One of a tiny handful of films Bud Abbott and Lou Costello made away from Universal, AFRICA SCREAMS was a delightful parody of jungle pictures -complete with real-life big game wranglers Clyde Beatty and Frank "Bring 'em Back Alive" Buck. The story has some crooks looking to raid a native diamond mine in darkest Africa. Lou, a store salesman petrified of animals, is hired as guide when it turns out he's the only one who knows the way! Typically hysterical hijinks produced during the period where Bud and Lou really hit their stride, AFRICA SCREAMS went on to become a hugely popular TV and home video staple. (It was the first film I purchased on DVD.) Everything is firing correctly, and the film's cast adds some fun trivia value. The femme fatal is Hillary Brooke, who shortly went on to star as the charming girl across the hall on The Abbott and Costello Show. The film sports two Stooges as well. Shemp Howard is a nearly blind gun bearer, while Joe Besser (who also went on to join Bud and Lou's TV program) is his typically annoying self. Despite not being produced under Universal, the film remains one of the best the team did. Rapid-fire family entertainment that I can't imagine a childhood not including.
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