Now Playing - 1943

Those of us who battle cabin fever this time of year in the snowier regions of the country may relate to “Hit the Ice” (1943), which many of us are doing literally. This is Abbott & Costello’s escapade in a Sun Valley winter resort. If it was good enough for Sonja Henie, it’s good enough for our boys.

For those of you who are not currently dwelling amid snow and ice, you may relate to the fact that this move was actually released in the summertime. Unless living in the southern hemisphere, or high in the Himalayas, likely few people were dealing with snow and ice when this movie was released, and so it might have appealed as an exotic escape rather than a reminder of omnipresent and treacherous ice.

Bud Abbott and Lou Costello are hapless photographers who become involved with gangsters, one most typically played by Sheldon Leonard, the cuddliest gangster of all time. We have the pack/unpack routine in this one.

As you can see by the ad, it’s shown on a double bill with “Wings Over the Pacific.” We might escape our troubles with a carefree holiday with Abbott & Costello, whose troubles always seemed worse than ours, but we cannot escape the war.