Abbott and Costello in the Foreign Legion

Great addition to the Abbott and Costello film canon as Bud and Lou go after a wrestler in Algiers. Soon they are hunted by a local sheik and his men and a traitor in the foreign legion...none other than slimy(but wonderful) Walter Slezak. Charles Lamont directs the comedic duo once again, and adds some very funny gags to the proceedings. Some of the material has not dated particularly well, but most of it is still very amusing. Some of the highlights include Lou being pursued through the streets of Algiers, Lou training in the foreign legion, the boys out in the desert seeing various mirages, a trip to an oasis, and finally a wrestling performance for the sheik. Look for Tor Johnson as one of the wrestlers. For my money the funniest scene is Lou matching wits with a fish with dentures in the oasis pool. I laughed real hard. Good, clean fun!

"Abbott and Costello in the Foreign Legion" never quite manages to approach the level of "brilliant", but at least it manages to stay fairly consistently on the level of "mildly funny". The best bits include the opening sequence (kind of surprising to see a 1950 movie so openly admitting that pro-wrestling is scripted), the mirages in the desert, and the "Oui" - "We" puns (the French lady: "O-U-I means Yes". Lou: "What does I-O-U mean? No?"). And, thankfully, there are no unnecessary songs to bog down the action. I would describe the film as a pleasant time-passer, but there is one troubling aspect: too many people (Legionnaires as well as Arabs) get killed - not graphically, of course, and mostly off-screen, but still....(**1/2)

In Abbott and Costello in the Foreign Legion, Bud and Lou head to Algieria to find a wrestler named Abdullah who left them high and dry and owing a mobster quite a bit of money. Once there, the boys get mixed up with Sheik Hamud El Khalid (Douglas Dumbrille) and draw his ire at a slave auction. In their attempt to escape, Bud and Lou inadvertently sign-up for the French Foreign Legion. Things only get worse when they learn that their Sergeant is in cahoots with the Sheik. Now how are they going to get back to Brooklyn?

As a general rule, I'm a fan of A&C. Some of their movies (like Who Done It?, Hold that Ghost, and A&C Meet Frankenstein) I consider to be true classics. Unfortunately, by the time the boys made A&C in the Foreign Legion, much of their comedy had started to get tired and old. The movie has a "been there, done that" feel to a lot of it. For example, the "Oui vs. We" bit reminds me of several of A&C's more classic routines. Or take a look at the scene with the fish and the false teeth. To me, it shows how desperate the boys were. It's completely ridiculous and not in the least bit funny. A solid cast, however, almost makes this movie worthwhile. Douglas Dumbrille and Patricia Medina are a lot of fun. However, even though I think Dumbrille makes for a perfect villain, he's about as Algerian as I am (which is none).

Finally, one thing I really enjoyed about A&C in the Foreign Legion was the chance to see some classic, old-school wrestlers. Wee Willie Davis vs. Tor Johnson! How cool is that?

Two wrestling promoters from Brooklyn go to Algeria, after their main wrestler quits. They want to convince him to get back in order to avoid paying back the money. The duo gets attacked by Arabs after being mistaken to be spies, leading to them getting tricked into joining the Foreign Legion, to serve for 5 years. As they struggle with their training and Arabs still seeking to kill them, the duo need to team up with a gorgeous spy and find their wrestler, to escape. The humorous situations they create during these shenanigans forms rest of the story.

The comedy lines were pretty dated, some clicked and most didn't. What worked however is Lou Costello's physical comedy. Though the humor itself was not hilarious with Bud Abbott taking the backseat a bit more than usual, letting Lou Costello to drive the film, there were scenes especially the mirage one that delivered. Patricia Medina looked gorgeous throughout and her scenes with Lou got me to chuckle a couple of times. The ending jeep chase however was too generic and barely serviceable.

Jonesy and Lou are in Algeria looking for a wrestler they are promoting. Sergeant Axmann tricks them into joining the Foreign Legion, after which they discover Axmann's collaboration with the nasty Sheik Hamud El Khalid.

The plots of the various movies don't really matter one way or the other. What really matters are the gags. I felt like the gags in this one fell a bit short. The centerpiece is a scene concerning a mirage, which never really hit its peak. And the verbal banter that these two are best at is absent, and that is disappointing.

The movie does work as sort of a cultural artifact about what Americans (or Hollywood) thought of the Middle East in 1950. While not outright offensive in any way, some of it seems surprisingly ignorant. But then again, I could probably argue that the situation has not improved in the last 60 years.