- Who Done It? (1942 film)
Infobox Film | name = Who Done It?
image_size = 144
caption = "Who Done It?" VHS Cover
director =Erle C. Kenton
producer =Alex Gottlieb
writer =Stanley Roberts Edmund Joseph
John Grant
starring =Bud Abbott Lou Costello William Gargan William Bendix Mary Wilkes
music =Charles Previn
cinematography =
editing =Arthur Hilton
distributor =Universal Pictures
released =November 6 , 1942 (U.S. release)
runtime = 76 min
language = English
budget =
imdb_id = 0035555
preceded_by =Pardon My Sarong (1942)
followed_by =It Ain't Hay (1943)"Who Done It?" is a 1942 film starring the comedy team of
Abbott and Costello .Plot
Chick Larkin (
Bud Abbott ) and Mervyn Milgrim (Lou Costello ) both work at the soda counter of a local radio station. Their true passion, however, is to become writers on the radio mystery show. They attend a broadcast of the radio program "Murder at Midnight" along with one of the writers, Jimmy Turner (Patric Knowles ) and the producer, Jane Little (Louise Allbritton).As the show begins, the network president, Colonel J.R. Andrews (
Thomas Gomez ), is mysteriously electrocuted. Seeing this as an opportunity to become radio writers, Chick and Mervyn impersonate detectives and attempt to solve the crime.Meanwhile, Moran (
William Gargan ) and Branningan (William Bendix ), two real detectives, consider the 'fake' detectives to be prime suspects. A chase ensues throughout the studio and other murders are discovered, including that of Dr. Marek (Ludwig Stossel), Andrews' personal physician. Larkin and Milgrim flee the studio before hearing that Milgrim has apparently won $10,000 on the "Wheel of Fortune" radio program, for which he must return to the studio in order to claim the prize. Larkin and Milgrim return, only to be arrested by the real detectives, whom Turner and Little manage to convince that there should be a full reenactment of the program that led to the murders, under the ruse that the "true" culprit will be revealed.An eavesdropping spy (
Don Porter ), who uses the radio station to transmit information to his cohorts, attends the broadcast. It turns out that the spy murdered the Colonel and his physician because they found out about his illegal radio transmissions. During the broadcast, he is revealed to be the killer and escapes to the roof, where he is nabbed by Larkin and Milgrim.Rerelease
"Who Done It?" was re-released in
1949 with "Keep 'Em Flying ", and in1954 with "Ride 'Em Cowboy ".Who's on first?
There are two references to the team's popular "
Who's on First? " routine. During the murder scene, Abbott confuses Costello with the "volts-and-watts" routine. Lou bleats, "Next you'll be telling me Watt's on second base!" Later, in the radio giveaway program scene, Bud and Lou tune the radio to a broadcast of their own "Who's on First?" routine, which they promptly turn off.Post-Production
After completion of this film, Abbott and Costello began a tour of the United States to help promote the selling of U.S. War Bonds.
DVD Release
External links
*
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.
