A Yank in Libya

Although this film stars H.B. Warner, he is certainly not the central character, that role being fulfilled by Walter Woolf King, a little known actor, who portrays an American war correspondent who has unearthed a Nazi plot to foment a rebellion among the Arab tribes. In fact, Warner's part is rather minor. The story is pedestrian but the acting is good. There is not much big action, the only scenes promising it being at the end of the film, but, it doesn't come off. The chief of the attacking Arabs, making a sudden recovery from a Luger bullet at close range, prevents it. It turns out a small medallion on his chest stopped the bullet!

Neither Leonard Maltin nor Martin and Porter list this film in their filmograhies. I got it on DVD in a budget set of eight "War Classics". The plot of a Nazi conspiracy to foment a revolt of the Arab tribes in Libya is the nearest it gets to WWII. The sheik is played by Duncan Renaldo, perhaps better known as the Cisco Kid both in film and on TV. The Arab villain is portrayed by the prolific George J. Lewis with whom any fan of serials would be familiar, being a stock villain in that genre. He only appeared in about 260 films! Some comic relief is supplied by Parkyakarkas posing as an Arab selling razor blades!

It definitely fits the time period as the Axis & Allies were playing espionage games throughout most of North Africa & the rest of the world. It's not the best of films, but certainly not the worst of the budget films as described previously from the compilation War Classics.

Duncan"Cisco Kid" Renaldo was actually very good in one of his first feature films. I really enjoyed the performance of Harry Parke (credited as Parkyarkarkus). Why he never got any bigger roles is beyond me. He played the perfect buddy/partner role and saved the movie...imho.

As said, this film was part of a budget package from Superbox-Mart entitled War Classics. Eight movies for eight bucks, which included other never-heard-from-films that has some decent stars trying to pay the bills.

This script is...well, not so hot. The editing & cinematography is...worse. If you can by-pass all of that and want to see the future Cisco Kid & a great sidekick that sadly never fulfilled his true potential, definitely pick it up! Otherwise, there's other WW2 films to watch.

-Thunderossa.

You don't expect much from a PRC picture, and with rare exceptions--mainly from Edgar G. Ulmer and a few by Joseph H. Lewis or Lew Landers--that's exactly what you get: not much. This "epic" about Nazis in Africa trying to incite an Arab revolt against the British isn't much different. The script, by longtime PRC hacks Arthur St. Claire and Sherman Lowe, is trite, laughable, full of unfunny "wisecracks" and plot holes the size of Outer Mongolia. The direction, by longtime PRC no-budget specialist Al Herman, is semi-comatose at best. The performances, though--except for spectacularly incompetent and irritatingly hammy lead Walter Woolf King--aren't really half bad. Veteran comedian Parkyakarkus is actually the best thing about the film. He plays a guy from Brooklyn masquerading as a razor-blade salesman and brightens up the screen considerably when he shows up. He's got great comic timing, charm to spare and seems to be having a heck of a good time. Duncan Renaldo is fairly convincing as an Arab sheik--despite his Spanish accent--and veteran bad guy George J. Lewis as Renaldo's Arab rival does his usual fine job of villainy, even if he goes a bit over the top sometimes. Joan Woodbury is quite pretty and has a nice light touch, and she and Renaldo have great chemistry together, although--like the rest of the cast--she has none at all with King. H.B. Warner, whose career stretched back to the silent era, lends a shred of dignity to the low-rent proceedings, even though he blows his lines several times and, PRC being PRC, they weren't cut out. There's a great deal of stock footage spliced in from a big-budget silent movie with a similar Arab theme--although I have no idea which one it is--and, PRC being PRC, no effort was made to try to make it inconspicuous: I've seldom seen stock footage that was so blatantly obvious.

"A Yank in Libya" isn't very good, of course--well, OK, it stinks--but it would be worth a look just to see Parkyakarkus in his prime. I had heard of him and knew that he was the father of actor/director Albert Brooks and Super Dave Osborne, but had never actually seen him in anything before. It was worth watching this tenth-rate PRC "extravaganza" just to see him in action. Otherwise, forget it.

This gloriously silly "rah rah" America film was made right after the American entry in World War 2. Its a wild romp with a jerk for a lead but enough jokes action and mismatched stock footage to be a great deal of fun in the right frame of mind.

This is the story of Mike Malone an American reporter in Libya. He comes upon a plot of the Nazi's to arm the Arabs and fight the British. He steals a rifle and high tails it back to the nearest city. He crashes into the room of a nice "British" girl, leaves her the gun and then heads out the window, telling her to hide the gun from pursuing Arabs. Malone goes to the British consulate where he's thought balmy, doubly so after a visit to the girl turns up no gun. Malone then struggles to prove his story, while the British try to prevent the Arab uprising and keep an eye on the German in their midst.

This movie is very funny, often for the wrong reasons. Malone, played by Walter Woolf King, is the worst an American be: cocksure, boorish, a jerk and insufferable. He's horribly unlikeable and comes close to sinking the movie, but he doesn't mostly because he's so over inflated as to be a joke. He is nicely counter balanced by the rest of the cast who are damn near spot in their portrayals of what should be cardboard characters. Clearly they are going to go for it even if the buffoon in the middle isn't. I have to single out Harry Parke aka Parkyarkarkus, as a guy from Brooklyn posing as an Arab razor blade salesman. Parke is a joy to be hold as a calm cool man of action and witty remarks. Clearly he knows whats going on even when everyone else doesn't. The character of Parkyarkarkus was Parke's patented character from radio and he's basically doing the same shtick here to great effect. (A side note: Parke, real last name Einstein, is not only known for fathering Super Dave Osbourne and Albert Brooks, but also dropping dead in Milton Berle's lap during a Friar's roast of Lucille Ball).

Technically this movie is a mess. Clearly shot on stages and back lots, it also makes a great deal of stock footage, none of which matches any of the other footage in the film. It makes for a "bigger" movie but often surreal effect as in the case of a bar room brawl that suddenly is in a room three times the size it started in and involves ten times more people. Its funny for all the wrong reasons.

And I really liked this movie. There is something so loopy about it that made me like it infinitely more than I should have. Its not a great movie but some how the plot is involving and the knowing humor takes enough of the edge off the crappy parts that you really don't mind its low rent birth.

Worth a bucket of popcorn and a soda.

8 out of 10 if you're in the right frame of mind. 5 out of 10 if you're not.

This film is an example of what a low budget "B" film can be like. "A Yank In Libya" is one of those more classic B films amongst movie buffs, as well known for its title as it is for being a "poverty row" film. The film was produced and released by PRC, Producers Releasing Company. Intercut in the film are numerous scenes taken directly from other films, by doing this it was a cost saving measure. Also several scenes, such as the fight scenes were speeded up, much in the way old silent comedies were run at a faster speed.

The film has an interesting plot where Germans are supplying weapons to Arabs to murder Americans. H.B. Warner has a great supporting role playing the British diplomat. He is best knoiwn for having played Christ in the biblical silent epics. Joan Woodbury plays an attractive lead, in real life she was the wife of Henry Wilcoxon. Parkyakarkus, a radio actor of the time essentially plays himself. If you have no idea who he is, he looks, sounds and acts like Jack Oakie. Walter Woolf King essentially plays the male lead, and does a good job.