Abbott und Costello auf Safari

Understand, I like Abbott and Costello films. Their two top films (...Meet Frankenstein and The Time of Their Lives) are comedic classics. This, alas, is a minor effort, though other movie comics appear in it.

Possible spoilers in the following.

The film takes a simple story and adds some comedic routines that could be applied to any equivalent film. Costello reacting to animal 'menaces" is usually good, and he's at prime form in this film. However, even in the most comedic situations, I'd have thought that even Lou's character would have noticed all the help he was getting from the gorilla.

In the beginning of the film, the cover story is that an expedition is set up to go to Africa to hunt a legendary ape, Orang-Utan Gigantis. That translates to "great big Orang-Utan." But Orang-Utans aren't found in Africa! The chief of the cannibals mumbles some words, one of which is "ungawa," a Swahili word that means either "beat it," or "let's get moving," depending on context, but which is used as color in this one, having nothing to do with either meaning.

Amusing, but not their top form.

Hi, Everyone, I have a theory that any movie scene will get better if you put a gorilla into the mix. It works better if the gorilla is big.

There is a reason to spend the one dollar you might have to cough up for this film. There is a Crosley in the movie. Most people have never seen a Crosley. Most people do not know what a Crosley is. The Crosley was a small somewhat popular car that was built shortly after World War 2 (by a refrigerator manufacturer). If you watch this movie until the end you will see Lou getting out of a Crosley station wagon.

This is also a pleasant romp through the wild jungle with Bud and Lou and some ex champion boxers, famous wild animal tamers, one pretty girl and a couple of stooges. The scenes with Clyde Beatty and his lions are obviously real. He was an actual lion tamer. The scene with Lou in the cage with the lion looks very real even though it had to be a blue screen or matte job.

One oddity I noticed here was that Lou Costello is playing the part of Stanley Livington (no "s"). First name Stan and last initial "L." I wonder if that was a tribute to Stan Laurel? The gorilla is very well played. The gorilla suits used in many of the movies of the 1940s and 50s looked much better than the Chew Baca and other more modern gorillas.

Worth a look.

Tom Willett

Wow! The usually frumpy Costello looks positively dapper in his snazzy salesman's suit at movie's start. Superior A&C comedy with good routines, productive premise, and unusual cast. The boys get to chase around the wilds of a Hollywood sound stage pretending (not very hard) to be adventuring in darkest Africa. Of course, Lou gets to do his slow-to-catch- on routine as crocodiles, gorillas, and other assorted man-eating critters nuzzle up in humorously menacing fashion. I love it, though, when that savage-looking kitten scares the be-Jesus out of him in a downtown department store, no less.

And whose great idea was it to load up the cast with some real characters. Take the giant Baer brothers, Max and Buddy, for example. Together they look like they could tear down the Empire State building without a wreaking ball. Not exactly, your usual movie types, and when they start scuffling, you can almost feel the ground shake. Then too, what an inspiration to stick coke-bottle glasses on Shemp Howard of Three Stooges fame and turn him into a nearly blind big-game hunter! So, better hide the house pets. But I really am curious how little, fat comedian Joe Besser snuck on set when the movie already had a little, fat comedian who's a lot funnier. Add real life adventurers Clyde Beatty and Frank Buck, along with the always regal Hillary Brooke who glitters, as usual, but never gets in on the fun, and it all adds up to a lively and entertaining bunch of characters.

Perhaps best of all, A&C are still looking fresh in their roles, and if some of the routines wheeze a bit, the boys are still able to give them the needed lift, something they did not do in the last few years before the final 1956 break-up. Sure, this kind of nonsense is not everyone's cup of tea. But I defy even the sourest sour-puss not to surrender a few chuckles as the boys bumble along Africa-style.

While this isn't the best of the famous comedy duo's films (I personally think that A&C Meet Frankenstein has that honor), this is a decent comedy for fans of the pair. They manage to wring a few laughs out of a jungle theme that I personally feel was overused in films at that time. The actor who makes the film for me, however, is that wonderful "unknown" stooge, Shemp Howard, in a humorous supporting role.

I am a big fan of Abbott & Costello. Out of all their movies they only made a couple of duds. "Africa Screams" is not one of them. But it does not belong in their Top 10 either. It is fast moving and mostly funny. It has very little down time. "AS" does not have any musical numbers which is a welcome change of pace for an A&C move. It also features two of the Three Stooges (Shemp Howard and Joe Besser). As you would suspect, they're both funny in this movie. For years I was down on this movie because it was only available on crappy out-of-copyright VHS tapes. There was never any joy watching those tapes. However, my DVD of "Africa Screams" looks great and is a fun watch.