think they suffer some from all that irrelevant music as well as having subplots involving a third party. In BUCK PRIVATES, Lee Bowman often took center stage--here, it's Dick Powell. While both are fine actors, they sure aren't funny and had no place in the film. I want 100% Abbott and Costello in my films--such as ABBOTT AND COSTELLO MEET FRANKENSTEIN or some of their other post-1941 films.

"In The Navy" is the second Abbott and Costello service film, with a nod to their first, "Buck Privates" in the opening credits. Genuinely high on patriotism, it brings back The Andrews Sisters and Shemp Howard from the prior picture.The plot involves crooner Russ Raymond (Dick Powell) dropping out of the celebrity spotlight, only to join the Navy under the name of Tom Halstead. He is relentlessly pursued by newspaper photographer Dorothy Roberts (Claire Dodd), but gee, how many pictures did she need? As Smoky Adams (Abbott) and Seaman Pomeroy Watson (Costello), the boys are up to their usual antics which include Abbott's sleight of hand lemon routine, a money changing bit and a classic 7 times 13 equals 28, and Costello can prove it three different ways! In a slightly unsavory gag, the boys lay in wait for each other with mouths full of water ready to spray each other, but they keep breaking up and the sequence looks more like a series of outtakes that were left in the film.The Andrews Sisters are in usual fine form, with Patty much more animated in her lead role than in "Buck Privates". They keep the film moving with songs from beginning to end, with a few well choreographed production numbers thrown in. The highlight of the film though belongs to Lou Costello, as he impersonates the Captain of the ship to impress the Andrews Sisters, and commandeers the ship in a series of naval routines, defying all the laws of physics along the way. With two service comedies under their belt, Bud and Lou would wind up in yet another branch of the service very quickly in 1941's "Keep 'Em Flying", and with the war over, one final time in 1947's "Buck Privates Come Home", reprising the original characters from their first Army film.

Bud Abbott and Lou Costello work up to a goofy stride in "In the Navy," their second feature film and also the second in which they're in the service. Having left the Army for the Navy, their misadventures continue with Abbott still the money-hunting con artist and Costello his sidekick and, usually, patsy.An A & C skit is the highlight of every film they made and here Abbott's blatant cheating at Three-Card Monte, played with produce, is very funny.The score is so-so. Jerome Kern composed the music for "Buck Privates." The composers here weren't in Kern's league.Supported by the ever fine Andrews Sisters and Dick Powell as a famous crooner running away from fame to seek anonymity by serving his country, "In the Navy" has a stronger national defense message than its G.I. predecessor. We were getting closer to war. "Keep your ship afloat," intones an officer at a recruit graduation ceremony. Sadly, the magnificent but obsolescent battleships shown at the beginning and end of the film and in quick shots within the story are the very vessels that suffered the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.The movie is dedicated to the navy personnel at the San Diego and San Pedro bases from which the Pacific Fleet deployed to Pearl Harbor in 1941 at President Roosevelt's express orders.7/10