Main Cast: Bud Abbott, Lou Costello, Hillary Brooke, Max Baer, Buddy Baer
Release Year: 1949
Country: US
Run Time: 79 minutes
MPAA Rating: NR
Plot
Bud Abbott and Lou Costello temporarily leave their usual Universal stamping grounds to star in the Huntington Hartford production Africa Screams. Costello plays the colorfully inept Stanley Livingstone, a meek book salesman who poses as a big-game hunter at the behest of his shifty pal Buzz Johnson (Abbott). It's all part of a scheme to extract some money from adventuress Diana Emerson (Hillary Brooke), who intends to search for a lost diamond mine in the heart of Africa. It seems that Stanley has committed to memory a long out-of-print book which contained a map to the mine. Despite his mortal fear of wild animals, Stanley accompanies Buzz, Diana, and Diana's henchmen on the African expedition. The subsequent comic complications involve a legendary giant gorilla, a cannibal tribe, and a friendly orangutan who falls in love with Stanley. Animal trainer Clyde Beatty and big-game tracker Frank Buck make cameo appearances while character comics Shemp Howard and Joe Besser provide laughs as, respectively, a nearsighted gunman and a sissified flunky. Also on hand are boxer brothers Max Baer and Buddy Baer, who engage in an amusingly unconvincing display of fisticuffs. But the film belongs to Abbott & Costello, who are in fine form. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Joseph E. Kenny - First Assistant Director, Charles Barton - Director, Frank Gross - Editor, Walter Schumann - Composer (Music Score), Lewis H. Creber - Production Designer, Jane Huizenga - Production Designer, Charles Van Enger - Cinematographer, Edward Nassour - Producer, Huntington Hartford - Producer, Edward Ray Robinson - Set Designer, Carl Lee - Special Effects, Robert Pritchard - Sound/Sound Designer, Earl W. Baldwin - Screenwriter, David D. Martin - Technical Director
Diana Emerson (Hillary Brooke) is in the book department of Klopper's Department store looking for a copy of the book Dark Safari, written by the famed explorer Cuddleford. Buzz Johnson (Bud Abbott) overhears Diana saying that she will pay $2,500 for a map that is inside that book. He devises a plan to pass off his friend Stanley Livington (Lou Costello) as a great explorer who accompanied Cuddleford on the expedition described in the book. With claims that he can reproduce the map, the two men go to Diana's home that very night. They agree to accompany her on an African expedition, and when Bud overhears that Clyde Beatty has been offered $20,000 to lead the expedition, he feels that the map is worth considerably more than $2,500.
They travel to Africa, along with Diana's team of explorers, including Harry (Joe Besser), 'Boots' Wilson (Buddy Baer), 'Grappler' McCoy (Max Baer) and Gunner (Shemp Howard), a nearsighted gunman. The boys learn that the true expedition is for diamonds rather than exploration, and Buzz plans to renegotiate the deal. Unfortunately Stanley cannot reproduce the map, as he has never seen it, and the two attempt to bluff their way around the jungle. Eventually the entire expeditionary team arrives at a Ubangi tribal village, where the chief offers several diamonds in exchange for Stanley, whose carcass can feed many of his people. They start to chase Stanley all over the place, while Buzz buries the diamonds before the tribal warriors are finally frightened away by a large gorilla. Meanwhile, another gorilla has dug up the diamonds that Buzz has hidden.
Some time after returning to the United States, Stanley owns the department store, along with the gorilla, and Buzz works for them as the elevator operator.[1]
Production
Africa Screams was filmed from November 10 through December 22, 1948 at the Nassour Studios in Los Angeles. The film was one of the independently financed productions that Abbott and Costello made while they were under contract with Universal, and it was released by United Artists.[1]
The title of this film is a play on the 1930 documentary, Africa Speaks.
The subplot regarding the affectionate gorilla originally presented a female simian pursuing Costello. However, the Breen Office censors that enforced the Production Code in Hollywood demanded that the gorilla's gender be changed because they felt a female gorilla's pursuit of a man would be on par with bestiality.[2]
Africa Screams marked the first time that Abbott and Costello worked with Hillary Brooke and Joe Besser; both actors would later become part of the ensemble cast for the duo's television series The Abbott and Costello Show.[1] The film also marked the only time that Besser and Shemp Howard appeared together in a film; Besser would replace Howard as one of the Three Stooges following the latter's death in 1955.[2]
As this film is in the public domain,[citation needed] there have been at least a dozen DVD releases from a variety of companies over the years. The image below is a screenshot from the colorized version released by Legend Films in 2005.
