Who Done It? (1942 film)
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| Who Done It? | |
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 Who Done It? VHS Cover |
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| Directed by | Erle C. Kenton |
| Produced by | Alex Gottlieb |
| Written by | Stanley Roberts Edmund Joseph John Grant |
| Starring | Bud Abbott Lou Costello William Gargan William Bendix Mary Wilkes |
| Music by | Charles Previn |
| Editing by | Arthur Hilton |
| Distributed by | Universal Pictures |
| Release date(s) | November 6, 1942 (U.S. release) |
| Running time | 76 min |
| Language | English |
| Preceded by | Pardon My Sarong (1942) |
| Followed by | It Ain't Hay (1943) |
| IMDb profile | |
Who Done It? is a 1942 film starring the comedy team of Abbott and Costello.
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[edit] 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.
[edit] Rerelease
Who Done It? was re-released in 1949 with Keep 'Em Flying, and in 1954 with Ride 'Em Cowboy.
[edit] 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.
[edit] 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.
[edit] DVD Release
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[edit] External links
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