IMDb RATING
7.3/10
2.7K
YOUR RATING
Two dumb soda jerks dream of writing radio mysteries. When they try to pitch an idea at a radio station, they end up in the middle of a real murder after the station owner is killed during a... Read allTwo dumb soda jerks dream of writing radio mysteries. When they try to pitch an idea at a radio station, they end up in the middle of a real murder after the station owner is killed during a broadcast.Two dumb soda jerks dream of writing radio mysteries. When they try to pitch an idea at a radio station, they end up in the middle of a real murder after the station owner is killed during a broadcast.
- Awards
- 1 nomination
Ludwig Stössel
- Dr. Anton Marek
- (as Ludwig Stossel)
Norman Abbott
- Organist
- (uncredited)
Bobby Barber
- Test Technician in Booth
- (uncredited)
Gladys Blake
- Telephone Operator
- (uncredited)
Margaret Brayton
- Radio Actress
- (uncredited)
Eddie Bruce
- Man Telephoning Brazil
- (uncredited)
Paul Dubov
- Radio Actor
- (uncredited)
Ed Emerson
- Announcer
- (uncredited)
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaThe "watts-volts" routine was not in the script. It was created by Bud Abbott and Lou Costello on the set.
- GoofsWhen Juliet is telling Mervyn that he can buy her some ice cream after the radio broadcast but that she had to go take care of radio business, her voice is heard but her lips don't move. When she turns around after entering the studio, she says something, but it isn't heard.
- Quotes
Mervin Q. Milgrim: [nauseous] I gotta go back upstairs and get something...
Chick Larkin: What have you gotta get?
Mervin Q. Milgrim: My stomach...
- ConnectionsFeatured in The World of Abbott and Costello (1965)
Featured review
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There are better films featuring Bud Abbott and Lou Costello, but "Who Done It" is as good a way as any to discover why the comedy pair was one of the 1940s' most consistent box office draws. It's a marvelously elongated piece of slapstick comedy that showcases Bud and Lou in peak form.
Chick (Bud) and Mervin (Lou) are soda jerks at the Radio Center Drug Store, located in the same building where GBS broadcasts radio shows across the country. The pair want to write a mystery, so when the network director is mysteriously murdered on the air, they jump at the chance to solve the case and prove their smarts. Needless to say, this impromptu sleuthing annoys the real police, and Chick and Mervin are soon on the run.
Just about a year into their 16-year run, "Who Done It" finds Abbott and Costello bursting with energy, utilizing the confines of a radio station as background for their trademark pratfalls and patter. Even when the dialogue is less than stellar, it works at sustaining the energy and proving there was nothing too illogical for Abbott and Costello.
"Why wasn't this murder reported yesterday," Mervin demands as he shows up seconds after the murder, playing a cop.
Because it didn't happen yet, is the answer.
"Why wait until the last minute...You're going to get the electric chair, and two years besides!"
Before you can register enough to groan about that one, Chick is educating Mervin on watts and volts. "What's volts?" "Exactly, watts are volts." "That's what I'm trying to find out...Next thing you'll tell me watts is on second!"
Then you get one of the best bits Abbott and Costello ever did on film, the Alexander 2222 routine, where Mervin tries to call the radio station from a drug store across the street and can't get through, even as a bevy of bizarre characters step into the same phone booth to call places like Nome, Alaska and Moscow. "Long distance, get me Brazil. Hello, Brazil. Is this Joe? Hi Joe! How's the coffee business?" There's lots of great silliness here, my favorite being when Lou for no reason bursts into opera.
As theowinthrop notes in his review, this is an interesting Abbott & Costello film for its focus on radio, which broke them as a national phenomenon and where they continued to work throughout their film career. There's a nice bit where Chick and Mervin, behind the counter of their drug store, act out their radio script with ice-cream scoopers ("'The Midget Gets The Chair,' or 'Small Fry'") and clever use of the tools of radio, like recordings that are activated at the wrong moment, and a prop door Mervin mistakes for the real thing. Walk through one door, and you are in a dark office where a murderer lurks, walk through another and you are in the middle of an acrobatic act.
Why is there an acrobatic act being performed at a radio station? Why are Chick and Mervin entrusted with the one piece of evidence by someone who knows they aren't cops? How does Mervin manage to climb up the side of a building after taking a flagpole in the crotch? Watching an Abbott and Costello movie, you have to ignore stuff like that.
But what you get in "Who Done It" is worth the sacrifice. You get a first-rate supporting cast including the memorable Mary Wilkes, Patric Knowles from "The Adventures of Robin Hood," Edmund MacDonald from "Flying Tigers," and most effectively, William Bendix as a dopey detective who actually manages to get himself tricked by Lou. There's also a great finale on the roof of a building that combines laughs and suspense as effectively as anything in the more-heralded "Meets Frankenstein."
Later on, the films got weaker as Lou pushed Bud to the side and showcased himself more as cuddly man-child. But here the pair was still hungry for laughs and experienced enough to understand what worked. They gave the public what they wanted with "Who Done It," and its a tribute to their lasting genius such a light endeavor still holds up today.
Chick (Bud) and Mervin (Lou) are soda jerks at the Radio Center Drug Store, located in the same building where GBS broadcasts radio shows across the country. The pair want to write a mystery, so when the network director is mysteriously murdered on the air, they jump at the chance to solve the case and prove their smarts. Needless to say, this impromptu sleuthing annoys the real police, and Chick and Mervin are soon on the run.
Just about a year into their 16-year run, "Who Done It" finds Abbott and Costello bursting with energy, utilizing the confines of a radio station as background for their trademark pratfalls and patter. Even when the dialogue is less than stellar, it works at sustaining the energy and proving there was nothing too illogical for Abbott and Costello.
"Why wasn't this murder reported yesterday," Mervin demands as he shows up seconds after the murder, playing a cop.
Because it didn't happen yet, is the answer.
"Why wait until the last minute...You're going to get the electric chair, and two years besides!"
Before you can register enough to groan about that one, Chick is educating Mervin on watts and volts. "What's volts?" "Exactly, watts are volts." "That's what I'm trying to find out...Next thing you'll tell me watts is on second!"
Then you get one of the best bits Abbott and Costello ever did on film, the Alexander 2222 routine, where Mervin tries to call the radio station from a drug store across the street and can't get through, even as a bevy of bizarre characters step into the same phone booth to call places like Nome, Alaska and Moscow. "Long distance, get me Brazil. Hello, Brazil. Is this Joe? Hi Joe! How's the coffee business?" There's lots of great silliness here, my favorite being when Lou for no reason bursts into opera.
As theowinthrop notes in his review, this is an interesting Abbott & Costello film for its focus on radio, which broke them as a national phenomenon and where they continued to work throughout their film career. There's a nice bit where Chick and Mervin, behind the counter of their drug store, act out their radio script with ice-cream scoopers ("'The Midget Gets The Chair,' or 'Small Fry'") and clever use of the tools of radio, like recordings that are activated at the wrong moment, and a prop door Mervin mistakes for the real thing. Walk through one door, and you are in a dark office where a murderer lurks, walk through another and you are in the middle of an acrobatic act.
Why is there an acrobatic act being performed at a radio station? Why are Chick and Mervin entrusted with the one piece of evidence by someone who knows they aren't cops? How does Mervin manage to climb up the side of a building after taking a flagpole in the crotch? Watching an Abbott and Costello movie, you have to ignore stuff like that.
But what you get in "Who Done It" is worth the sacrifice. You get a first-rate supporting cast including the memorable Mary Wilkes, Patric Knowles from "The Adventures of Robin Hood," Edmund MacDonald from "Flying Tigers," and most effectively, William Bendix as a dopey detective who actually manages to get himself tricked by Lou. There's also a great finale on the roof of a building that combines laughs and suspense as effectively as anything in the more-heralded "Meets Frankenstein."
Later on, the films got weaker as Lou pushed Bud to the side and showcased himself more as cuddly man-child. But here the pair was still hungry for laughs and experienced enough to understand what worked. They gave the public what they wanted with "Who Done It," and its a tribute to their lasting genius such a light endeavor still holds up today.
helpful•111
- slokes
- Jun 20, 2006
- How long is Who Done It??Powered by Alexa
Details
- Runtime1 hour 17 minutes
- Color
- Aspect ratio
- 1.37 : 1
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![William Bendix, Bud Abbott, Louise Allbritton, Lou Costello, William Gargan, and Patric Knowles in Who Done It? (1942)](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BZjRiYTI2YmQtOTQ3ZC00OTI0LTg2OGItNGViYTI0OTlkN2FlXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyNDY2MTk1ODk@._V1_QL75_UX90_CR0,5,90,133_.jpg)