He was the master of ‘30s and ‘40s movie villainy. She was a musical comedy debutante who invigorated one of Universal Horror’s classic series. Together, they met in one of Abbott and Costello’s silliest comedies.
The film was 1942’s Pardon My Sarong. Here the cupid cute Virginia Bruce, star of The Invisible Woman, and Lionel Atwill, the dark knight of everything from Murders at the Zoo to The Mad Doctor of Market Street, battled it out as feisty heroine Joan Marshall and the diabolical criminal known only as Varnall.
Naturally, Atwill is defeated, as he often was, by the film’s fadeout. Still, surprises abound in this polyglot production. The Ink Spots mesmerize in a couple of first act musical numbers…and Atwill and Lou Costello engage in some energetically physical confrontations as Bruce provides fetching vocal commentary to their erstwhile shenanigans.
Until the next time, SWEET love and pink GRUE, Big Gay Horror Fan!
