As a kid, there were two kinds of movies I always watched - all the ones with Abbott and Costello in them, and anything having to do with wild jungle animals. Catching this one back in the day then was obviously a bonus, how many times could lightning strike like this for a young movie fan!
Of course back then, I wouldn't have known too much about all of the supporting players who appear here, so watching it today was a real trip down memory lane. Hillary Brooke of course was a regular on the comedy pair's TV show, usually going by her real name, while Joey Besser also had a fair share of appearances there as a character named 'Stinky' Davis. Besser's former 'Three Stooges' team member Shemp Howard also shows up here as a sight challenged safari member named Gunner who gets to do a couple of gimmicks with Lou.
Then of course you have the most famous pair of wild animal experts of the era in Clyde Beatty and that 'Bring 'em Back Alive' guy Frank Buck. All but unknown today, they were like household names for me as I did my wild animal research back in the Fifties. On top of all that though, you've got a couple of pro boxing brothers here in the way of Max and Buddy Baer, and even though their connection to the sport isn't specifically mentioned in the story, I got a kick out of Buddy's remark as his character Boots Wilson got into a scrap with Grappler McCoy - "I'll hit you harder than Louis ever did" - a cool reference to Ring Magazine's 1924 Fight of the Year in which Joe Louis beat Max in the fourth round of their heavyweight bout.
With all that, the story here is almost superfluous, but filled with plenty of Abbott and Costello's traditional gags, and plenty of wild animals to boot! Interestingly, as straight man Buzz Johnson, Abbott faints dead away at the sight of crocodiles, lions and gorillas, leaving his partner to handle all the double takes and feigned fear of becoming part of the lunch menu. Watching as a kid, that scene of Lou seeing the 'Orangatan Gargantua' just blew me away, something I had forgotten about until that scene played out this time around.
Of course back then, I wouldn't have known too much about all of the supporting players who appear here, so watching it today was a real trip down memory lane. Hillary Brooke of course was a regular on the comedy pair's TV show, usually going by her real name, while Joey Besser also had a fair share of appearances there as a character named 'Stinky' Davis. Besser's former 'Three Stooges' team member Shemp Howard also shows up here as a sight challenged safari member named Gunner who gets to do a couple of gimmicks with Lou.
Then of course you have the most famous pair of wild animal experts of the era in Clyde Beatty and that 'Bring 'em Back Alive' guy Frank Buck. All but unknown today, they were like household names for me as I did my wild animal research back in the Fifties. On top of all that though, you've got a couple of pro boxing brothers here in the way of Max and Buddy Baer, and even though their connection to the sport isn't specifically mentioned in the story, I got a kick out of Buddy's remark as his character Boots Wilson got into a scrap with Grappler McCoy - "I'll hit you harder than Louis ever did" - a cool reference to Ring Magazine's 1924 Fight of the Year in which Joe Louis beat Max in the fourth round of their heavyweight bout.
With all that, the story here is almost superfluous, but filled with plenty of Abbott and Costello's traditional gags, and plenty of wild animals to boot! Interestingly, as straight man Buzz Johnson, Abbott faints dead away at the sight of crocodiles, lions and gorillas, leaving his partner to handle all the double takes and feigned fear of becoming part of the lunch menu. Watching as a kid, that scene of Lou seeing the 'Orangatan Gargantua' just blew me away, something I had forgotten about until that scene played out this time around.