Africa Screams (1949)

AFRICA SCREAMS Abbott & Costello on the Silliest Safari Ever! America’s favorite dim-witted duo hits the jungle trail in this journey into hilarity from director Charles Barton, whose nine films with Bud and Lou include the classic Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein. Bookseller Buzz Johnson (Bud Abbott) persuades the lovely but villainous Diana Emerson (Hillary Brooke) that Stanley Livington (Lou Costello), who’s even afraid of a housecat, is a wild game hunter. Diana claims she wants to capture a rare orangutan, but she’s really searching for diamonds, and she doesn’t mind subjecting the boys to lions, hungry cannibals, and even a giant ape to get them. Featuring real-life animal experts Clyde Beatty and Frank "Bring ‘Em Back Alive" Buck as themselves, plus two of the immortal Three Stooges (Shemp Howard and Joe Besser), this is the silliest safari ever! NASSOUR STUDIOS PRESENTS A HUNTINGTON HARTFORD PRODUCTION Directed by CHARLES BARTON Produced by EDWARD NASSOUR Original Story and Screenplay by EARL BALDWIN Cast BUD ABBOTT & LOU COSTELLO CLYDE BEATTY * FRANK BUCK * MAX BAER * BUDDY BAER HILLARY BROOKE * SHEMP HOWARD * JOE BESSER Approximately 79 minutes Black & White

Foreign Adventure

The film starts with a comic scene in a bookstore. Two men offer $1,000 for a map in the book "Dark Safari". A woman offers $2,500 for the same map. Stanley Livington remembers that detail very well (too good to be true?). [The story and its subject are certainly dated.] Clyde Beatty plays himself. Shemp Howard plays another near-sighted character (like his role in a "Blondie" movie). There are plenty of gags to amuse the viewers. Buzz overhears Diana talking about the real purpose of the expedition - its not for a giant orangutan. Frank Buck plays himself. There are comic situations, most are still funny. There is a very comic scene with a lion skin and a real lion. Clyde Beatty does his lion taming act.

After this the boys find diamonds just laying on the ground. They follow the trail to where it leads. The natives have them over for dinner. A secret friend unties them. There is more intrigue and comic chases. More fun results from a failure to communicate. The natives are appalled by a giant gorilla, and flee. Buzz takes off down the river on a raft. What will happen to poor Stanley now?

Back in Manhattan Stanley is living large in a big building with his name on it. Then we see his partner and the cause of his wealth. [Is there a moral here?] This film is not as funny as earlier films.
July 16, 2007

The Image Entertainment/Hal Roach DVD is the BEST version of this title!

Many cheapie companies offer this title at a lower price. Pass up those horrible copies and buy this excellent IMAGE ENTERTAINMENT / HAL ROACH STUDIOS DVD mastered from the original 35mm NITRATE NEGATIVE!

This is the same excellent master film used by Image for their Laserdisc release. The only thing missing here is the Bloopers & Out-takes that were on the Laserdisc.

This movie is the best of the five independent films that Abbott & Costello made in my opinion. And it stands up better than most of their 1950's Universal films. Where else will you see Bud & Lou teamed up with some of the THREE STOOGES? Shemp Howerd and Joe Besser join Abbott & Costello's safari to add to the laughs!
Besser would later join Bud & Lou for their 1950's TV show as "Stinky" before becoming a Stooge! September 6, 2006

5 stars in hopes for non PUBLIC DOMAIN or best qulity dvd ever released

if this is a bad print then why they release it again every one knows that all the other releases are bad prints so then they would know they wouldnt make much money which is why I think this print will be the best quality dvd of africa Scraems ever released. They should also release jack and the beanstalk to but with a good quality print.if this dvd good enough its a Low chance but it may push the other compinies to put out the abbott and costello films that are not avaivble on Dvd yet. May 10, 2006

Truly Brilliant

It's hard to know if the director makes the Abbott and Costello films work, or the timing of Bud and Lou.
If you can see the Shows Bud and Lou did on the COLGATE Comedy Hour, its clear that Lou is a brilliant Improvisor, so whilst he did seem to forget his lines on the Colgate Comedy show, he created a quick stock of lines to get back on beat. Very few teams did this kind of solid work.
As a side note, CALL ME BWANA seems to have some similarities to AFRICA SCREAMS, or is it the other way around? :-)

Anyways, sketch style of humour is held together by a totally fun story, and some great actors, comic and regular. Shemp Howard does indeed do a great job in this film, and even the actor who replaced Shemp post 1955, makes a good job of his brief appearance ( his voice seems to be the basis for much animation in the 60s as well).
Like most of the Abbott and Costello stock, this film depends on their style, and the story works around them ( I guess), but Lou is, as usual, the centre of attention, but depends on Bud's straight man delivery for the scenes to work. And work they do.

Immaculately timed, and well delivered, this is one of many excellent films by a great team.

ENJOY May 5, 2005

One act that doen't stand test of time

I rented this mainly for my 5- and 3-year olds, who were predictably amused, though they volunteered that Abbott & Costello aren't as good as the Marx Brothers. That's putting it mildly.

I also wanted to see if they were as entertaining as I remembered them from my childhood: They aren't. I can only suppose they were an innovative act in their heyday in the '40s, when they were the biggest grossing movie comedians, but -- what can I say? -- they fail the proverbial test of time. They were fated to Trotsky's ash heap of history -- or, in this case, comedic history -- along with Eddie Cantor, Ma & Pa Kettle, Martin & Lewis, and, hopefully before long, Adam Sandler.

There's a saving grace or two, though, in this movie: One of the Three Stooges, Shemp Howard, has the best bit as a Mr. Magoo-like big game hunter, while a future Stooge, Joe Besser, who, eerily, would one day replace the deceased Howard, does his usual turn as a ludicrous sissy. If only this Abbott & Costello feature had a tenth of the classic qualities of those Three Stooges shorts that contemporaneously got so little respect! February 27, 2002

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