Supelice
Dreadfully Boring
Breakinger
A Brilliant Conflict
RipDelight
This is a tender, generous movie that likes its characters and presents them as real people, full of flaws and strengths.
Jenni Devyn
Worth seeing just to witness how winsome it is.
AaronCapenBanner
Abbott & Costello play two bumbling bus drivers who accidentally end up stealing their own bus; now fired and on the run from the police, they drive it into the ocean(!) and hitch a lift with a playboy(played by Robert Paige). After some mishaps along the way, they finally arrive on a South Seas island where they encounter a hostile native tribe(with pretty island girls of course!) and a Dr. Varnoff(played by Lionel Atwill) who is really a jewel thief on a mission, and most unappreciative of their intrusion. Virginia Bruce plays a potential love interest. A big hit in 1942, though I'm not sure why, since this is an overly silly film with the usual clichés that haven't worn well, though the one funny bit with "the big stinker" is a highlight, otherwise, the team had made much better films.
MartinHafer
Just recently I began re-watching the films of Abbott and Costello. As a kid, I'd seen just about all of them and now, decades later, I am going through a nostalgic phase seeing them again. I started at the beginning and have already noticed one thing. While the team tries hard and does just fine, Universal Studio (as well as MGM for three films) insisted on sticking the boys with the same tried and true formula--and it handicapped the films. First, they insisted on making Bud and Lou more like supporting players and had an unrelated love story which starred some hunky guy (such as Dick Foran or Dick Powell--two Dicks that were unnecessary in the film). Second, the films were given at least 4 or 5 big production number songs--often in nightclubs but always with lots of gloss and they are certainly not subtle! Heck, in this film, they even did a few numbers like this on a primitive tropical island!! Well, as I mentioned PARDON MY SARONG above, you can correctly guess that it, too, is one of these early formulaic movies. So, in addition to way too much music, it had a love story involving Virginia Bruce and Robert Paige--two people who had no reason to be in the film. Why, oh why couldn't they just give the film to Abbott and Costello and them alone? Later, this would be the case in many films, but for now this one is yet another that is handicapped at the start--though I must admit that the two Ink Spots songs were more enjoyable than most.As for the plot, it's not bad and the film is fun. BUT, Universal also severely handicapped the team again by creating the lamest tropical island in the history of film. It's inhabited with people that look like Hollywood extras covered in a dye to make them look "tropical". Along with the women's 1942 hair styles (complete with perms) they looked about as native as Lana Turner!! And, unfortunately, there were some dumb gimmicks added as well that simply looked like dumb gimmicks--such as the terribly unrealistic swordfish and the underwater scene early in the film (it's obviously an aquarium scene with Mollies and Guppies superimposed over Bud, Lou and William Demarest). It's a shame the studio took so many shortcuts, I could have ignored the unnecessary songs and love story but I couldn't ignore the cheesiness. It's also a shame, as the idea of the film is good AND it was nice to see Lou really be a hero by the end of the film. Too bad--a film with a lot of promise that is undone by stupid studio hacks that insisted on formula and didn't trust Abbott and Costello to be funny on their own.
rvm-2
This is pure silliness at its best. If you plan to watch, bring your sense of silly. A native dance turns into a nightclub act; Lou the bus driver gets confused by the instructions "go ahead and back up"; and many other classic bits.Bud and Lou obviously had a great time making this movie (Lou is hysterically funny). A smile never left my face during the last half of it, even though this a 60+ year old movie now. I'm sure it was popular escapist fun for Allied troops during WWII.
jimtinder
Having returned to Universal following MGM's somewhat disappointing "Rio Rita," Abbott and Costello get back on track with "Pardon My Sarong," sort of their version of the Hope-Crosby "Road" pictures.A&C play Chicago bus drivers, who through a series of funny machinations, end up on a tropic isle with evil Lionel Atwill. There are many funny moments both at sea and on the island.If there are people who don't like Abbott and Costello, it is probably because they don't like Abbott's often callous treatment of Costello. While this is part of their characterizations, and is often funny, the screenwriters went admittedly overboard in "Sarong." While Virginia Bruce does stand up to Abbott on Costello's behalf several times, one tasteless gag includes Abbott matter-of-factly giving Costello a gun to shoot himself! Such gags have limited the duo's appeal over time, but if looked upon broadly, "Sarong" is a funny film and shows A&C at their peak, which ran roughly from 1941 to 1945. 7 out of 10.