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)

This movie is pretty much a combination of Abbott and Costello meet the Invisible Man and Lost in Alaska. A sheik/professional wrestler leaves the camp of Bud and Lou to return to his native Africa. Bud and Lou, on the verge of losing $5,000, follow him to try and bring him back. They get duped into joining the French foreign legion in the area and deal with a french spy and a traitor in the legion. For a former long time pro wrestling fanatic like me, this movie makes me laugh, mostly because I used to take wrestling so seriously. The intro is great, especially Bud Abbott, who shows passion that he would only show periodically in the team's later years. The chemistry is good in the scenes in Africa until the boys join the legion when the movie stalls slightly. There is a funny bit with Costello manning a machine gun and a hilarious miscounting scene that is the best bit in the film. Some great pro wrestling nonsense and a chaotic ending finish the film. This is one of the Abbott and Costello flicks that I missed seeing in my youth. Other then the wrestling bits and some really beautiful women, Abbott and Costello and their routines carry this one.

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.

Sep 23, 2011 In this movie Bud and Lou get there first taste of being outside the U.S., it's comical to see what in these days wasn't politically correct. The are looking for a wrestler who broke his contract and left New York in Algiers for his home country. Comedy is there, but not like some other films.