Invaderbank The film creates a perfect balance between action and depth of basic needs, in the midst of an infertile atmosphere.

ChampDavSlim The acting is good, and the firecracker script has some excellent ideas.

Lidia Draper Great example of an old-fashioned, pure-at-heart escapist event movie that doesn't pretend to be anything that it's not and has boat loads of fun being its own ludicrous self.

Lachlan Coulson This is a gorgeous movie made by a gorgeous spirit.

JohnHowardReid For over twenty-five years, California's number two (and sometimes top) commercial network used to broadcast Abbott & Costello movies on weekend afternoons. Just about all their films received a good work-out, right through from their first One Night in the Tropics (1940) to their second-last Abbott & Costello Meet the Mummy (1955). Even their last, Dance With Me, Henry (1956), occasionally saw the light.But would you believe there were a few A&C titles that were never dusted off at all? The Noose Hangs High (1948), Africa Screams (1949), Jack and the Beanstalk (1952), Abbott & Costello Meet Captain Kidd (1952). These of course are not Universal (or MGM) titles. But what about The Time of Their Lives? That's Universal. And it was never televised on weekend afternoons. In fact it was last aired way back in 1965, before the big A&C revival had even started. Their best film too. Their funniest, their most inventive, the wildest, most ingenious, craziest, cleverest film they ever made.Maybe because The Time of Their Lives is so brilliantly conceived and executed - with flawless production values and superlative special effects joined to an exceptionally witty, sharp-edged, New Yorker-sophisticated type of story - the television network simply didn't want to know. Maybe it's the fact that both comedians give the best performances of their careers - but not as a team. In individual character roles. They don't indulge in their usual verbal humor. In fact they don't even speak to each other, except briefly right at the beginning. Costello's straight man in this one is not a man at all, but the very attractive Marjorie Reynolds who makes a superb partner. And there's also wonderful support work by Binnie Barnes and Gale Sondergaard.Technically, The Time of Their Lives rates as simply marvelous (in both senses of that ill-used word). So much of the humor derives from breathtaking special effects work, I can't understand why this movie isn't the number one favorite of A&C vehicles today. After all, today's movie-lovers are just crazy about special effects. And the effects here represent cinema magic at its best.OTHER VIEWS: Of all the Abbott and Costello comedies, The Time of Their Lives is the most interesting. It employs a sustained plot and the humor is derived from characterizations and situations, rather than "stock routines"... Lou, as a misplaced ghost, gives the performance of his career. Bud, playing a neurotic psychiatrist, also gives his best performance and showed he was capable of being a fine character actor...Director Charles Barton created a marvelously atmospheric film. Jim Mulholland in his absolutely essential "Abbott and Costello Book" (Popular Library, New York, 1975).

AaronCapenBanner Abbott & Costello once again work separately, but with more successful results. Bud plays both Cuthbert & his descendant Dr. Ralph Greenway, who during the Revolutionary War betrays Tinker Horatio Prim(played by Lou) who has in his possession a letter of recommendation from General George Washington. Marjorie Reynolds plays Melody Allen, who learns that someone on the estate they share is a traitor. Unfortunately, due to a tragic misunderstanding, both she and Horatio are killed by their own side, and cursed into becoming ghosts who will be Earthbound to their estate until they find evidence to prove their innocence, which finally arrives in 1946, when new people move in, causing the ghostly duo to go into action once more. Imaginative and funny film with good F/X and performances. One could quibble about story morality and logic, but it all works out quite well in the end.

dougdoepke Costello as an inept ghost from revolutionary times and Abbott as a psychiatrist, of all things. This is likely the most unusual of the A&C comedies. Actually, the results are more like a Reynolds and Costello comedy than the usual A&C pairing. Instead, Abbott's more like one of the cast rather than a headliner, while the two have few scenes together. I gather the pair were feuding at the time, which may have something to do with the departure from the usual.Still, the movie's both funny and inventive. Reynolds and Costello are two wandering spirits from George Washington's time condemned to haunt an estate until they can clear themselves of bogus charges of treason. Needless to say, Costello makes a laughably inept ghost—he just can't seem to get that disappearance wiggle down right. Nonetheless, he and Reynolds play off one another nicely with her getting the "straight man" role in fetching fashion.There's a number of inside jokes with references to Rebecca (1940) and Bogart & Bacall (just whistle if you want me). And in a casting master stroke, there's the icy Gale Sondergaard (Emily) on hand to give everyone the shivers. I really like the last sequence with its touch of humorous irony that's fitting for the supernatural hijinks that've gone before.This is definitely not formula A&C, but may be their most inventive and among their loony best.

richardlfluke1128 This is such a sweet little movie. It has beautiful music by Boccherini. It also has a beautiful tune called "Drink to Me Only With Thine Eyes." There is love in it. Yes, it has a seance. This is something the Bible talks about negatively, but I think that if you can realize that this is just a movie and that those things are forbidden by God, this is all right. All in all, it is a very purposeful movie in that though there is sadness, it is met with happiness in that there is a resolution. We need to watch movies like this and to love one another, for we don't know when we will be gone. I am a Christian, and I think this movie is good for Christians, though, as I said, just taking into account the seance part and realizing that that is forbidden by God is what is needed; I guess this is a somewhat liberal view, whereas some may say not to watch the movie because of this; God knows the difference though, and He is love. I delight in sweet movies such as this, absolutely clean and pleasant. Thank you for letting me comment. Enjoy the good movie!! and in your heart thank the players for exuding such joyous sweetness!!