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Lum and Abner Abroad
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Wikipedia article
'Lum and Abner Abroad' is a 1956 American comedy film directed by James V. Kern and written by Carl Herzinger. The film stars Chester Lauck, Norris Goff, Jill Alis, Lila Audres, Gene Gary and Chris Peters. The film was released on January 1, 1956.
Plot
The film consists of three two-reel episodes. In each, Lum and Abner visit a different city in Europe.
*In Zagreb, Yugoslavia, the two involve themselves in the disappearance of an American reporter, who is engaged to a local ballerina.
*In Paris, France, a thief and his 'femme fatale' co-conspirator plot to use Lum and Abner as pawns to smuggle a valuable figurine out of the country.
*In Monte Carlo, Monaco, Lum and Abner are mistaken for two much wealthier Americans; a deadbeat duchess sees them as an easy mark and hopes to get a cut of the duo's losses at the local casino. To her dismay, the two hit a lucky streak and end up making 100 times their wager.
Cast
*Chester Lauck as Lum Edwards
*Norris Goff as Abner Peabody
*Jill Alis as Marianne Passavetz
*Lila Audres as Collette Bleu
*Gene Gary as Nikolai Brasnovich
*Chris Peters as Croupier
*Nada Nuchich as Lisa Dubroc
*Branko Spoljar as Papa Passavetz
*Jim Kiley as Tommy Ellis
*Steven Voyt as Frankenshpinin
*Vera Misita as Duchess Dubroc
*Vlado Stefancic as Mischa Dramascu
*Josip Batistic as Dignitary
Background
'Lum and Abner Abroad' was originally conceived as a television series and a comeback vehicle for the Lum and Abner characters. The duo had appeared in six feature films and a long-running radio series between 1935 and 1950, but other than a short-lived radio revival in 1953, had not appeared in media since then. 'Lum and Abner' had made at least one previous effort to transition to television under the more familiar format of the radio show; like 'Lum and Abner Abroad', that effort was also unsuccessful, although the pilot episode of the other series also survives.[https://archive.org/details/LumAndAbner_TestFootageForTVPilot Lum and Abner: Test footage for TV pilot]
Had 'Lum and Abner Abroad' been picked up as a series, the three shorts would have constituted three individual episodes of the series. As the series was not picked up, they were instead hastily strung together and released as a feature film.
None of the production staff for the six previous Lum and Abner films returned for this film. It served as James V. Kern's last theatrical directorial effort, as he had shifted almost exclusively to television by this point in his life.
Reception
A retrospective review at 'TV Guide' praised Lum and Abner's performances but criticized the poor editing (fade-outs and fade-ins for commercial breaks were left in the theatrical prints) and simplistic script, giving the film one out of five stars.
References
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