Rating summary

Movie		2.5
Video		2.5
Audio		3.5
Extras		0.0
Overall		2.5

Dance With Me, Henry! Blu-ray Movie Review

Abbott and Costello's last dance.

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman April 21, 2015

There’s a bittersweet, almost elegiac, quality to Dance With Me, Henry, the last film collaboration of vaunted comedy duo Abbott and Costello. This hard working and enduring pair had been long removed from their top grossing days at Universal, when they churned out a huge string of major box office champions, including Buck Privates . Universal seemed to struggle with the twosome at times, managing to build whimsical comedies like The Time of Their Lives around already well worn personas, but ultimately consigning the pair to a series of lo-fi (if admittedly entertaining) entries that sought to capitalize on other iconic Universal “properties” in films like Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein . Interestingly, at the height of their fame and box office power, Abbott and Costello were actually able to work a three picture deal with Metro Goldwyn Mayer even as they continued to churn out their Universal films, certainly a testament to how popular they were in the 1940s at least. Dance With Me, Henry actually followed the last of the Universal features pairing Abbott and Costello with an iconic Universal horror figure, Abbott and Costello Meet the Mummy (also their last film at Universal). Dance With Me, Henry shows the iconic comedy team attempting something a bit different, and if it’s not entirely successful, beset with too much sentimentalism and some frankly tired schtick, it’s a flawed but still fitfully engaging swan song for one of the 20th century’s most formidable comedy pairings.

Somewhat interestingly, it’s Abbott’s Bud Flick character rather than Costello’s Lou Henry who’s something of a screwup if not an outright ne’er-do-well in this film, with Bud’s gambling “issue” creating the focus of some rather over convoluted plot mechanics which threaten well meaning Lou and a couple of foster kids he’s taken in. Bud and Lou are business partners at an amusement park called Kiddyland, but once an imperious social worker named Miss Mayberry (the indomitable Mary Wickes) starts poking her nose into Lou’s relationship with “his” kids, Bud’s gambling debt poses a major sticking point. And that’s before a gaggle of mean gangsters (including Ted DeCorsia) show up to collect on that debt.

Dance With Me, Henry plays well enough on Lou’s sweet ability to be the lovable, slightly incompetent shlub, especially after one of the bad guys gets offed and Lou’s set up to take the fall. That of course sets of Miss Mayberry’s imperious “child protection” radar, and soon enough Lou has lost custody of pretty young Shelley (Gigi Perreau) and sweet natured if feisty Duffer (Rusty Hamer, whom baby boomers will remember as Danny Thomas’ son Rusty on Make Room for Daddy).

The film’s overall generally mawkish tone may tend to effectively yank at the heartstrings a time or two, but it also tends to make the silly comedy set pieces seem almost extraneous. The “who’s on first” duo almost seem to be trying to come up with a new iteration of that routine’s technique in their first tête-à-tête in this film, but it’s a spiritless and (even worse) unfunny exchange that dissipates almost as soon as it’s begun. Later sight gags involving a gaggle of orphans at Kiddyland are similarly rote and uninspired.

It’s perhaps both surprising and unsurprising to see that Dance With Me, Henry was directed by Charles Barton. Barton was a regular collaborator with the famed comedy duo, directing them in films both wonderful and at least slightly more pedestrian, including one of their more ebullient pieces, the aforementioned The Time of Their Lives. But Barton just seems to be going through the paces here without much energy or drive. While there are no significant issues with pacing, there’s simply not much spark here, as if everyone were simply going through the paces without hearts and minds completely committed to the project. In fact a lot of the time Dance With Me, Henry almost feels like a “very special episode” of the team’s television series.

Dance With Me, Henry! Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Dance With Me, Henry is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Olive Films with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.85:1. This is the rare offering where the opening credits are actually a good deal sharper and clearer than the bulk of the proceeding. Whether this was sourced from dupe elements or simply problematic elements, this is one of the lesser offerings we've had from Olive, one which is overly soft and very grainy, two aspects which completely constrain fine detail and even general detail a lot of the time. Somewhat anemic contrast also doesn't help detail and shadow detail in longer nighttime sequences like an extended segment at Kiddyland. In brightly lit sequences, there's a general uptick in clarity, but a quick perusal of the screencaptures accompanying this review will show what a relative term that is. On the plus side, this has the typically pleasing organic look that Olive releases almost always do—while it's obvious there have been no restorative efforts, there's a healthy grainfield and filmic appearance, something that may cause some to feel more generously about in terms of a video "score."

Dance With Me, Henry! Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Dance With Me, Henry features a serviceable DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 mono track which capably supports the film's dialogue. There are a couple of sung moments which sound decent if not fantastic, and generally there's a bit of brittleness to some of the underscore. There's no overt damage, however, and while a bit boxy and shallow sounding, this track offers no serious listening challenges.

Dance With Me, Henry! Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

There are no supplements on this Blu-ray disc.

Dance With Me, Henry! Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Diehard Abbott and Costello fans may find enough in Dance With Me, Henry — if just barely at times — to warrant checking out this last pairing of the team. Both of the iconic team members seem to know they're dealing with inadequate material, and so perhaps try a bit too hard, but there's only so much that can be done with mediocre and predictable writing. Oddly (and ironically given the pair's status as comedy legends), it's the more (admittedly lachrymose) dramatic elements that tend to register more forcefully here than any of the supposed funny stuff. Video is watchable though problematic for those considering a purchase.