A YANK IN LIBYA (1942)

This WWII adventure starts as an American dressed in Arabian clothing races through the streets of a town in Libya and enters a woman's room. She's startled but he begs her to hide a rifle he is carrying; he swiped it from Sheik David as proof that the Nazis are running guns in order to bring about unrest among the local tribes. She reluctantly agrees; he escapes through a window just before Sheik David enters. As the Sheik is friendly with the woman, Nancy Brooks (Joan Woodbury), he believes her when she claims that no one entered her room. The American, reporter Mike Malone (Walter Woolf King), goes to the British embassy to report what he knows to diplomat Phillip Graham, but is stonewalled by an older employee named Forbes (H.B. Warner). Mike drags Forbes to Nancy's apartment, but she denies the entire incident. In short order, we meet the rest of the characters: the diplomat Graham who in fact knows about the gunrunning and resents Mike's amateur attempts at spying; Sheik Ibrahim, second in command to Sheik David—while David has close ties to the British, Ibrahim in anxious to do the Nazis' bidding; a Czech businessman named Streyer; and an Arab street vendor named Parkyarkarkus (pronounced "park your carcass"—he befriends Mike and serves mostly as comic relief). As situations develop, we learn that not all these folks are quite what they seem, and the question is, will Mike be a help or a hindrance in quashing the local uprising aimed at destabilizing the region?

This Poverty Row film plays out a little more competently than others of its kind, partly due to lots of use of stock footage of crowds and action. However, the footage is mostly from the silent movie era—the movements are unnaturally sped up.  I didn't find it all that bothersome, but your mileage may vary. Otherwise, it's an average low-budget wartime thriller without much in the way of actual thrills, but packed with plot (and the requisite plot holes that come with a low budget). Walter Woolf King plays the mostly unlikable hero and Joan Woodbury fades into the woodwork as Nancy, who turns out to be a British agent. Warner, a big star in silent movies, is top-billed though he doesn't get all that much screen time, and he seems like he's sleepwalking through the role—though a few years later he gives a strong performance as the druggist in IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE. In an odd turn, Parkyarkarkus, the character, is played by Parkyarkarkus, the actor. He is an acquired taste; I don't find him all that funny but he doesn't offend or irritate me, either. In real life, he was Harry Parke, father to comic actors Albert Brooks and Bob Einstein. William Vaughn chews the scenery ineffectively as the Nazi villain. The best performances, partly due to their subtlety, are given by Duncan Renaldo as Sheik David and Howard Banks as Graham. Fans of Poverty Row films will enjoy this, but others can give this a pass. Pictured are King and Banks. [YouTube]