A Yank in Libya (1942)

the audience applauded

I don't have all the words right now but this film is a work of art.

It's a movie as timely as it is provocative and amazingly, for much of its running time, it is weirdly funny.

One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.

You have to swallow a whole lot in order to give A Yank in Libya any credence of any kind. This was inflicted on the wartime American public by that bottom rung Poverty Row studio PRC.No doubt the folks at PRC thought to capitalize on those MGM classics A Yank At Oxford and A Yank At Eton in the title. School had nothing to do with this picture although someone sure missed their geography when they wrote this.Libya on your Rand McNally maps prior to our entry in World War II was colored the same color that Italy was as it was an Italian colony. Yet nowhere do you see signs of Italian soldiers or Italian anything. What we have here is neutral Libya being stirred up against the British in the person of consul H.B. Warner by William Vaughn an agent of the Fuehrer.Getting wind of this reporter Walter Woolf King who wants to scoop the world, but keeps blundering into the situation. He's driving Warner, Joan Woodbury and the rest of the British nuts.The British and the Nazis are supporting rival sheiks Duncan Renaldo and George J. Lewis respectively. Although in 1942 we did not know how things would turn out, the good guys prevail here.But any film that has Harry "Parkyarkarkus" Eisenstein as another agent give a wide berth.

Mediocre War-time tale set in the sands of Libya. An American war correspondent, Mike Malone(Walter Woolf King)stumbles on possibly the story of his career. His mission to Libya turns out to be more adventure than he bargained for. Malone stumbles upon a Nazi plot for an uprising of Arab tribes. He pilfers a German made rifle for proof of what he has discovered and after being chased across the desert, he has a pretty stranger(Joan Woodbury) hide the weapon for him. He goes to British Intelligence for help and learns they already know of the plot. Double-crossings, secret alliances, barroom brawls and a belly dancer(Amarilla Morris) keeps the action going. Other players: H.B. Warner, Duncan Renaldo and Harry Parke.

You don't expect much from a PRC picture, and with rare exceptions--mainly from Edgar G. Ulmer and a few by Joseph H. Lewis or Lew Landers--that's exactly what you get: not much. This "epic" about Nazis in Africa trying to incite an Arab revolt against the British isn't much different. The script, by longtime PRC hacks Arthur St. Claire and Sherman Lowe, is trite, laughable, full of unfunny "wisecracks" and plot holes the size of Outer Mongolia. The direction, by longtime PRC no-budget specialist Al Herman, is semi-comatose at best. The performances, though--except for spectacularly incompetent and irritatingly hammy lead Walter Woolf King--aren't really half bad. Veteran comedian Parkyakarkus is actually the best thing about the film. He plays a guy from Brooklyn masquerading as a razor-blade salesman and brightens up the screen considerably when he shows up. He's got great comic timing, charm to spare and seems to be having a heck of a good time. Duncan Renaldo is fairly convincing as an Arab sheik--despite his Spanish accent--and veteran bad guy George J. Lewis as Renaldo's Arab rival does his usual fine job of villainy, even if he goes a bit over the top sometimes. Joan Woodbury is quite pretty and has a nice light touch, and she and Renaldo have great chemistry together, although--like the rest of the cast--she has none at all with King. H.B. Warner, whose career stretched back to the silent era, lends a shred of dignity to the low-rent proceedings, even though he blows his lines several times and, PRC being PRC, they weren't cut out. There's a great deal of stock footage spliced in from a big-budget silent movie with a similar Arab theme--although I have no idea which one it is--and, PRC being PRC, no effort was made to try to make it inconspicuous: I've seldom seen stock footage that was so blatantly obvious."A Yank in Libya" isn't very good, of course--well, OK, it stinks--but it would be worth a look just to see Parkyakarkus in his prime. I had heard of him and knew that he was the father of actor/director Albert Brooks and Super Dave Osborne, but had never actually seen him in anything before. It was worth watching this tenth-rate PRC "extravaganza" just to see him in action. Otherwise, forget it.

This gloriously silly "rah rah" America film was made right after the American entry in World War 2. Its a wild romp with a jerk for a lead but enough jokes action and mismatched stock footage to be a great deal of fun in the right frame of mind.This is the story of Mike Malone an American reporter in Libya. He comes upon a plot of the Nazi's to arm the Arabs and fight the British. He steals a rifle and high tails it back to the nearest city. He crashes into the room of a nice "British" girl, leaves her the gun and then heads out the window, telling her to hide the gun from pursuing Arabs. Malone goes to the British consulate where he's thought balmy, doubly so after a visit to the girl turns up no gun. Malone then struggles to prove his story, while the British try to prevent the Arab uprising and keep an eye on the German in their midst.This movie is very funny, often for the wrong reasons. Malone, played by Walter Woolf King, is the worst an American be: cocksure, boorish, a jerk and insufferable. He's horribly unlikeable and comes close to sinking the movie, but he doesn't mostly because he's so over inflated as to be a joke. He is nicely counter balanced by the rest of the cast who are damn near spot in their portrayals of what should be cardboard characters. Clearly they are going to go for it even if the buffoon in the middle isn't. I have to single out Harry Parke aka Parkyarkarkus, as a guy from Brooklyn posing as an Arab razor blade salesman. Parke is a joy to be hold as a calm cool man of action and witty remarks. Clearly he knows whats going on even when everyone else doesn't. The character of Parkyarkarkus was Parke's patented character from radio and he's basically doing the same shtick here to great effect. (A side note: Parke, real last name Einstein, is not only known for fathering Super Dave Osbourne and Albert Brooks, but also dropping dead in Milton Berle's lap during a Friar's roast of Lucille Ball).Technically this movie is a mess. Clearly shot on stages and back lots, it also makes a great deal of stock footage, none of which matches any of the other footage in the film. It makes for a "bigger" movie but often surreal effect as in the case of a bar room brawl that suddenly is in a room three times the size it started in and involves ten times more people. Its funny for all the wrong reasons.And I really liked this movie. There is something so loopy about it that made me like it infinitely more than I should have. Its not a great movie but some how the plot is involving and the knowing humor takes enough of the edge off the crappy parts that you really don't mind its low rent birth.Worth a bucket of popcorn and a soda.8 out of 10 if you're in the right frame of mind. 5 out of 10 if you're not.