Eric Stevenson I'm going to say right off the bat that this is by no means a good movie. The worst part is probably how they utilize the going to Venus thing. Yeah, they don't go to Mars. It's true that they THINK they're going to Mars, but it's actually Venus. As you might have predicted, they use the joke about it being populated entirely by women. It's interesting how they first appear in New Orleans during Mardi Gras.They think the people wearing the costumes are aliens. I thought there were a lot of good jokes in this. I even liked the romantic bit they got in at the end. Okay, it's not as good as them meeting Frankenstein, but it's still okay for what it is. I'm impressed at how prolific they were. It's just alright. **1/2

dougdoepke One of the better later entries of the A&C series. The boys appear motivated which was not always the case as their careers wound down, (they separated in 1957). They've got two productive shticks here—the Mardi Gras and the planet Venus. Those costumed Mardi Gras characters are a real hoot and a good chance for Costello to react in his inimitable way. The clownish figures also show how close at times the comedic can be to the grotesque. And catch that parade of pulchritude inhabiting Venus. I'm getting my outer space reservations right away. Looks like Universal hired every tall, shapely starlet in Hollywood for this sequence, including notables Ekberg and Hyer. Then too, the special effects may be cheesy, as expected, but they are elaborate. But what's with the fat Jack Khruschen character, Harry. He comes across as a dopey counterpart to Costello, as though one dim-witted funnyman is not enough. I wonder what the story is there. As in most slapstick, plot doesn't mean much here, just a rack to hang the sketches on. All in all, it's an entertaining 80-minutes of A&C nonsense, with the boys in pretty good form.

mark.waltz O.K., so there are some very funny visuals in this film, but lots of sight gags do not make an excellent film. Sure, this was made for the kiddie trade, but ultimately, it is the adults who review it. First of all, from a scientific level: this does not teach the young the powers of good writing, because the boys never make it to Mars. They think they are on Mars for about half an hour because that's where the space ship was making its destination as before dumb Lou hit the button that made them crash, right in the middle of the Louisiana bayou. It just so happens that it's Mardi Gras, and everybody is weird costumes with large heads that either spin around or come detached from the rest of the body. Bud and Lou's space suits go in great with the Mardi Gras crowd, and the laughs come fast and furious. The arrival of two escaped bank robbers who disguise themselves in space suits then proceed to rob a bank results in Bud and Lou being chased and the spaceship with the two robbers aboard taking off and ending up on Venus. There, they meet man-hating queen Mari Blanchard who had all men banished centuries before because they were not faithful. Of course, her all-women army is man crazy, and even the presence of plump Lou has their hot Venus blood pumping. Lou becomes king, but the jealous queen knows he'll stray. When Lou kisses one of the women goodbye, a curse from the queen turns her back into her real age, a funny visual to watch as she becomes an old hag in gold lame' with certain body parts changing location to reflect her true age.Having been around for well over a decade in the 1950's, by this time, Abbott and Costello were still popular but adults who enjoyed their hijinks during World War II were staying away. At least with "Buck Privates" and "Hold That Ghost", they were hysterically funny if still juvenile, but they were surrounded by actors who brought an adult mentality to the proceedings. This is not only juvenile in the sense of the age group of where it strives to be mentally, but in the fact that it presents women as jealous creatures who if they can't fully get a man's attention and manipulate them to keep them from going astray, then they will have to banish them altogether. Of course, it's only one woman making this rule as the women underneath her will do anything to get a man's attention. Certainly, the costumes for the Mardis Gras sequence are very funny (as is a sequence involving a plate of limburger cheese) and the crystallized sets for Venus are attractive as well. But what about the giant dog who chases Bud into a cave where he discovers the women's army? It is there, then gone. Even the Three Stooges rip-off, "Have Rocket, Will Travel", would introduce freaky creatures in their Venus sequence and do something with them. This film pretty much is a pointless comedy for little boys of a by-gone era who might look back on this as a fond childhood memory but in retrospect, leaves one longing for something so much better.

John T. Ryan ONCE AGAIN, WE are reminded of those innocent, carefree childhood days and those seemingly innumerable days spent at the now long defunct American institution, the Saturday Matinée. This relic of those bygone "good old days" was the home to Serial Chapters, Cartoons Comedy Short Subjects and the Juvenile "B" Movie. Such was the realm of our subject today, A & C GO TO MARS.THAT THE COMEDY Team of Bud Abbott & Lou Costello had been boffo at the old Box Office had been a well known Hollywood axiom for some years. Evrer since the team stepped in front of the cameras in ONE NIGHT IN THE TROPICS (1938), they had been working in multi studio contracts which included pictures made at Universal, MGM, GOLDWYN and independents. There was even a famous Bob monologue in which he said something like: "It was a slow day in Hollywood. Abbott & Costello only made one picture!"ADDED TO THAT, the team was also kept very busy with a weekly Radio Show during the forties, which was in turn superseded by live appearances on NBC TV's COLGATE COMEDY HOUR and their own filmed half hour ABBOTT & COSTELLO Show. All the while, the twosome continued their movie output.OUR POINT IS, the team was getting worn out and even tired; tired of the grind, tired of the Hollywood scene, tired of each other. The result was by the early 1950's, Bud & Lou had done their best work.NONETHELESS, THE GUYS continued to churn out their pictures until 1956, with DANCE WITH ME HENRY. The road had been long, tiresome, but indeed, lucrative. During their partnership, they would essay roles that brought them out west, to haunted house, with the monsters, in the Army,the Navy and Air Force. They followed the same sort of path that was required itinerary for all comedy teams.THIS FEATURE THAT we are reviewing today surely could not be classified as being among their best; but it was certainly more than adequate fodder for our neighborhood theaters (such as our show, the Ogden, in Chicago on 63rd Street).THEN AGAIN, WE may be underestimating and misreading the situation. Could it be that the Hollywood Honchos who were calling the shots figured that A & C were hottest during World War II; when their fast, wise crackin' brand of humor best fit the times. Now that the '50's brought 'Peace & Prosperity', the Team would best be served with appealing to the Juvie Crowd; much in the same manner a revived 3 STOOGES would do at the decades end. (The format of their very 'Kid Friendly'1952 Half Hour Filmed TV would certainly seem to support this notion.) AND THE KIDS continued plunking down their quarters and just kept pouring in to see 'em! (That included this kid here. doing this writing!)