Dance With Me, Henry (1956)

Wonderful Movie

Memorable, crazy movie

It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional

There are moments that feel comical, some horrific, and some downright inspiring but the tonal shifts hardly matter as the end results come to a film that's perfect for this time.

Dance with Me, Henry! (1956) ** (out of 4) Bud Abbott and Lou Costello's final picture together isn't quite as bad as its reputation but there's no question that both stars didn't appear to have their heart in it. Bud finds himself in trouble due to a gambling debt while Lou is trying to keep two orphans who he has been taking care of. Soon both sides are coming together as the boys must try and figure out a way to save themselves and the children. DANCE WITH ME, HENRY! has all sorts of problems including the boys wanting to try and do something a tad bit more serious. The problem with that here is that the serious side really isn't all that serious but instead it's more sugar-coated sentimental stuff that just comes off as fake and very forced. These scenes aren't really that funny when they try to be and they're not very dramatic when they try to be so they just really come across as flat. Another problem is that the comedy stuff really isn't up the high levels one would expect from the duo. I think Costello comes off the best as he at least gets a couple good one-liners and manages to come across decent but there's no denying that he has very little chemistry with Abbott. It really does seem like both of them weren't wanting to do this movie as their screen time together is mostly flat and just reminds you that much better times are to be found in earlier films. None of the supporting cast really jumps off the screen so this here doesn't help. If you're familiar with what was going on in both of their lives I think it's safe to say that making a movie wasn't a very high priority. Even though the relationship ends on a rather sour note, the two gave us so many great movies so this one here can be forgiven.

After seeing DANCE WITH ME HENRY and reading the reviews, I think folks have been way too kind to this film. I am sure most of it is because they love Abbott and Costello and so they want to love the film or at least treat it with great reverence because of this. I myself have seen every Abbott and Costello film and wanted to like this film, too, but can't bring myself to say anything nice about DANCE WITH ME HENRY.The problem is that the script from start to finish is painfully unfunny. Now making a more serious film was not really the problem. LITTLE GIANT, after all, was a rather serious Abbott and Costello film and while the fans didn't like it, the film was well made and entertaining. If you see it today with an open mind, you can't help but appreciate the writing and especially Lou Costello's acting. However, not being funny is only the tip of the iceberg with DANCE WITH ME HENRY. The more serious problem is that the film is 100% saccharine--too sickeningly sweet for consumption. Watching this film could easily send diabetics into comas--it's THAT over-the-top sweet. With all the cute little kids and with a whole new persona for Lou Costello (sort of like a social worker and Pied Piper rolled into one), it's very sticky going. In this film, Lou isn't dumb at all--but the owner of "Happyland" amusement park who adores kids and takes in two orphans. Now I know I'll upset a few people with this observation, but isn't this all a bit creepy?! A single man devotes his life to hanging around kids, owning an amusement park, taking in kids.....this sounds very, very weird--like a recruitment film for pedophiles. I am sure that was NOT the intentions of the film makers but here in the 21st century, I could easily see people getting that impression--how could they not?! Please rest assured I do not hate Abbott and Costello. My comments are more because I am frustrated that this film was so bad and all attempts at humor were out the window. You can't just say Bud and Lou were old and they couldn't do any better. Remember, the year before they made ABBOTT AND COSTELLO MEET DR. JEKYLL AND MR. HYDE (I gave this one an 8) and ABBOTT AND COSTELLO MEET THE MUMMY (I gave this one a 7). So, they were capable of still being funny and entertaining and still had a lot to give. Too bad they had such an awful script and you wonder what Bud and Lou thought about this. Could they have wanted it to end this way? Overall, here's how I see the film: Bud's acting (5), Lou's acting (4), the direction/timing in the film (2) and the writing (-5). You just can't make a good comedy with a bum script and indifferent directing. They deserved better than this--and so did the audience.

It seemed to me that this was essentially a children's film. While A and C made films that children could watch and enjoy, I think this and "Jack and the Beanstalk" were the only two films they made which were explicitly for children.The beginning ten minutes (good set-up of a potentially funny situation) and the last ten (imagine "Home-alone" with twenty kids) are fine, but the middle is quite flabby. There are no memorable routines and very few (about ten) funny lines.Actually, I do not know if the producers had it in mind, but the movie works well as a pilot for a T.V. series. One can imagine all sorts of great sitcom possibilities with Lou as a bachelor trying to raise two kids while owning and operating a "Kiddie land" amusement park. When this was made, Danny Thomas's "Make Room for Daddy" had been a hit show running for three years and "Bachelor Father" was about to begin its run, so a "raising kids" comedies were the type of thing a network might buy. I suppose if it had done well as a movie, it could have been developed into a television series. So, I believe that it was rather a smart career choice for A and C.Sherry Alberoni as Boopsi and Rusty Hamer are the two stand-out kid performers. Sherry is Shirley Temple cute trying to convince the cops that she witnessed a murder and Rusty Hamer is the nicest and sincerest boy actor of that period (Ron Howard did steal his crown a few years later).A and C fans will savor a few well done moments,(the visit of the nasty welfare worker at the beginning, for example) but on the whole only their fans will be able to sit through it.The last shot of the movie with Costello playing the pied-piper is delightful and cute. If the rest of the movie had been so, this movie would have revived A and C's careers and fortunes.

In 1955 after Abbott&Costello Meet The Mummy, Bud and Lou finished their long stint with Universal Pictures. They did one more film, an independent released by United Artists titled Dance With Me Henry.The title comes from a hit song of the time that her nibs, Miss Georgia Gibbs had a hit record of. It's heard instrumentally at some points in the film. The film has a role reversal of sorts, Bud is a shiftless gambler who owes some big money to gangster Ted DeCorsia because of some bad bets and Lou is the owner of a small amusement park, beloved by the kids especially the orphans from a home run by Father Frank Wilcox. Lou being the good hearted soul that he is takes Bud in.But the gangsters want their money from Bud and if not they want him to go to work for them on some jobs like a bank heist they pulled just recently. Lou arranges to meet the District Attorney Robert Shayne and tell him what he knows. But then at the amusement park the DA is killed by DeCorsia's chief henchman Richard Reeves and Reeves also hides the loot from the job because he's planning a double cross. It's quite a jackpot the boys have themselves in, but there's a providence that watches out over innocents in films. And in Dance With Me Henry, Lou is almost Stan Laurel like in his innocence.That's what's missing in Dance With Me Henry. The old burlesque routines that one expects from an Abbott&Costello film just aren't here for their fans to savor. Abbott who's usually a sharpie and always putting stuff over on Costello is the idiot here and it doesn't wear well on him. He's also put on a lot of pounds and he's almost as rotund as Costello. Lou's character is something new, as if he was trying to explore new vistas.The film didn't go over so good and the boys split up the following year. And Lou would do one solo feature film before his demise two years later. Dance With Me Henry is not a horrible film, but it just isn't what I and other fans came to expect from Bud and Lou. They deserved something better as a farewell.