The Time of Their Lives (1946)

☆ ☆ ☆

The Time of Their Lives (1946) – C. Barton

Abbott and Costello are, respectively, a butler and a tinker in the Revolutionary War era United States.  They both love the same woman, a maid, but she only has eyes for Lou.  Although Bud hopes to dispatch his rival, a group of soldiers mistakenly shoots and kills Costello and Marjorie Reynolds, thinking them traitors, when in fact Lou has a letter of reference from General George Washington and Reynolds (playing Melody Allen) was just about to expose the real traitors (including her fiancé). Fast forward 165 years and Costello and Reynolds are stuck haunting the same estate where they were killed.  A group of modern young people, including Abbott playing his own descendant, now a psychiatrist, are staying overnight in the house, now restocked with its original furniture.  The only way that Costello and Reynolds can be freed from the curse that keeps them in the house is to get those people in the house to find the hidden letter from Washington that reveals that they aren’t traitors.  But enough about the plot, there is a bit of slapstick and some ghostly special effects to please the 1940s audiences; however, I didn’t find myself laughing too much.  Other films by the comedy team seem funnier (despite the high rating on IMDb for this one).