July 31, 2025 • 39 mins
Join Jimbo and Bond as they review the classic comedy movie Africa Screams starring Bud Abbott and Lou Costello.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:03):
The Tragedy of Cinema podcast is intended as a family
friendly program that by extension, strives to be inclusive to
all people, regardless of their ethnicity, gender, creed, or any
other identifying factors in this incredibly diverse world of ours.
With that said, some of the films we discuss may
contain serious subject matters or have content considered morally objectional
by today's standards. We do not intend to condone or
(00:26):
dismiss these aspects of these films, but our primary focus,
beyond what we believe are the film succeeds at some
fun facts and our personal enjoyment factors of each film.
With that said, we help you enjoy the show.
Speaker 2 (00:51):
On light, shingle job say Sight eighty three, Lights in
the realm, flucking light movies and TV sou through the
stories we on you stop screensalls on souls is magic,
(01:11):
stay they.
Speaker 3 (01:14):
See them, very shimmer joy that.
Speaker 4 (01:18):
We tell stud that tells me have some.
Speaker 5 (01:26):
This is the place I don't forget.
Speaker 6 (01:27):
You think sure a big game hunter, because why do
you keep getting me in the middle.
Speaker 5 (01:30):
I wish you hadn't.
Speaker 3 (01:31):
Why are you in great here?
Speaker 2 (01:33):
I'm giving you a chance to make me twenty five
hundred dollars.
Speaker 6 (01:36):
Is that the way you want to repay me for
all the things I could have done for you?
Speaker 4 (01:43):
All you're do is stop.
Speaker 3 (01:45):
At me, snap at you? Wat that a laugh?
Speaker 1 (01:50):
Me?
Speaker 6 (01:50):
Snap at him?
Speaker 3 (01:51):
Now I know what they mean with the same boy
you in hot Water.
Speaker 1 (01:55):
Never Thomas of anything like this though.
Speaker 5 (02:29):
All right, guys, welcome back to the Tragedy of Cinema podcast.
I'm your host Jimbo, and I.
Speaker 6 (02:34):
Am your co host Bond.
Speaker 5 (02:35):
Bond is back Bond. Today we are going to be
talking about a movie which you had never saw before.
It has been one of my childhood favorites for a
long long time. But before we start, I got a question.
Where are you going to place Bud Abbott and lu
Costello in the realm of dynamic duos?
Speaker 6 (02:57):
Dynamic comedy?
Speaker 5 (02:58):
Yeah, well, dynamic duos know Oh man, I mean you
know Batman and Robin I mean did you laugh at
this movie? Bond?
Speaker 6 (03:08):
Oh? I laughed through the whole movie. It was so cheesy,
so silly. But man, everybody was having a great time
making this movie. They got to be in the top
ten when it comes to comedy duos, comedy teams.
Speaker 5 (03:22):
I'd probably put I'd probably put Steve Martin and Martin
Short up there because I just think they're really good together. Also,
Gene Wilder and Richard Pryor A definitely gonna have to
have a probably a top three spot for me up there,
you go. Yeah, Also probably John Candy and dan Aykroyd.
Speaker 6 (03:43):
Yeah, Lucy.
Speaker 5 (03:44):
And there's just so many. But but there's just something
about if you like the Three Stooges, how can you
go wrong with Abn and Costello. And like I was
telling Bond, this is something that most people probably remember
Abing and Costello from Abing Costello meet Frankenstein where they
meet all the Universal Monsters, which if you haven't seen that,
that is a really really funny one too. But for me,
(04:07):
this was the one when I think of abbed In Costell.
You know, you always have the skit of who's on first,
wat's on second? You know that that probably put them
on the map. But this movie right here, I think
deserves its place in movie history because it is just
that funny.
Speaker 6 (04:21):
But bon I, I have to admit I was aware
of like all of the classic universal monster you know,
Abbot Costello meet the Werewolf, Abbot Costello meet Frankenstein. Those
are really my only exposure, with the exception of, like
you're saying, the who's on first stand up kind of
thing where they're riffing off each other. This is the
first time I've ever seen this one, man, nineteen forty nine.
Speaker 5 (04:41):
It was great. All right, bon Well, I think we've
wasted enough of the people's time. Let's go and take
it away.
Speaker 6 (04:47):
All right, man, we're gonna be reviewing today. We're gonna
be reviewing Africa Screams. It's a nineteen forty nine American
adventure comedy film. As we said, it stars abbot In
Costello and this was actually the titles of play on
a nineteen thirty documentary called Africa Speaks, so that's kind
(05:08):
of where they got the title for this one. This
movie was directed by Charles Barton, and he did a
lot of the abb In Costello movies. He also did
like a Shaggy Dog movie for Disney, I think at
the time, and he also did a lot of television
shows Dennis the Menaz Family Affair, those kind of shows,
(05:28):
so he was a big director at the time. This
thing's written by Earl Baldwin, screenplay by Martin Ragaway, and
Leonard Stern, produced by Huntington Hartford and Edward Nasser. As
we said Africa Screams nineteen forty nine, this movie was
made for. The budget on this one was five hundred
(05:48):
thousand dollars in nineteen forty nine, so that translates to
about six point seven million today. So they definitely did
not spend on alligators. They did definitely did not spend
their their money on alligators in this one. Man, they
save their money on that one. What was a box
(06:10):
office hit? Oh yeah, it was a box office hit.
It actually did one point five million at the box office,
which translates to about twenty million today, so it tripled
its money of course, you know, so that's really good,
really successful stuff. Man, Let's go over the cast. Let
me tell you who's in this one. Of course, this
movie stars Bud Abbot and Luke Costello. We know them
(06:33):
as the comedy duo Bud Abbot and Luke Costello. Uh.
They actually got their start in burlesque. So if you
think old vaudeville, old burlesque shows. But Abbot was actually
introduced to burless through his dad. His dad worked at
a burlesque and met his mom at a Burlesque theater,
and that's kind of where he got his start. He
(06:54):
would work over there when he was just a kid.
He met Luke Costello, who was also working the or
Less Circuit as a comedian. What happened was his original
lu Costello's original straight man got sick one night, and
so they needed to stand in, and so they got
Bud Abbott to stand in for Luke Costello's straight man
(07:18):
and ever since then they've been working together. They were
a big hit. And like we said, they're in movies
of course, like Bud like Abbot, Costello meet the wolf Man,
they meet the Frankenstein. Those kind of things we also
see in this movie. Clyde Batty. Clyde Beatty is a
real life lion trainer, so that's what he used to do,
(07:39):
Clyde beat but.
Speaker 5 (07:40):
All Stanley Livingston, he taught him how to go that
ned baby out shut him.
Speaker 6 (07:47):
He doesn't know how, he doesn't know how to train,
he doesn't know how to catch a lion, and so yeah,
of course, man, oh that's a good point. Stan Livingston, right,
what a great name. Actually pulls this name from two
historical British explorers, right, Henry Morgan Morton Stanley and David Livingstone.
(08:08):
So that's how they got his name.
Speaker 5 (08:09):
David Livingston. I presume doctor.
Speaker 6 (08:12):
Livingstone, I presume exactly man. This movie also has Frank
Buck in it. Frank Buck also plays himself. He is
a real live hunter, famous big game hunter. He's from Texas.
I just thought i'd point that out as a Texas boy,
so he's a real life hunter. We also have Max
(08:32):
Bear and his brother Buddy Bear.
Speaker 5 (08:37):
Hey, Buddy Bear.
Speaker 6 (08:39):
They are both professional boxers and.
Speaker 5 (08:41):
They both took on Joe Lewis. If I remember reading
that right.
Speaker 6 (08:44):
Max s Bear. That was one of his last fights
was against Joe Lewis. His boxing record was sixty eight
and thirteen as a heavyweight fighter, sixty eight and thirteen
with fifty one knockouts.
Speaker 5 (08:57):
Joe Lewis or the Bear Max Bear. Wow?
Speaker 6 (09:01):
Did you? His brother brother Buddy Bear, was also in
the movie Snow White and the Three Stooges.
Speaker 5 (09:08):
Oh that's a great movie too.
Speaker 6 (09:11):
His heavyweight boxing record was fifty nine and seven with
fifty three knockouts. He was also in the movie Jack
and the Beanstalk, where he played the giant.
Speaker 5 (09:23):
YEP.
Speaker 6 (09:24):
Some other people you might have recognized for this movie
is Shemp Poward. You gotta love Shemp Howard.
Speaker 5 (09:30):
I didn't want to spoil that for you because you
had never seen it before. I wondered who he's gonna
pick it up.
Speaker 6 (09:37):
That was her favorite part. When Ship Howard comes out
and he's got those bottle bottom glasses.
Speaker 5 (09:43):
He says, leave the door open. Gunners coming over.
Speaker 6 (09:47):
Oh man. When Edner comes in and they're like, show
them how you're gonna defend him against the lion, and
he picks up the he like falls over the pool table,
pull all the pool cues and then he goes in
a grab the gun the wrong way. Oh man, we
know Shimp Howard. Shimp Howard, of course, is one of
the Three Stooges. He is actually the brother of Moe
(10:10):
Howard and Curly Howard. So it's Moe, Curly and Shimp
are the brothers. And of course Larry was just their
friend and so he came in. He was actually a
he was actually a three Stooges before Curly came in.
Speaker 5 (10:27):
He was an original member.
Speaker 6 (10:29):
He was an original three students.
Speaker 5 (10:30):
Are you do you like the Three Stooges?
Speaker 6 (10:32):
I love the three?
Speaker 5 (10:33):
Did I have every single one? I have every single
one of them. Dude, I love them all.
Speaker 6 (10:38):
They're classic, man, I mean they I mean, it's hard
to say after ninety years they hold up. But they're hilarious.
I mean to me, there's two kinds of men that right,
there's those that like the Three Stooges and not real men.
Speaker 5 (10:54):
Well, I say there was three of them. There was
probably the ones that can still do the curly shuffle,
the curly shovel. We've got to cover some three Stooges movies. Also,
what we've got to cover some three Stooges movies.
Speaker 6 (11:09):
We gotta do a three Stooges movie.
Speaker 5 (11:11):
Man, I'll bring I'll bring our toast in our toasting
for that one. That'll be a great one.
Speaker 6 (11:16):
That would be a great one for him to come in.
I'd love that, oh man. And then we get to
see another Stooge come in later, ye right. Joe Besser.
Joe Besser played Harry. He's like the servant the oh
my tents on fire, grabbing He's grabbing the cup of
(11:38):
water and he's like interrupting them every single time. He
just cuts it between them, cuts in between them, cuts
it between them. Finally they have to say something, They're like,
what are you doing? Some fine?
Speaker 5 (11:49):
But you know what, I will say, this not my
favorite Three Stooge. He's probably the one I do not
like the most.
Speaker 6 (11:56):
I think that's true with everybody. I don't think anybody's
favorite stooge Joe. But he did come in. He did
like the last like four or five episodes of The
Three Stooges. He really filled in at the end. He
also had a role in Batman, the nineteen sixty six Batman,
so he came out in that. He was in lots
(12:16):
of different movies, lots of different TV shows. He's the
voice of Baboo from Scooby Doo and the Laugh Olympics.
He's like a big genie.
Speaker 5 (12:27):
Wow, I'm pulling out the old trivia here.
Speaker 6 (12:31):
Yeah, he's great man. We have a couple more people
on our in our staff or on our cast. We
have Hillary Brooke as Diana Emerson. She was the rich,
rich lady that tried That was after the diamonds. Now
here's something really cool about Diana Emerson are as Hillary Brook.
Hillary Brook refused to play a dumb blonde in any
(12:56):
movie she was in, and she was in hundreds of
movies When I was doing the research for this thing,
she had a long list of movies that she had
done over the years, and one of the things that
she had was she refused to play the dumb blonde.
Speaker 5 (13:08):
Huh.
Speaker 6 (13:10):
Yeah. She was in movies like Road to Utopia, Invader
from Mars, and The Man Who Knew too Much. Those
are some of the bigger ones that maybe you recognize.
Another cast member that I must mention is Charles Gomorra.
Charles Gemorra played.
Speaker 5 (13:28):
The ape fantastic.
Speaker 6 (13:31):
Oh my gosh, it was so funny. The ape is
so funny.
Speaker 5 (13:34):
Why is it always get funnier when there's an ape involved?
Have you ever noticed this hit?
Speaker 6 (13:40):
This gorilla? He's actually famous for playing a gorilla. If
you saw a movie in the forties with the gorilla
in it, it was Charles Goemorra.
Speaker 5 (13:49):
Really he is said, I'm not popular. Huh.
Speaker 6 (13:51):
All the the Little Rascals, Oh yeah, had a few
episodes with the gorilla. That's him. He was also in
the movie Murdering the root Ward.
Speaker 5 (14:00):
Great movie Poee.
Speaker 6 (14:03):
He was in the h He was in the comedy
Rode to Zanzibar as an ape, and he was also
in the uh Marx Brothers movie at the Circus, huh
as an ape. He played an eight and every he
wore that costume for a living.
Speaker 5 (14:18):
You know, I wonder if he got a role in
Planet of the Apes.
Speaker 6 (14:22):
That probably cut him out.
Speaker 7 (14:23):
Yeah, pymore the qualifications, right, Yeah, so that's the cast,
that's guess there are.
Speaker 6 (14:32):
I couldn't find any awards for this movie, so I
don't think this is an award winning movie.
Speaker 5 (14:38):
But oh it deserves one. Though it deserves one.
Speaker 6 (14:42):
Deserves he thinks it deserves one. I think it deserves
one just for having the best cameos. Oh yeah, definitely, because,
like I said, Shep Howard when he comes out of Gunner,
he steals every scene and he bid it like twice.
Speaker 5 (14:55):
At the end, when he's like Gunner, take him back
to the camp, he's he puts the who is it
a costello, puts the stick on the gun and points
him away and you see the next thing you see,
he's got the chimpanzee. The chimpanzee's walking with his hands up.
Speaker 6 (15:14):
Yeah, that's so hilarious. All right. So I'm not gonna
go too deep into the plot because the plot's not
very deep. But Diana Emerson, she visits a bookstore and
she's looking for a book called Dark Safari because she's
looking for a map, right, and she's gonna tell she
tells Buzz Johnson. Buzz Johnson, of course is Costello, that
she's gonna pay twenty five hundred dollars for a map
(15:36):
that's inside this book. And of course Stanley Livingston he's
got the map memorized, or so they think.
Speaker 5 (15:43):
What he goes to draw it?
Speaker 6 (15:45):
Yeah, he's like, I could draw that map. I can't
remember that, but like, like the like the trailer has
of my favorite lines in it, that's are you gonna
blow this chance? To make me twenty five hundred dollars?
I love that one? But it's so classic. But so anyway,
(16:05):
they end up going to Africa. The whole thing's just
so far. They think they're looking for the giant ape, right,
they look for a giant ape, but in reality they're
looking for diamonds.
Speaker 5 (16:18):
The orangutang gargantua I think is the name.
Speaker 6 (16:21):
Yeah, the orangutang gargantua who makes an appearance in the movie.
Speaker 5 (16:27):
Right, But also did you know that his mouth doesn't
move in that but you do hear roars and that
is actual audio footage from the original King Kong from
nineteen thirty three.
Speaker 6 (16:40):
Nice. Yeah, so they used original I like that. That's cool.
So they think they're there for to see the giant ape,
but really it's diamonds. And of course they get kidnapped
by Africans and they're gonna get on the menu at
one time. The cannibal. I like, what do you think
(17:01):
about those cannibals.
Speaker 5 (17:03):
I like how they show the what they're cooking them in,
and one of them is just the slender barrel and
the other one the big pot. Yeah.
Speaker 6 (17:13):
Yeah, the cooking devices match their body to right.
Speaker 5 (17:18):
If you haven't seen this movie, it's just so funny.
If you like slapstick Colledy, I mean I would put
these guys. You know, probably the other greatest duo of
old time is probably Lauren Hardy. I would say, I
think these guys beat them out. I do too, but
I mean, there's they're both funny in their own right.
But there's just something about this movie. Man. It's just
(17:41):
you know'll have you in stitch, just like when he
gets in the uh where Abbot or Buzz is gonna
put on the lion costume and uh Yes, Stanley is like, I, hey,
I can We'll we'll Diana, we'll uh, we'll have a she,
We'll have her come in here and she'll think I'm
the heat. And you just go in there and I'll
do some tricks or whatever. And he gets in there
(18:03):
and he gets stuck. He's in there with the real lion.
Speaker 3 (18:07):
Its just.
Speaker 5 (18:09):
It's just funny.
Speaker 6 (18:10):
Yeah, he wants to prove his bravery. He wants to
prove that, you know, and so you know, Costello's like, uh,
I'll just get in there. It's hilarious, man, the whole see,
and the costumes are so bad, nothing like a real lion.
Speaker 5 (18:28):
Right, And so it's even funnier is after that, once
he discovers that it's a real lion in there, Buzz
is outside sitting on a log and moping round. Oh
he was such a great guy. I don't know why
I never told him. Comes into next movie and he
starts crying too, like yeah he was.
Speaker 6 (18:45):
Yeah, he starts crying over the death of himself. Like
you said. By this time, I think these two guys,
these two comedians, they're like a well oiled machine. I'm
pretty sure the director just said action and then just
lit him run, just let him have fun.
Speaker 5 (19:01):
I wonder if there's any like bloopers out of this thing,
because you know, there had to be some.
Speaker 6 (19:09):
Oh, especially the scene, especially the scene when when Luke
Costello when Stanley is in the water and he's like,
you want to see an impression a seal like that?
He like spits up water, right, I see that whole scene.
Speaker 5 (19:27):
How about an alligator and allator?
Speaker 6 (19:30):
Yeah, I guarantee you. It's like, I don't care what
animals you do in the water, just get to the alligator.
And they just said action let him go.
Speaker 5 (19:39):
How but how would you keep from laughing if you're
his co host?
Speaker 3 (19:43):
Man?
Speaker 5 (19:44):
The scene where he gets the water faucets stuck on
his finger or the spickett stuff on his finger.
Speaker 6 (19:50):
Oh, he gets his figures, Yeah, and it turns on.
He turns off and the water comes out.
Speaker 5 (19:55):
And he goes and answers the door. That's what Joe
Bessler answers the door and he shakes his say it
takes his head. I don't want to it's up on
his finger. I mean he's like, not that, not that
that one.
Speaker 6 (20:07):
Oh man, it's so funny this movie. Yeah, I have
to say, if you have not seen this movie. You
need you need to hunt it down. It's not that
hard to find. Man. You need to take the time
to watch it, because this movie's hilarious, you know, and
and and.
Speaker 5 (20:23):
You know, some people say I don't like that kind
of comedy. This is well worth a watch because I've
been watching it since I was probably five seven years old,
and I can put it on now and I will
still laugh. There's a scene at the end it gets
me every time, when Costello's running away from the cannibals
(20:44):
are chasing him down and he runs between the legs
of the O Ringu thing, Gargantua one and all the
other you know, cannibals. Everybody stop and they turn white
and they run the other way. And so Costilla's like, ah,
and he walks out, and he turns around and his
eyebrows go cartoon is.
Speaker 6 (21:04):
The cartoon his eyebrows and like liquor fast up and down.
Speaker 5 (21:08):
It's so funny.
Speaker 6 (21:12):
Of course, I love the scene where they're all eating
dinner together at camp and and only Stanley can see
the the great the gorilla in the in the jungle,
and so he's.
Speaker 5 (21:23):
Like and he tries to cut a steak he's like.
Speaker 6 (21:29):
He's trying to cut his steak. Oh man, It's just
it's just one scene after another. I mean, the opening
scene of the whole movie is when he gets scared
of like a kitten.
Speaker 5 (21:40):
He's trying to tame a kitten in the apartment store.
Speaker 6 (21:43):
Yeah, and next thing, you know, he's like, I'm touching
a lion and stuff like that, like he picks up
later in Africa, Uh, Bud picks up our Buzz picks
up a lion cup and says, here, pet the cub,
pet the cup lion.
Speaker 5 (21:59):
Yeah, and then remember when so basically they convince him
to take him on the safari with him because they
find out, you know, he goes tells him to draw
the map because they said if he's there, he'll be
able to picture better. Because Buzz is wanting to go
over there and get because he finds out that this
map's worth a lot more than what she was offering them,
like twenty five thousand dollars or something instead twenty five hundred.
(22:22):
So he wants a free safari out of it. And
when he gets over there and he's like, hey, Stanley,
let's have you draw the map. Stanley takes it looks
like a crown takes a makes a little map of
the department store. Oh yeah, here's where the book is,
and and Buzz is like he takes it over to
thee and he's like, I think there's a mistake. He's like,
(22:43):
I thought you said you knew this map. He said,
I did. That's where we was in the department store.
But it goes on and on and on, and he's like, well,
he's like, maybe you should Just the scene that gets
me that I laugh every time. And he's they're carrying
him around in that I don't know, like hammock thing,
and he's like, no, no, not here there, We're gonna
(23:05):
make camp here for the day or whatever. It's just
so funny, well done, so uh go ahead.
Speaker 6 (23:12):
Oh I was gonna say, okay. So here's two things
I didn't like about this movie. One, I didn't like
the fact that they did the same joke twice because
when they run into Frank Buck later in the jungle,
they do the same joke of the you know, bad mouthing,
bad mouthing Frank Buck until they find out it's him.
Speaker 5 (23:32):
Yeah.
Speaker 6 (23:32):
Yeah, It's like you already did that with Clyde Batty
it was funny with Clyde Batty, but then when it
happens again in the jungle with Frank, I'm like, yeah,
we already saw that. We kind of already saw that joke.
And I thought that the ending of the movie was terrible.
Speaker 5 (23:48):
Yeah, we'll get there.
Speaker 6 (23:50):
Hilarious, and then when you get to the end, you're like,
I don't know, that's weird.
Speaker 5 (23:53):
I got some trivia though, so hang on, let's go
through this reg So you you you commented on the
Buddy and Max bear be in the Boxers. So there's
a line in this movie. I don't know if you
caught it where it says I'll hit you harder than
Lewis ever did. So they threw that in there because
they had both had a boxing match with Joe Lewis,
(24:14):
both who battled both of them, and I think it
was the nineteen thirties, they said. So I thought that
was pretty well done.
Speaker 6 (24:19):
That I missed that one.
Speaker 2 (24:21):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (24:22):
So the original script also had a love struck female
gorilla pursuing lou Costello. However, the Breen office sensors that
enforced the production code objected any end of the possibility
of a sexual encounter, even unwilling went between a man
and a female gorilla. The writers changed from a female
(24:42):
gorilla to a Melwin and the Breen office approved it.
Apparently they saw that man gorilla straight relationship would have
would involve marriage and sex, but man and gorilla same
sex relationship wouldn't rise above more mear friendships.
Speaker 6 (24:58):
I think it would have been hilarious it was a
female girl.
Speaker 5 (25:01):
Oh yeah. So there was also the thing we talked about,
the tent scene where he's he keep Joe Besser keeps
running in back forth, but my tents on five. This
actually that actually happened to Max Bear when he was
a young boy. He actually set his bed on fire,
and not wanting to tell his parents about it, he
kept running back and forth between his bedroom and the
(25:23):
kitchen until his father stopped him and asked him what
he was doing. He actually said his bet on fire.
Speaker 6 (25:29):
Okay, so do you think that was in the original movie? What?
And like, Max Bear shared this story and they're all, dude,
that's hilarious. We gotta put that in the movie.
Speaker 5 (25:40):
I don't know, man, I I you gotta you gotta
think that that's something that was added in just because
of the story.
Speaker 6 (25:46):
They told, Yeah, I guarantee Max Bear was telling this story,
you know, around some steak dinners one night, you know,
with the crew and they're like, dude, we gotta put
that in the movie something.
Speaker 5 (25:56):
And they put it in the perfect place because they're
discussing what they're going to do. I thought it was
perfectly well placed.
Speaker 6 (26:01):
Yeah, because even like as you're watching it, you're going,
what is he doing? Right, because because you're watching it,
going what does he do? Why does he keep going
back and forth and cutting it like right in between
him and that's a taboo. Like in movies, you don't
cut between two actors talking to each other like that.
Speaker 5 (26:17):
It was funny though, But the little mini cars shown
in the final scenes isn't a movie prop car as
some have claimed. It's a Crosley, which was a real
car produced by the Crosley Motor Company from nineteen thirty
nine to nineteen forty two, discontinued during The Warriors, then
resumed in nineteen forty six until the company folded in
nineteen fifty two. This was the first independently financed film
(26:41):
that Bud Abbot and lu Costela made while under contract
with Universal. It was released by United Artists nice, here's
a Here's a thing that's pretty sad. But the failure
of the original copyright holder to renew the film's copyright
resulted in it falling into the old public domain, meaning
that virtually anyone could duplicate and sell a VHS DVD
(27:03):
copy of the film. Therefore, many of the versions of
this film available on the market are either severely and
usually badly edited and or of extremely poor quality, having
been duped from second or third generation or more copies
of the film. Bond.
Speaker 7 (27:18):
The copy that you watched was a good Yeah, it
was pretty clean. Yeah, I mean it's nineteen Can I
plug where I watched it? I just watched it on
I just watched it on two B. Yeah, yeah, I
just watched on two B. It was fine, it was
good quality. There was a couple of scenes where like
the edges were kind of you know, kind.
Speaker 5 (27:35):
Of kind of like the old vhs, you know, like
the one I watched the VHS, like the how'd you
get that little fuzzy line at the bottom, and then.
Speaker 6 (27:43):
It would sort of bottom kind of jitters and jumps
a little bit.
Speaker 5 (27:47):
The cast and crew nicknamed this film Nasar Screams because
of the intense feud between the producer and Lou Costello.
Oh so yeah, so get this Nasa brandished a pistol
on the set and threatened to murder Lou Costello. Cinematographer
Charles van Inger disarmed the producer. So I don't know
what was going on there. I don't know. If it
(28:09):
was hard to work with, I don't know. But that
doesn't sound good at all. Although the hey, the copy,
do you watch? Was it in color or no?
Speaker 6 (28:17):
No?
Speaker 5 (28:17):
It was the black If you get there is a
color version which came out in nineteen eighty eight, but
watch it in black and white. The black and white version. Perfect. Yeah,
let's hear so. With the death of Bert Winland, who
played Bobo in two thousand and nine, all credited cast
members are now deceased. Costello he breaks the fourth wall
(28:40):
a lot more than usual in this movie, which is
funny too.
Speaker 6 (28:43):
Like you're saying with the eyebrows that that's a scene
right there. We're like, that's hilarious.
Speaker 5 (28:47):
Oh yeah, that's great. So all right, Bond, we are
you gonna rate the wonderful Avene Costello at Africa screeps.
Speaker 6 (28:56):
Africa screams all right, So let me see looking into it.
I wasn't expecting much.
Speaker 5 (29:03):
I don't think you. I don't think you were very
You weren't very happy when I chose this movie. I
could tell you you were a little disheartened exactly.
Speaker 6 (29:11):
I was like, africa Screams, I've never heard of the
I was like, if we're gonna do an Abbot Costello movie,
I have three others that we that we can do
before that one. I was like, Africa's Screams. I had
never heard of this one before. But I was sold
within the first five minutes, ten minutes. They didn't even
have to leave the bookstore. They were just about those
two guys working at the bookstore together, and they never
(29:33):
went to Africa. I would have been perfectly fine. I
might have said, we're there's no Africa in that movie,
but I would have been fine with it. I honestly,
I give this movie a nine.
Speaker 5 (29:44):
Yes, sir.
Speaker 6 (29:46):
It shot right up to the top of my top comedies,
especially older comedies like this Golden Age comedies. I think
it goes right to the top. Man.
Speaker 5 (29:54):
I'm really impressed you gave it a nine. Man, I
didn't think you were going to go It's just funny.
Speaker 6 (29:59):
It's funny. And even though the costumes are terrible. The
gorilla costume looks like a band.
Speaker 5 (30:04):
The lion costume is even worse that the.
Speaker 6 (30:06):
Lion costume is way too skinny to be alive. And
when when when he's sitting in the cage and like
that fake lion arm comes and stacks him on the arm.
He's like, hey, you need to cut your nail.
Speaker 3 (30:20):
Stop what is it?
Speaker 5 (30:24):
When the is it the tail that's coming up out
of the thing, remember.
Speaker 6 (30:29):
Coming out and he's like bites it? Oh yeah, So
special effects wise, like I said, every time they show
the app like nine times out of ten when they
show the alligator in the water, it looks like a
styrofoam alligator that's just floating there. And because they don't
show the whole thing. Yeah, just like the head, somebody's
pulling the back of it moving across the water.
Speaker 5 (30:47):
Well, it's like when at the beginning when they first
get to Africa and you've got an abbot in the
front and you got costelo on the bag, you know,
and he's doing that thing with the or where he
dumps it in the water. He jumps up and all
that right, and then he's like he leans down and
he's like splashing in the water and all that, and
you see that alligator had just come up or at
right at him. And he turns around and he gets
(31:08):
like a little mixer out of his bag and he's
the boat takes off like a little beater.
Speaker 6 (31:17):
Yeah, as he can to make it like an engine.
That's hilarious. That's that's what I'm saying. What makes this
movie fun is it's so cheesy, it's so silly. It
makes you laugh the whole time because it's so silly
on purpose, right, And I think I think that's what
movies today have kind of lost. We've kind of lost
that silliness to movies. I think with the I think
(31:39):
they did it with like the Scary Movie when they
do like they make fun of scary movies, and they
have Scary Movie one and two and three. I think
those kind of did it. But we really lost the
silliness of movies.
Speaker 7 (31:49):
Man.
Speaker 6 (31:50):
That's what's great about this one. It's just silly for them.
Speaker 5 (31:52):
And do you know what I you know what I
like about this movie. It's clean. You don't have language,
you don't have all that nudity, you don't have any
of that stuff in here, and I can laugh just
as hard as something like this as I can something
that's like that, And I think that's great. This is
a family friendly film. If you have kids, small kids,
(32:14):
let them watch it. It's hilarious.
Speaker 6 (32:18):
I agree.
Speaker 5 (32:19):
So Bond gives it a nine. You know what, bon,
I'm right there with you. I love this movie. It
was always a childhood favorite. Like I said, I always
knew about Avenue Costello and Frank Sein, but this was
always number two. And I haven't seen a lot more
of abing in Costello because with those I don't want
to get my hopes down. Because with these two right
here and meet Franken Sein, they're so perfect that I
(32:41):
don't want to be disappointed. But the one thing I
will say about this movie is they are over in
Africa and then when they come across the Cannibals, they're
very stereotypical in the way they portrayed them. I mean,
you have the the African Americans with the what is
(33:02):
it like the bone and these the bone in the
nose or the the I m'st say, the stick through
the lips or whatever. The headdress is very I don't
know enamorate or whatever. But for the time that this
was made, I mean it was a different time, man,
But but it's still it's still funny. I can't express
(33:25):
enough how funny this is. And that's the only small
takeaway I took out of this whole film. I mean,
I think the lady that played Diana in this movie
is fantastic. The I mean lucky. You say about the
two three stooges that were in it, I mean Gunner dude,
when he loads think.
Speaker 6 (33:44):
That they stole scene they were in. They did every
scene that either Joe or Sheep comes out, and they'll
be in the movie for like two minutes at a time,
just do a little something. They steal the scene. He
steals the scene when he says my tents on fire,
he steals the scene. Oh yeah, when he's like like,
try to pick up the gun, gunners trying to pick
up the gun and show them how he's going to
(34:05):
defend him, and he picks up the gun the opposite way.
I'll just look through the site and he's holding the
gun upside backwards, Yeah, backwards and upside down. You're like,
oh my gosh, they just stole the scene.
Speaker 5 (34:14):
Right, So if you've seen Africa screens, Please drop drop
something on our Facebook. Let me and Bond know what
you guys thought about it, or leave us review or something,
because I want to know if you guys like it
as much as we do. Yes, Bond, go ahead.
Speaker 6 (34:26):
I got one more thing. I gotta ask you. What
is your prop that you were taking from this movie?
Speaker 2 (34:31):
Oh?
Speaker 5 (34:31):
Man, man, there is a ton I you know what.
You could pick several things from this movie, but I
think the hand drawn map that he does of the
department store. I have to take that because it is
so funny because you're thinking of this big elaborate map
from like the Savannah. You turn left at the nile.
Here you know, there's jungle here here and there's no
(34:54):
It's like, here's Macy's shoes, here's the purse bags, and
here's the bookstore. That's what I take. You have taking
the map?
Speaker 6 (35:01):
Oh you took mine?
Speaker 5 (35:03):
Well, there's so many to cheers from picking another one.
Speaker 6 (35:06):
I was like, I want the map, I want the alligator?
Speaker 5 (35:11):
Which one?
Speaker 6 (35:12):
I want the I want the dark alligator that when
they first get there they show that cheesy foam alligator head.
That's what I want.
Speaker 5 (35:20):
You don't what the one. I thought you would take
a Costello swimsuit, the cap I remember he puts thet.
Speaker 6 (35:27):
I was maybe I was thinking about taking maybe a diamond.
Speaker 5 (35:31):
Yeah, I mean those were pretty pretty cool. I thought
about that. And then are the blocks at the end
where the monkey spells the end or whatever?
Speaker 6 (35:38):
Oh yeah, he spells out the Okay, explain before we
before we go, quick explanation of the ending. I don't.
Speaker 5 (35:44):
Okay, So here's here's my takeaway from it. Okay, So
when the last you saw Abbott leaving down the river
on that that raft, because he had lost all the diamonds, remember,
he buried him in the tree, and the monkey takes
the bag of the diamonds. So my my thought process,
(36:04):
and I think this is where they were going, is
that the monkey ended up going finding Costello or Stanley Livingston,
and he got back to America to that thing, and
he became rich because he had all those diamonds because
at the bat heat And that's why he made the
monkey or the orangutan or whatever his business partner, if
you will, because he's if you remember when Abbott's you know,
(36:27):
he's became the elevator bellboy now or whatever, and he's like,
I just don't understand it, because he says that a
bunch of times throughout the end of this movie. I
just don't understand because he still can't remember how did
I lose these diamonds? I had him in a bag
on the X on the tree and he's like and
he's like, hey, mister Livingson, can you ask your partner
about my rais He says, well, let me see if
(36:47):
he's in, and he opens the door and he's like, yeah,
he's in. So I think that's the whole premise of
the The ending was a little soft.
Speaker 6 (36:54):
But they split the gorilla and they split the money,
or they split the diamonds.
Speaker 5 (37:00):
Yeah, I think I think that's what it is. I
mean is it's kind of a weakending, if you will,
but it works. I mean, where do you think they
spend all their money on this?
Speaker 6 (37:11):
Oh man, they spent I don't know how much of
it was on location. I don't think they ever went
to Africans. I don't think anybody went to African this movie.
I think they spent their money on probably props in
getting big name people.
Speaker 5 (37:25):
I would I would probably say, like like maybe the animals,
like the chimpanzees that were here. You know, that's what
I say, real lions there. So if you'd like to
follow us, we are the Tragedy of Cinema podcast. You
can find us on Facebook. You can email us at
the Tragedy of Cinema at gmail dot com. But with
(37:45):
that being said, I think this episode's coming to a close,
and that's a wrap.
Speaker 6 (37:49):
And cut.
Speaker 2 (37:57):
The whim them Marie Shimmer join us, if we toast
to the tales we love the most?
Speaker 3 (38:09):
China he upset.
Speaker 2 (38:11):
Then Marie Shimmer join.
Speaker 4 (38:14):
Us says, we toast to the tales we love the most,
as we love.
Speaker 6 (38:25):
The most.
Speaker 3 (38:30):
The Tragedy of Cinema and Mary Shimmer joy us.
Speaker 4 (38:57):
If we toast through the tails we love the most,
to tells we love the most. Truety, I'm saying.
Speaker 2 (39:09):
When them Marie Hiller join us, sets me toast to
tells we love the most, to tells me love the most,
So that tells me love the most
The Tragedy of Cinema podcast is intended as a family
friendly program that by extension, strives to be inclusive to
all people, regardless of their ethnicity, gender, creed, or any
other identifying factors in this incredibly diverse world of ours.
With that said, some of the films we discuss may
contain serious subject matters or have content considered morally objectional
by today's standards. We do not intend to condone or
(00:26):
dismiss these aspects of these films, but our primary focus,
beyond what we believe are the film succeeds at some
fun facts and our personal enjoyment factors of each film.
With that said, we help you enjoy the show.
Speaker 2 (00:51):
On light, shingle job say Sight eighty three, Lights in
the realm, flucking light movies and TV sou through the
stories we on you stop screensalls on souls is magic,
(01:11):
stay they.
Speaker 3 (01:14):
See them, very shimmer joy that.
Speaker 4 (01:18):
We tell stud that tells me have some.
Speaker 5 (01:26):
This is the place I don't forget.
Speaker 6 (01:27):
You think sure a big game hunter, because why do
you keep getting me in the middle.
Speaker 5 (01:30):
I wish you hadn't.
Speaker 3 (01:31):
Why are you in great here?
Speaker 2 (01:33):
I'm giving you a chance to make me twenty five
hundred dollars.
Speaker 6 (01:36):
Is that the way you want to repay me for
all the things I could have done for you?
Speaker 4 (01:43):
All you're do is stop.
Speaker 3 (01:45):
At me, snap at you? Wat that a laugh?
Speaker 1 (01:50):
Me?
Speaker 6 (01:50):
Snap at him?
Speaker 3 (01:51):
Now I know what they mean with the same boy
you in hot Water.
Speaker 1 (01:55):
Never Thomas of anything like this though.
Speaker 5 (02:29):
All right, guys, welcome back to the Tragedy of Cinema podcast.
I'm your host Jimbo, and I.
Speaker 6 (02:34):
Am your co host Bond.
Speaker 5 (02:35):
Bond is back Bond. Today we are going to be
talking about a movie which you had never saw before.
It has been one of my childhood favorites for a
long long time. But before we start, I got a question.
Where are you going to place Bud Abbott and lu
Costello in the realm of dynamic duos?
Speaker 6 (02:57):
Dynamic comedy?
Speaker 5 (02:58):
Yeah, well, dynamic duos know Oh man, I mean you
know Batman and Robin I mean did you laugh at
this movie? Bond?
Speaker 6 (03:08):
Oh? I laughed through the whole movie. It was so cheesy,
so silly. But man, everybody was having a great time
making this movie. They got to be in the top
ten when it comes to comedy duos, comedy teams.
Speaker 5 (03:22):
I'd probably put I'd probably put Steve Martin and Martin
Short up there because I just think they're really good together. Also,
Gene Wilder and Richard Pryor A definitely gonna have to
have a probably a top three spot for me up there,
you go. Yeah, Also probably John Candy and dan Aykroyd.
Speaker 6 (03:43):
Yeah, Lucy.
Speaker 5 (03:44):
And there's just so many. But but there's just something
about if you like the Three Stooges, how can you
go wrong with Abn and Costello. And like I was
telling Bond, this is something that most people probably remember
Abing and Costello from Abing Costello meet Frankenstein where they
meet all the Universal Monsters, which if you haven't seen that,
that is a really really funny one too. But for me,
(04:07):
this was the one when I think of abbed In Costell.
You know, you always have the skit of who's on first,
wat's on second? You know that that probably put them
on the map. But this movie right here, I think
deserves its place in movie history because it is just
that funny.
Speaker 6 (04:21):
But bon I, I have to admit I was aware
of like all of the classic universal monster you know,
Abbot Costello meet the Werewolf, Abbot Costello meet Frankenstein. Those
are really my only exposure, with the exception of, like
you're saying, the who's on first stand up kind of
thing where they're riffing off each other. This is the
first time I've ever seen this one, man, nineteen forty nine.
Speaker 5 (04:41):
It was great. All right, bon Well, I think we've
wasted enough of the people's time. Let's go and take
it away.
Speaker 6 (04:47):
All right, man, we're gonna be reviewing today. We're gonna
be reviewing Africa Screams. It's a nineteen forty nine American
adventure comedy film. As we said, it stars abbot In
Costello and this was actually the titles of play on
a nineteen thirty documentary called Africa Speaks, so that's kind
(05:08):
of where they got the title for this one. This
movie was directed by Charles Barton, and he did a
lot of the abb In Costello movies. He also did
like a Shaggy Dog movie for Disney, I think at
the time, and he also did a lot of television
shows Dennis the Menaz Family Affair, those kind of shows,
(05:28):
so he was a big director at the time. This
thing's written by Earl Baldwin, screenplay by Martin Ragaway, and
Leonard Stern, produced by Huntington Hartford and Edward Nasser. As
we said Africa Screams nineteen forty nine, this movie was
made for. The budget on this one was five hundred
(05:48):
thousand dollars in nineteen forty nine, so that translates to
about six point seven million today. So they definitely did
not spend on alligators. They did definitely did not spend
their their money on alligators in this one. Man, they
save their money on that one. What was a box
(06:10):
office hit? Oh yeah, it was a box office hit.
It actually did one point five million at the box office,
which translates to about twenty million today, so it tripled
its money of course, you know, so that's really good,
really successful stuff. Man, Let's go over the cast. Let
me tell you who's in this one. Of course, this
movie stars Bud Abbot and Luke Costello. We know them
(06:33):
as the comedy duo Bud Abbot and Luke Costello. Uh.
They actually got their start in burlesque. So if you
think old vaudeville, old burlesque shows. But Abbot was actually
introduced to burless through his dad. His dad worked at
a burlesque and met his mom at a Burlesque theater,
and that's kind of where he got his start. He
(06:54):
would work over there when he was just a kid.
He met Luke Costello, who was also working the or
Less Circuit as a comedian. What happened was his original
lu Costello's original straight man got sick one night, and
so they needed to stand in, and so they got
Bud Abbott to stand in for Luke Costello's straight man
(07:18):
and ever since then they've been working together. They were
a big hit. And like we said, they're in movies
of course, like Bud like Abbot, Costello meet the wolf Man,
they meet the Frankenstein. Those kind of things we also
see in this movie. Clyde Batty. Clyde Beatty is a
real life lion trainer, so that's what he used to do,
(07:39):
Clyde beat but.
Speaker 5 (07:40):
All Stanley Livingston, he taught him how to go that
ned baby out shut him.
Speaker 6 (07:47):
He doesn't know how, he doesn't know how to train,
he doesn't know how to catch a lion, and so yeah,
of course, man, oh that's a good point. Stan Livingston, right,
what a great name. Actually pulls this name from two
historical British explorers, right, Henry Morgan Morton Stanley and David Livingstone.
(08:08):
So that's how they got his name.
Speaker 5 (08:09):
David Livingston. I presume doctor.
Speaker 6 (08:12):
Livingstone, I presume exactly man. This movie also has Frank
Buck in it. Frank Buck also plays himself. He is
a real live hunter, famous big game hunter. He's from Texas.
I just thought i'd point that out as a Texas boy,
so he's a real life hunter. We also have Max
(08:32):
Bear and his brother Buddy Bear.
Speaker 5 (08:37):
Hey, Buddy Bear.
Speaker 6 (08:39):
They are both professional boxers and.
Speaker 5 (08:41):
They both took on Joe Lewis. If I remember reading
that right.
Speaker 6 (08:44):
Max s Bear. That was one of his last fights
was against Joe Lewis. His boxing record was sixty eight
and thirteen as a heavyweight fighter, sixty eight and thirteen
with fifty one knockouts.
Speaker 5 (08:57):
Joe Lewis or the Bear Max Bear. Wow?
Speaker 6 (09:01):
Did you? His brother brother Buddy Bear, was also in
the movie Snow White and the Three Stooges.
Speaker 5 (09:08):
Oh that's a great movie too.
Speaker 6 (09:11):
His heavyweight boxing record was fifty nine and seven with
fifty three knockouts. He was also in the movie Jack
and the Beanstalk, where he played the giant.
Speaker 5 (09:23):
YEP.
Speaker 6 (09:24):
Some other people you might have recognized for this movie
is Shemp Poward. You gotta love Shemp Howard.
Speaker 5 (09:30):
I didn't want to spoil that for you because you
had never seen it before. I wondered who he's gonna
pick it up.
Speaker 6 (09:37):
That was her favorite part. When Ship Howard comes out
and he's got those bottle bottom glasses.
Speaker 5 (09:43):
He says, leave the door open. Gunners coming over.
Speaker 6 (09:47):
Oh man. When Edner comes in and they're like, show
them how you're gonna defend him against the lion, and
he picks up the he like falls over the pool table,
pull all the pool cues and then he goes in
a grab the gun the wrong way. Oh man, we
know Shimp Howard. Shimp Howard, of course, is one of
the Three Stooges. He is actually the brother of Moe
(10:10):
Howard and Curly Howard. So it's Moe, Curly and Shimp
are the brothers. And of course Larry was just their
friend and so he came in. He was actually a
he was actually a three Stooges before Curly came in.
Speaker 5 (10:27):
He was an original member.
Speaker 6 (10:29):
He was an original three students.
Speaker 5 (10:30):
Are you do you like the Three Stooges?
Speaker 6 (10:32):
I love the three?
Speaker 5 (10:33):
Did I have every single one? I have every single
one of them. Dude, I love them all.
Speaker 6 (10:38):
They're classic, man, I mean they I mean, it's hard
to say after ninety years they hold up. But they're hilarious.
I mean to me, there's two kinds of men that right,
there's those that like the Three Stooges and not real men.
Speaker 5 (10:54):
Well, I say there was three of them. There was
probably the ones that can still do the curly shuffle,
the curly shovel. We've got to cover some three Stooges movies. Also,
what we've got to cover some three Stooges movies.
Speaker 6 (11:09):
We gotta do a three Stooges movie.
Speaker 5 (11:11):
Man, I'll bring I'll bring our toast in our toasting
for that one. That'll be a great one.
Speaker 6 (11:16):
That would be a great one for him to come in.
I'd love that, oh man. And then we get to
see another Stooge come in later, ye right. Joe Besser.
Joe Besser played Harry. He's like the servant the oh
my tents on fire, grabbing He's grabbing the cup of
(11:38):
water and he's like interrupting them every single time. He
just cuts it between them, cuts in between them, cuts
it between them. Finally they have to say something, They're like,
what are you doing? Some fine?
Speaker 5 (11:49):
But you know what, I will say, this not my
favorite Three Stooge. He's probably the one I do not
like the most.
Speaker 6 (11:56):
I think that's true with everybody. I don't think anybody's
favorite stooge Joe. But he did come in. He did
like the last like four or five episodes of The
Three Stooges. He really filled in at the end. He
also had a role in Batman, the nineteen sixty six Batman,
so he came out in that. He was in lots
(12:16):
of different movies, lots of different TV shows. He's the
voice of Baboo from Scooby Doo and the Laugh Olympics.
He's like a big genie.
Speaker 5 (12:27):
Wow, I'm pulling out the old trivia here.
Speaker 6 (12:31):
Yeah, he's great man. We have a couple more people
on our in our staff or on our cast. We
have Hillary Brooke as Diana Emerson. She was the rich,
rich lady that tried That was after the diamonds. Now
here's something really cool about Diana Emerson are as Hillary Brook.
Hillary Brook refused to play a dumb blonde in any
(12:56):
movie she was in, and she was in hundreds of
movies When I was doing the research for this thing,
she had a long list of movies that she had
done over the years, and one of the things that
she had was she refused to play the dumb blonde.
Speaker 5 (13:08):
Huh.
Speaker 6 (13:10):
Yeah. She was in movies like Road to Utopia, Invader
from Mars, and The Man Who Knew too Much. Those
are some of the bigger ones that maybe you recognize.
Another cast member that I must mention is Charles Gomorra.
Charles Gemorra played.
Speaker 5 (13:28):
The ape fantastic.
Speaker 6 (13:31):
Oh my gosh, it was so funny. The ape is
so funny.
Speaker 5 (13:34):
Why is it always get funnier when there's an ape involved?
Have you ever noticed this hit?
Speaker 6 (13:40):
This gorilla? He's actually famous for playing a gorilla. If
you saw a movie in the forties with the gorilla
in it, it was Charles Goemorra.
Speaker 5 (13:49):
Really he is said, I'm not popular. Huh.
Speaker 6 (13:51):
All the the Little Rascals, Oh yeah, had a few
episodes with the gorilla. That's him. He was also in
the movie Murdering the root Ward.
Speaker 5 (14:00):
Great movie Poee.
Speaker 6 (14:03):
He was in the h He was in the comedy
Rode to Zanzibar as an ape, and he was also
in the uh Marx Brothers movie at the Circus, huh
as an ape. He played an eight and every he
wore that costume for a living.
Speaker 5 (14:18):
You know, I wonder if he got a role in
Planet of the Apes.
Speaker 6 (14:22):
That probably cut him out.
Speaker 7 (14:23):
Yeah, pymore the qualifications, right, Yeah, so that's the cast,
that's guess there are.
Speaker 6 (14:32):
I couldn't find any awards for this movie, so I
don't think this is an award winning movie.
Speaker 5 (14:38):
But oh it deserves one. Though it deserves one.
Speaker 6 (14:42):
Deserves he thinks it deserves one. I think it deserves
one just for having the best cameos. Oh yeah, definitely, because,
like I said, Shep Howard when he comes out of Gunner,
he steals every scene and he bid it like twice.
Speaker 5 (14:55):
At the end, when he's like Gunner, take him back
to the camp, he's he puts the who is it
a costello, puts the stick on the gun and points
him away and you see the next thing you see,
he's got the chimpanzee. The chimpanzee's walking with his hands up.
Speaker 6 (15:14):
Yeah, that's so hilarious. All right. So I'm not gonna
go too deep into the plot because the plot's not
very deep. But Diana Emerson, she visits a bookstore and
she's looking for a book called Dark Safari because she's
looking for a map, right, and she's gonna tell she
tells Buzz Johnson. Buzz Johnson, of course is Costello, that
she's gonna pay twenty five hundred dollars for a map
(15:36):
that's inside this book. And of course Stanley Livingston he's
got the map memorized, or so they think.
Speaker 5 (15:43):
What he goes to draw it?
Speaker 6 (15:45):
Yeah, he's like, I could draw that map. I can't
remember that, but like, like the like the trailer has
of my favorite lines in it, that's are you gonna
blow this chance? To make me twenty five hundred dollars?
I love that one? But it's so classic. But so anyway,
(16:05):
they end up going to Africa. The whole thing's just
so far. They think they're looking for the giant ape, right,
they look for a giant ape, but in reality they're
looking for diamonds.
Speaker 5 (16:18):
The orangutang gargantua I think is the name.
Speaker 6 (16:21):
Yeah, the orangutang gargantua who makes an appearance in the movie.
Speaker 5 (16:27):
Right, But also did you know that his mouth doesn't
move in that but you do hear roars and that
is actual audio footage from the original King Kong from
nineteen thirty three.
Speaker 6 (16:40):
Nice. Yeah, so they used original I like that. That's cool.
So they think they're there for to see the giant ape,
but really it's diamonds. And of course they get kidnapped
by Africans and they're gonna get on the menu at
one time. The cannibal. I like, what do you think
(17:01):
about those cannibals.
Speaker 5 (17:03):
I like how they show the what they're cooking them in,
and one of them is just the slender barrel and
the other one the big pot. Yeah.
Speaker 6 (17:13):
Yeah, the cooking devices match their body to right.
Speaker 5 (17:18):
If you haven't seen this movie, it's just so funny.
If you like slapstick Colledy, I mean I would put
these guys. You know, probably the other greatest duo of
old time is probably Lauren Hardy. I would say, I
think these guys beat them out. I do too, but
I mean, there's they're both funny in their own right.
But there's just something about this movie. Man. It's just
(17:41):
you know'll have you in stitch, just like when he
gets in the uh where Abbot or Buzz is gonna
put on the lion costume and uh Yes, Stanley is like, I, hey,
I can We'll we'll Diana, we'll uh, we'll have a she,
We'll have her come in here and she'll think I'm
the heat. And you just go in there and I'll
do some tricks or whatever. And he gets in there
(18:03):
and he gets stuck. He's in there with the real lion.
Speaker 3 (18:07):
Its just.
Speaker 5 (18:09):
It's just funny.
Speaker 6 (18:10):
Yeah, he wants to prove his bravery. He wants to
prove that, you know, and so you know, Costello's like, uh,
I'll just get in there. It's hilarious, man, the whole see,
and the costumes are so bad, nothing like a real lion.
Speaker 5 (18:28):
Right, And so it's even funnier is after that, once
he discovers that it's a real lion in there, Buzz
is outside sitting on a log and moping round. Oh
he was such a great guy. I don't know why
I never told him. Comes into next movie and he
starts crying too, like yeah he was.
Speaker 6 (18:45):
Yeah, he starts crying over the death of himself. Like
you said. By this time, I think these two guys,
these two comedians, they're like a well oiled machine. I'm
pretty sure the director just said action and then just
lit him run, just let him have fun.
Speaker 5 (19:01):
I wonder if there's any like bloopers out of this thing,
because you know, there had to be some.
Speaker 6 (19:09):
Oh, especially the scene, especially the scene when when Luke
Costello when Stanley is in the water and he's like,
you want to see an impression a seal like that?
He like spits up water, right, I see that whole scene.
Speaker 5 (19:27):
How about an alligator and allator?
Speaker 6 (19:30):
Yeah, I guarantee you. It's like, I don't care what
animals you do in the water, just get to the alligator.
And they just said action let him go.
Speaker 5 (19:39):
How but how would you keep from laughing if you're
his co host?
Speaker 3 (19:43):
Man?
Speaker 5 (19:44):
The scene where he gets the water faucets stuck on
his finger or the spickett stuff on his finger.
Speaker 6 (19:50):
Oh, he gets his figures, Yeah, and it turns on.
He turns off and the water comes out.
Speaker 5 (19:55):
And he goes and answers the door. That's what Joe
Bessler answers the door and he shakes his say it
takes his head. I don't want to it's up on
his finger. I mean he's like, not that, not that
that one.
Speaker 6 (20:07):
Oh man, it's so funny this movie. Yeah, I have
to say, if you have not seen this movie. You
need you need to hunt it down. It's not that
hard to find. Man. You need to take the time
to watch it, because this movie's hilarious, you know, and
and and.
Speaker 5 (20:23):
You know, some people say I don't like that kind
of comedy. This is well worth a watch because I've
been watching it since I was probably five seven years old,
and I can put it on now and I will
still laugh. There's a scene at the end it gets
me every time, when Costello's running away from the cannibals
(20:44):
are chasing him down and he runs between the legs
of the O Ringu thing, Gargantua one and all the
other you know, cannibals. Everybody stop and they turn white
and they run the other way. And so Costilla's like, ah,
and he walks out, and he turns around and his
eyebrows go cartoon is.
Speaker 6 (21:04):
The cartoon his eyebrows and like liquor fast up and down.
Speaker 5 (21:08):
It's so funny.
Speaker 6 (21:12):
Of course, I love the scene where they're all eating
dinner together at camp and and only Stanley can see
the the great the gorilla in the in the jungle,
and so he's.
Speaker 5 (21:23):
Like and he tries to cut a steak he's like.
Speaker 6 (21:29):
He's trying to cut his steak. Oh man, It's just
it's just one scene after another. I mean, the opening
scene of the whole movie is when he gets scared
of like a kitten.
Speaker 5 (21:40):
He's trying to tame a kitten in the apartment store.
Speaker 6 (21:43):
Yeah, and next thing, you know, he's like, I'm touching
a lion and stuff like that, like he picks up
later in Africa, Uh, Bud picks up our Buzz picks
up a lion cup and says, here, pet the cub,
pet the cup lion.
Speaker 5 (21:59):
Yeah, and then remember when so basically they convince him
to take him on the safari with him because they
find out, you know, he goes tells him to draw
the map because they said if he's there, he'll be
able to picture better. Because Buzz is wanting to go
over there and get because he finds out that this
map's worth a lot more than what she was offering them,
like twenty five thousand dollars or something instead twenty five hundred.
(22:22):
So he wants a free safari out of it. And
when he gets over there and he's like, hey, Stanley,
let's have you draw the map. Stanley takes it looks
like a crown takes a makes a little map of
the department store. Oh yeah, here's where the book is,
and and Buzz is like he takes it over to
thee and he's like, I think there's a mistake. He's like,
(22:43):
I thought you said you knew this map. He said,
I did. That's where we was in the department store.
But it goes on and on and on, and he's like, well,
he's like, maybe you should Just the scene that gets
me that I laugh every time. And he's they're carrying
him around in that I don't know, like hammock thing,
and he's like, no, no, not here there, We're gonna
(23:05):
make camp here for the day or whatever. It's just
so funny, well done, so uh go ahead.
Speaker 6 (23:12):
Oh I was gonna say, okay. So here's two things
I didn't like about this movie. One, I didn't like
the fact that they did the same joke twice because
when they run into Frank Buck later in the jungle,
they do the same joke of the you know, bad mouthing,
bad mouthing Frank Buck until they find out it's him.
Speaker 5 (23:32):
Yeah.
Speaker 6 (23:32):
Yeah, It's like you already did that with Clyde Batty
it was funny with Clyde Batty, but then when it
happens again in the jungle with Frank, I'm like, yeah,
we already saw that. We kind of already saw that joke.
And I thought that the ending of the movie was terrible.
Speaker 5 (23:48):
Yeah, we'll get there.
Speaker 6 (23:50):
Hilarious, and then when you get to the end, you're like,
I don't know, that's weird.
Speaker 5 (23:53):
I got some trivia though, so hang on, let's go
through this reg So you you you commented on the
Buddy and Max bear be in the Boxers. So there's
a line in this movie. I don't know if you
caught it where it says I'll hit you harder than
Lewis ever did. So they threw that in there because
they had both had a boxing match with Joe Lewis,
(24:14):
both who battled both of them, and I think it
was the nineteen thirties, they said. So I thought that
was pretty well done.
Speaker 6 (24:19):
That I missed that one.
Speaker 2 (24:21):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (24:22):
So the original script also had a love struck female
gorilla pursuing lou Costello. However, the Breen office sensors that
enforced the production code objected any end of the possibility
of a sexual encounter, even unwilling went between a man
and a female gorilla. The writers changed from a female
(24:42):
gorilla to a Melwin and the Breen office approved it.
Apparently they saw that man gorilla straight relationship would have
would involve marriage and sex, but man and gorilla same
sex relationship wouldn't rise above more mear friendships.
Speaker 6 (24:58):
I think it would have been hilarious it was a
female girl.
Speaker 5 (25:01):
Oh yeah. So there was also the thing we talked about,
the tent scene where he's he keep Joe Besser keeps
running in back forth, but my tents on five. This
actually that actually happened to Max Bear when he was
a young boy. He actually set his bed on fire,
and not wanting to tell his parents about it, he
kept running back and forth between his bedroom and the
(25:23):
kitchen until his father stopped him and asked him what
he was doing. He actually said his bet on fire.
Speaker 6 (25:29):
Okay, so do you think that was in the original movie? What?
And like, Max Bear shared this story and they're all, dude,
that's hilarious. We gotta put that in the movie.
Speaker 5 (25:40):
I don't know, man, I I you gotta you gotta
think that that's something that was added in just because
of the story.
Speaker 6 (25:46):
They told, Yeah, I guarantee Max Bear was telling this story,
you know, around some steak dinners one night, you know,
with the crew and they're like, dude, we gotta put
that in the movie something.
Speaker 5 (25:56):
And they put it in the perfect place because they're
discussing what they're going to do. I thought it was
perfectly well placed.
Speaker 6 (26:01):
Yeah, because even like as you're watching it, you're going,
what is he doing? Right, because because you're watching it,
going what does he do? Why does he keep going
back and forth and cutting it like right in between
him and that's a taboo. Like in movies, you don't
cut between two actors talking to each other like that.
Speaker 5 (26:17):
It was funny though, But the little mini cars shown
in the final scenes isn't a movie prop car as
some have claimed. It's a Crosley, which was a real
car produced by the Crosley Motor Company from nineteen thirty
nine to nineteen forty two, discontinued during The Warriors, then
resumed in nineteen forty six until the company folded in
nineteen fifty two. This was the first independently financed film
(26:41):
that Bud Abbot and lu Costela made while under contract
with Universal. It was released by United Artists nice, here's
a Here's a thing that's pretty sad. But the failure
of the original copyright holder to renew the film's copyright
resulted in it falling into the old public domain, meaning
that virtually anyone could duplicate and sell a VHS DVD
(27:03):
copy of the film. Therefore, many of the versions of
this film available on the market are either severely and
usually badly edited and or of extremely poor quality, having
been duped from second or third generation or more copies
of the film. Bond.
Speaker 7 (27:18):
The copy that you watched was a good Yeah, it
was pretty clean. Yeah, I mean it's nineteen Can I
plug where I watched it? I just watched it on
I just watched it on two B. Yeah, yeah, I
just watched on two B. It was fine, it was
good quality. There was a couple of scenes where like
the edges were kind of you know, kind.
Speaker 5 (27:35):
Of kind of like the old vhs, you know, like
the one I watched the VHS, like the how'd you
get that little fuzzy line at the bottom, and then.
Speaker 6 (27:43):
It would sort of bottom kind of jitters and jumps
a little bit.
Speaker 5 (27:47):
The cast and crew nicknamed this film Nasar Screams because
of the intense feud between the producer and Lou Costello.
Oh so yeah, so get this Nasa brandished a pistol
on the set and threatened to murder Lou Costello. Cinematographer
Charles van Inger disarmed the producer. So I don't know
what was going on there. I don't know. If it
(28:09):
was hard to work with, I don't know. But that
doesn't sound good at all. Although the hey, the copy,
do you watch? Was it in color or no?
Speaker 6 (28:17):
No?
Speaker 5 (28:17):
It was the black If you get there is a
color version which came out in nineteen eighty eight, but
watch it in black and white. The black and white version. Perfect. Yeah,
let's hear so. With the death of Bert Winland, who
played Bobo in two thousand and nine, all credited cast
members are now deceased. Costello he breaks the fourth wall
(28:40):
a lot more than usual in this movie, which is
funny too.
Speaker 6 (28:43):
Like you're saying with the eyebrows that that's a scene
right there. We're like, that's hilarious.
Speaker 5 (28:47):
Oh yeah, that's great. So all right, Bond, we are
you gonna rate the wonderful Avene Costello at Africa screeps.
Speaker 6 (28:56):
Africa screams all right, So let me see looking into it.
I wasn't expecting much.
Speaker 5 (29:03):
I don't think you. I don't think you were very
You weren't very happy when I chose this movie. I
could tell you you were a little disheartened exactly.
Speaker 6 (29:11):
I was like, africa Screams, I've never heard of the
I was like, if we're gonna do an Abbot Costello movie,
I have three others that we that we can do
before that one. I was like, Africa's Screams. I had
never heard of this one before. But I was sold
within the first five minutes, ten minutes. They didn't even
have to leave the bookstore. They were just about those
two guys working at the bookstore together, and they never
(29:33):
went to Africa. I would have been perfectly fine. I
might have said, we're there's no Africa in that movie,
but I would have been fine with it. I honestly,
I give this movie a nine.
Speaker 5 (29:44):
Yes, sir.
Speaker 6 (29:46):
It shot right up to the top of my top comedies,
especially older comedies like this Golden Age comedies. I think
it goes right to the top. Man.
Speaker 5 (29:54):
I'm really impressed you gave it a nine. Man, I
didn't think you were going to go It's just funny.
Speaker 6 (29:59):
It's funny. And even though the costumes are terrible. The
gorilla costume looks like a band.
Speaker 5 (30:04):
The lion costume is even worse that the.
Speaker 6 (30:06):
Lion costume is way too skinny to be alive. And
when when when he's sitting in the cage and like
that fake lion arm comes and stacks him on the arm.
He's like, hey, you need to cut your nail.
Speaker 3 (30:20):
Stop what is it?
Speaker 5 (30:24):
When the is it the tail that's coming up out
of the thing, remember.
Speaker 6 (30:29):
Coming out and he's like bites it? Oh yeah, So
special effects wise, like I said, every time they show
the app like nine times out of ten when they
show the alligator in the water, it looks like a
styrofoam alligator that's just floating there. And because they don't
show the whole thing. Yeah, just like the head, somebody's
pulling the back of it moving across the water.
Speaker 5 (30:47):
Well, it's like when at the beginning when they first
get to Africa and you've got an abbot in the
front and you got costelo on the bag, you know,
and he's doing that thing with the or where he
dumps it in the water. He jumps up and all
that right, and then he's like he leans down and
he's like splashing in the water and all that, and
you see that alligator had just come up or at
right at him. And he turns around and he gets
(31:08):
like a little mixer out of his bag and he's
the boat takes off like a little beater.
Speaker 6 (31:17):
Yeah, as he can to make it like an engine.
That's hilarious. That's that's what I'm saying. What makes this
movie fun is it's so cheesy, it's so silly. It
makes you laugh the whole time because it's so silly
on purpose, right, And I think I think that's what
movies today have kind of lost. We've kind of lost
that silliness to movies. I think with the I think
(31:39):
they did it with like the Scary Movie when they
do like they make fun of scary movies, and they
have Scary Movie one and two and three. I think
those kind of did it. But we really lost the
silliness of movies.
Speaker 7 (31:49):
Man.
Speaker 6 (31:50):
That's what's great about this one. It's just silly for them.
Speaker 5 (31:52):
And do you know what I you know what I
like about this movie. It's clean. You don't have language,
you don't have all that nudity, you don't have any
of that stuff in here, and I can laugh just
as hard as something like this as I can something
that's like that, And I think that's great. This is
a family friendly film. If you have kids, small kids,
(32:14):
let them watch it. It's hilarious.
Speaker 6 (32:18):
I agree.
Speaker 5 (32:19):
So Bond gives it a nine. You know what, bon,
I'm right there with you. I love this movie. It
was always a childhood favorite. Like I said, I always
knew about Avenue Costello and Frank Sein, but this was
always number two. And I haven't seen a lot more
of abing in Costello because with those I don't want
to get my hopes down. Because with these two right
here and meet Franken Sein, they're so perfect that I
(32:41):
don't want to be disappointed. But the one thing I
will say about this movie is they are over in
Africa and then when they come across the Cannibals, they're
very stereotypical in the way they portrayed them. I mean,
you have the the African Americans with the what is
(33:02):
it like the bone and these the bone in the
nose or the the I m'st say, the stick through
the lips or whatever. The headdress is very I don't
know enamorate or whatever. But for the time that this
was made, I mean it was a different time, man,
But but it's still it's still funny. I can't express
(33:25):
enough how funny this is. And that's the only small
takeaway I took out of this whole film. I mean,
I think the lady that played Diana in this movie
is fantastic. The I mean lucky. You say about the
two three stooges that were in it, I mean Gunner dude,
when he loads think.
Speaker 6 (33:44):
That they stole scene they were in. They did every
scene that either Joe or Sheep comes out, and they'll
be in the movie for like two minutes at a time,
just do a little something. They steal the scene. He
steals the scene when he says my tents on fire,
he steals the scene. Oh yeah, when he's like like,
try to pick up the gun, gunners trying to pick
up the gun and show them how he's going to
(34:05):
defend him, and he picks up the gun the opposite way.
I'll just look through the site and he's holding the
gun upside backwards, Yeah, backwards and upside down. You're like,
oh my gosh, they just stole the scene.
Speaker 5 (34:14):
Right, So if you've seen Africa screens, Please drop drop
something on our Facebook. Let me and Bond know what
you guys thought about it, or leave us review or something,
because I want to know if you guys like it
as much as we do. Yes, Bond, go ahead.
Speaker 6 (34:26):
I got one more thing. I gotta ask you. What
is your prop that you were taking from this movie?
Speaker 2 (34:31):
Oh?
Speaker 5 (34:31):
Man, man, there is a ton I you know what.
You could pick several things from this movie, but I
think the hand drawn map that he does of the
department store. I have to take that because it is
so funny because you're thinking of this big elaborate map
from like the Savannah. You turn left at the nile.
Here you know, there's jungle here here and there's no
(34:54):
It's like, here's Macy's shoes, here's the purse bags, and
here's the bookstore. That's what I take. You have taking
the map?
Speaker 6 (35:01):
Oh you took mine?
Speaker 5 (35:03):
Well, there's so many to cheers from picking another one.
Speaker 6 (35:06):
I was like, I want the map, I want the alligator?
Speaker 5 (35:11):
Which one?
Speaker 6 (35:12):
I want the I want the dark alligator that when
they first get there they show that cheesy foam alligator head.
That's what I want.
Speaker 5 (35:20):
You don't what the one. I thought you would take
a Costello swimsuit, the cap I remember he puts thet.
Speaker 6 (35:27):
I was maybe I was thinking about taking maybe a diamond.
Speaker 5 (35:31):
Yeah, I mean those were pretty pretty cool. I thought
about that. And then are the blocks at the end
where the monkey spells the end or whatever?
Speaker 6 (35:38):
Oh yeah, he spells out the Okay, explain before we
before we go, quick explanation of the ending. I don't.
Speaker 5 (35:44):
Okay, So here's here's my takeaway from it. Okay, So
when the last you saw Abbott leaving down the river
on that that raft, because he had lost all the diamonds, remember,
he buried him in the tree, and the monkey takes
the bag of the diamonds. So my my thought process,
(36:04):
and I think this is where they were going, is
that the monkey ended up going finding Costello or Stanley Livingston,
and he got back to America to that thing, and
he became rich because he had all those diamonds because
at the bat heat And that's why he made the
monkey or the orangutan or whatever his business partner, if
you will, because he's if you remember when Abbott's you know,
(36:27):
he's became the elevator bellboy now or whatever, and he's like,
I just don't understand it, because he says that a
bunch of times throughout the end of this movie. I
just don't understand because he still can't remember how did
I lose these diamonds? I had him in a bag
on the X on the tree and he's like and
he's like, hey, mister Livingson, can you ask your partner
about my rais He says, well, let me see if
(36:47):
he's in, and he opens the door and he's like, yeah,
he's in. So I think that's the whole premise of
the The ending was a little soft.
Speaker 6 (36:54):
But they split the gorilla and they split the money,
or they split the diamonds.
Speaker 5 (37:00):
Yeah, I think I think that's what it is. I
mean is it's kind of a weakending, if you will,
but it works. I mean, where do you think they
spend all their money on this?
Speaker 6 (37:11):
Oh man, they spent I don't know how much of
it was on location. I don't think they ever went
to Africans. I don't think anybody went to African this movie.
I think they spent their money on probably props in
getting big name people.
Speaker 5 (37:25):
I would I would probably say, like like maybe the animals,
like the chimpanzees that were here. You know, that's what
I say, real lions there. So if you'd like to
follow us, we are the Tragedy of Cinema podcast. You
can find us on Facebook. You can email us at
the Tragedy of Cinema at gmail dot com. But with
(37:45):
that being said, I think this episode's coming to a close,
and that's a wrap.
Speaker 6 (37:49):
And cut.
Speaker 2 (37:57):
The whim them Marie Shimmer join us, if we toast
to the tales we love the most?
Speaker 3 (38:09):
China he upset.
Speaker 2 (38:11):
Then Marie Shimmer join.
Speaker 4 (38:14):
Us says, we toast to the tales we love the most,
as we love.
Speaker 6 (38:25):
The most.
Speaker 3 (38:30):
The Tragedy of Cinema and Mary Shimmer joy us.
Speaker 4 (38:57):
If we toast through the tails we love the most,
to tells we love the most. Truety, I'm saying.
Speaker 2 (39:09):
When them Marie Hiller join us, sets me toast to
tells we love the most, to tells me love the most,
So that tells me love the most
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My Favorite Murder with Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark
My Favorite Murder is a true crime comedy podcast hosted by Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark. Each week, Karen and Georgia share compelling true crimes and hometown stories from friends and listeners. Since MFM launched in January of 2016, Karen and Georgia have shared their lifelong interest in true crime and have covered stories of infamous serial killers like the Night Stalker, mysterious cold cases, captivating cults, incredible survivor stories and important events from history like the Tulsa race massacre of 1921. My Favorite Murder is part of the Exactly Right podcast network that provides a platform for bold, creative voices to bring to life provocative, entertaining and relatable stories for audiences everywhere. The Exactly Right roster of podcasts covers a variety of topics including historic true crime, comedic interviews and news, science, pop culture and more. Podcasts on the network include Buried Bones with Kate Winkler Dawson and Paul Holes, That's Messed Up: An SVU Podcast, This Podcast Will Kill You, Bananas and more.
The Joe Rogan Experience
The official podcast of comedian Joe Rogan.