A Wise Morecambe Revolution
Eric and Ernie have headed to a South American country to try and sell their toy soldiers only to find themselves in the midst of a battle for power between President Diaz (Martin Benson - Mozambique) and the rebels lead by Torres. But when Torres is killed, rebel General Carrillo (Virgilio Teixeira - The Boy Who Stole a Million) forces Eric to take the rebel leader's place as he is a dead ringer for him. When Eric gets a bit too carried away with being leader, after the rebels stage a coup, Carrillo plans to get rid of him as well, forcing Eric and Ernie to try and get out of there.
"The Magnificent Two" was the third movie which Eric Morecambe and Ernie Wise made back in the 60s and in an almost contradictory way it works because it is the least Morecambe & Wise of the three of them. By that I mean that "The Magnificent Two" has a pretty solid storyline with Eric playing the part of rebel leader only to find his own rebel General wants him gone. And in truth I almost get the feeling that the producers of "The Magnificent Two" found a script for a movie and then worked in some Morecambe & Wise gags which means that in between the story we have Eric being worried and hesitant yet thinking he can be suave with the ladies whilst Ernie does that bouncing little run when he decides to try it on.
But that is probably why "The Magnificent Two" works for me but not so much for those who watch because they are fans of Morecambe & Wise. Or maybe it is because with the storyline actually driving the movie it some times feels like when they did say lets have a funny scene they just tossed in one of those generic, stereotypical Morecambe & Wise gags rather than coming up with some thing which felt new.
Despite this both Morecambe & Wise deliver the laughs when they are called upon and they have a nice cast around them with both Margit Saad and Isobel Black entertaining as women who kind of fall for them.
What this all boils down to is that "The Magnificent Two" is not that magnificent yet for me I found it probably more entertaining than others have because it is the story which drives this rather than just the humour of Morecambe & Wise.
