Abbott and Costello in the Foreign Legion (1950)

User Rating:

6.4/10   

Director:

Charles Lamont

Writers:

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

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
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Bobby Barber	...	Arab on Jeep's Hood (uncredited)
Guy Beach	...	Saleem with False Teeth (uncredited)
Candy Candido	...	Skeleton (voice) (uncredited)
Jeff Chandler	...	Narrator (voice) (uncredited)
John Cliff	...	Man (uncredited)
David Gorcey	...	Newsboy (uncredited)
Chuck Hamilton	...	Thug (uncredited)
Charmienne Harker	...	Arab Girl (uncredited)
Ted Hecht	...	Kool Haven proprietor (uncredited)
Ernesto Morelli	...	Thug (uncredited)
Alberto Morin	...	Lieutenant (uncredited)
Buddy Roosevelt	...	Orderly (uncredited)
Dan Seymour	...	Josef (uncredited)
Mahmud Shaikhaly	...	Referee (uncredited)
Jack Shutta	...	Thug (uncredited)
Harry Wilson	...	Thug (uncredited)

Directed by
Charles Lamont

Writing credits
D.D. Beauchamp		(story)
John Grant		(writer) &
Martin Ragaway		(writer) &
Leonard Stern		(writer)

Produced by
Robert Arthur	....	producer

Cinematography by
George Robinson

Film Editing by
Frank Gross

Art Direction by
Bernard Herzbrun
Eric Orbom

Set Decoration by
Russell A. Gausman
Ray Jeffers

Makeup Department
Joan St. Oegger	....	hair stylist
Bud Westmore	....	makeup artist

Production Management
Edward Dodds	....	production manager (uncredited)

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Milton Carter	....	assistant director

Sound Department
Leslie I. Carey	....	sound
Robert Pritchard	....	sound

Special Effects by
David S. Horsley	....	special photographic effects
Carl Lee	....	special effects (uncredited)

Camera and Electrical Department
Charles Cowie	....	grip (uncredited)
Eddie Jones	....	still photographer (uncredited)
Irving Smith	....	gaffer (uncredited)
Lloyd Ward	....	camera operator (uncredited)

Music Department
Joseph Gershenson	....	musical director
Daniele Amfitheatrof	....	composer: stock music (uncredited)
Elizabeth Firestone	....	composer: stock music (uncredited)
Johnny Green	....	composer: stock music (uncredited)
Hans J. Salter	....	composer: stock music (uncredited)
Paul Sawtell	....	composer: stock music (uncredited)
Walter Scharf	....	composer: stock music (uncredited)
Walter Schumann	....	composer: stock music (uncredited)
Frank Skinner	....	composer: stock music (uncredited)
Edward Ward	....	composer: stock music (uncredited)

Other crew
Mahmud Shaikhaly	....	technical advisor
Betty A. Griffin	....	script supervisor (uncredited)

Production Companies

• Universal International Pictures (UI)

Distributors

• Universal Pictures (1950) (USA) (theatrical)
• MCA/Universal Home Video (1994) (USA) (VHS)
• Universal Home Entertainment (1998) (USA) (DVD)
• Universal Home Entertainment (2004) (USA) (DVD)
• Doperfilme (Portugal)
• Image Entertainment (USA) (DVD)

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)

Covered the ground before

Bud and Lou had previously visited the North African desert in Lost in a Harem, one of the loan out films they did for MGM in the middle 40s. I guess their home studio Universal wanted to get in the action also, so they got a second engagement in the Sahara.

The boys are wrestling managers in search of their wrestler Abdullah who's taken a powder and left them holding the bag to the tune of $5000.00 to the syndicate back in Brooklyn. Of course, true to form they get themselves involved in some of the local power struggles and find themselves enlisting in the Foreign Legion.

Helping them along are such performers as Walter Slezak as the Foreign Legion sergeant, Douglass Dumbrille as the villainous sheik and the lovely Patricia Medina as the spy from French Intelligence.

Douglass Dumbrille was in fact their nemesis in Lost in a Harem. Dumbrille, who could be a real villain as well as a comic one, got caught up in their comedy much more in Lost in a Harem. Here, he's just a bad guy.

Sharp-eared fans might recognize the voice of Universal Pictures stalwart Jeff Chandler as the narrator in the beginning.

The film also borrows from the Road to Morocco quite liberally. In fact it's ground that's been covered before.

I guess the creative minds at Universal were getting a bit stalled.