Abbott and Costello in the Foreign Legion (1950)

User Rating:

6.4/10   

Director:

Charles Lamont

Writers:

D.D. Beauchamp (story)
John Grant (writer) ...

Release Date:

19 February 1950 (USA)

Genre:

Adventure | Comedy

Tagline:

THEIR FIRST IN A YEAR...THEIR FUNNIEST BY FAR! (original print ad - all caps)

Plot:

Jonesy and Lou are in Algeria looking for a wrestler they are promoting. Sergeant Axmann tricks them into joining the Foreign Legion...

Plot Keywords:

Mirage | Foreign Legion | Wrestler | Algeria | Sheik

Cast

Bud Abbott	...	Bud Jones
Lou Costello	...	Lou Hotchkiss
Patricia Medina	...	Nicole Dupre
Walter Slezak	...	Sgt. Axmann
Douglass Dumbrille	...	Sheik Hamud El Khalid
Leon Belasco	...	Hassam
Marc Lawrence	...	Frankie the Loan Shark
William 'Wee Willie' Davis	...	Abdullah (as Wee Willie Davis)
Tor Johnson	...	Abou Ben
Sammy Menacker	...	'Bert' Bertram (as Sam Mancker)
Jack Raymond	...	Ali Ami
Fred Nurney	...	Commandant
Paul Fierro	...	Ibn
Henry Corden	...	Ibrim

Also Known As:

Foreign Legion (USA) (short title)

Runtime:

80 min | Argentina:85 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Recording)

Certification:

Australia:G | Argentina:Atp | Finland:S | USA:Approved (PCA #14654) | Sweden:15

Company:

Universal International Pictures (UI)

Quotes:

Bud Jones: What's the idea of teaching midgets to wrestle?
Lou Hotchkiss: They're for those small television sets.

Movie Connections:

Featured in The World of Abbott and Costello (1965)

A glowing tribute and satire of professional wrestling

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.