Captain Gallant of the Foreign Legion – The Foreign Legion (film #5 on Disc #2 of Classic Kids’ Shows DVD Boxed Set (Genius Entertainment, 2004)). [Category: Early Film & TV]

This 50s action-adventure show would have us believe that a member of the French Foreign Legion is allowed to have a grizzled sidekick named Fuzzy and a kid named Cubby accompany him on his adventures. Never mind, this is basically an exotic French version of a kiddie western. The plot, involving a group of bank robbers, is pretty standard action-adventure fare, but it’s a real hoot to watch Buster Crabbe as Captain Gallant pretend to be a Latino criminal and mangle the occasional French word he has to say. And they included the commercials for Heinz ketchup, which are great fun––one of them has an animated chef helping out a housewife, while another has Cubby asserting that he eats ketchup on everything, morning, noon, and night. All in all, this is a fun blast from the past.

Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: ***. Weirdness: ***. Historical Interest: ****. Overall Rating: ****.

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