Why Universal hired the hit-and-miss, anything-goes comedy team of the Ritz Brothers is anybody's guess. The studio already had Abbott and Costello as well as Olsen and Johnson on their roster when they picked up the Ritz team, who had been bounced from their contract with 20th Century Fox. This is their first of three mildly entertaining romps for the studio, a comedy whodunit that also featured such stellar Universal contract players as Carol Bruce and Dick Foran, for drama and romance, and Johnny Downs and Grace McDonald for tap-dancing "hep-cat" appeal. Add to that Sonny Dunham and His Orchestra, among whom hides a deranged killer, and you have a typical World War II escapism soufflé. As such, however, Behind the Eight Ball, set in the Berkshires, is generally good fun, especially if the viewer is partial to (or at least tolerant of) the zany Ritz Brothers.
by Hans J. Wollstein
review
