While I enjoy Charley Chase's films and have seen and reviewed quite a few, I've gotta admit that this is among the worst of them. The film, while watchable, just isn't funny--a cardinal sin for a comedy!!! The film does feature a few cute songs that started to wear thin after a while, but nothing that even came close to making me smile or laugh. You KNOW it's a dog of a film when perhaps the funniest thing about the film is the terribly unfunny voice one of the sheik's servants has towards the end of the movie.
The plot involves Chase and three buddies visiting France in 1933 with the American Legion. Through a misunderstanding, the four sign up with the French Foreign Legion and are shipped to North Africa. There, they stumble into the lair of a not particularly mean sheik and in the end they all become friends and create a sideshow act for Coney Island (I AM NOT MAKING THIS UP--REALLY).
Unfunny. Don't watch this unless you have seen plenty of Chase films and understand that this film is an aberration--he really COULD be quite funny--just not here. Maybe if Chase had directed this film himself (as he often did using his real name, "Charles Parrot"), it might have been better.
By the way, the other two reviews (so far) are pretty positive. I could be wrong about this film or it could be they just haven't seen enough of his films to know that he was so, so much funnier.
The plot involves Chase and three buddies visiting France in 1933 with the American Legion. Through a misunderstanding, the four sign up with the French Foreign Legion and are shipped to North Africa. There, they stumble into the lair of a not particularly mean sheik and in the end they all become friends and create a sideshow act for Coney Island (I AM NOT MAKING THIS UP--REALLY).
Unfunny. Don't watch this unless you have seen plenty of Chase films and understand that this film is an aberration--he really COULD be quite funny--just not here. Maybe if Chase had directed this film himself (as he often did using his real name, "Charles Parrot"), it might have been better.
By the way, the other two reviews (so far) are pretty positive. I could be wrong about this film or it could be they just haven't seen enough of his films to know that he was so, so much funnier.