Abbott. Costello. Laughton. Three stars boasting one Oscar between them deliver the yo-ho-ho-ho-ing of this merry musical-comedy tale of pirates and buried treasure. Casting an acclaimed actor renowned for gravitas in a knockabout romp may seem unusual. Yet Academy Award-winner Charles Laughton, who portrayed menacing Captain Bligh in Mutiny on the Bounty and the title role in the swashbuckling adventure Captain Kidd, sails into this sea of silliness with great glee. Instigators of most of that silliness are, of course, the legendary Bud and Lou, turning the voyage under the Jolly Roger into a jollier one with their comic timing, verbal jousts and madcap mayhem. Arrrrrr you ready?

Abbott and Costello tangle with the infamous pirate over a treasure map that they received in error.