Rio Rita (1942)

Two New Yorkers (Bud Abbott, Lou Costello) stranded in Texas get jobs as house detectives at a resort on the Mexican border. What they don't know is that the hotel is infiltrated by Nazis who plan to use a musical radio broadcast to transmit coded messages to enemy agents. Very loosely based on the 1927 Broadway musical which was previously filmed in 1929. Anyone who knows me knows that Abbott and Costello are my favorite comedy team (yes, that includes Martin & Lewis) and they have some first rate comedic material here. It might have been one of their very best movies except for one thing. Unfortunately, MGM shoved in trilling Kathryn Grayson and bellowing John Carroll for some musical numbers and a pallid romantic subplot. Where are the Andrews Sisters when you need them? The public lapped it up and the film was a big hit. With Barry Nelson, Tom Conway, Patricia Dane, Peter Whitney and Eros Volusia whose Brazilian dance number is the only tolerable musical spot.