Wordiezett So much average

GazerRise Fantastic!

Spidersecu Don't Believe the Hype

Beystiman It's fun, it's light, [but] it has a hard time when its tries to get heavy.

classicsoncall Checking YOUR pulse after watching this Arabian adventure would be a good idea as well. Someone, somewhere at some time must have thought his was a pretty good idea for a picture, but obviously overlooked the fact that a man dressed in bright scarlet red would not exactly have looked inconspicuous as the leader of a band of desert rebels attempting to win back his lineage.Well I don't know, you'd think a picture with Lucy Ricardo and Perry Mason on hand would be something of a unique film experience, and this one certainly qualifies, but probably for all the wrong reasons. I see a number of other reviewers had some fun with this one pretty much along the same lines as I did. It's cool to see these actors go through their paces, but the result is just a mess. Seriously now, can you imagine Raymond Burr having the desert hots for Lucille Ball?As for the magical flying carpet, well that was just the icing on the cake. Not only was it comical looking, but you had to wonder how the players managed to keep a straight face. When it was all over, I finally figured out where John Kay (you know, the lead singer of Steppenwolf) might have gotten the inspiration for his mega-hit. I wonder if he ever saw the picture.

grizzledgeezer MGM's slogan was "More stars than there are in heaven." Columbia's might have been "More crap than there is in a chicken coop". Columbia produced some fine films, but its percentage of gobblers is notably higher than that of 20th, MGM, Paramount, Warner, etc. This is one of the turkeys.The story is the usual Arabian nights hokum. The dialog (some of which sounds as if it was lifted from Westerns) is written so as not to confuse a five-year-old, leading to terminal boredom for adults. The film is so uninvolving that the composer fills virtually every second with music, to make the viewer think something of interest is happening. The fight scenes, in particular, are notable non-events. (They look as if the actors choreographed them on the fly.)The acting is strictly amateur, with only Raymond Burr working up enough energy to sound convincing -- and that only occasionally. John Agar's performance is among his worst -- perhaps //the// worst. One gets an inkling of why his marriage to The Queen of Cute ended.The sets and costumes are lavishly cheap, and the color is the weirdly hued Super Cinecolor, a couple of notches inferior to the more-expensive Technicolor. The only things that show any taste or talent are several beautiful glass paintings.This is the sort of film that ought to have been skewered on MST3K, but wasn't. A shame, really.

MARIO GAUCI Arabian Nights romps are popular around the house especially during this time of year for their exotic flavor, fantasy elements, action outbursts and general mindlessness. This film is best-known, if at all, for the presence of Lucille Ball; interestingly, she does not play the heroine but rather a sultry semi-villainess (the ambitious sister of the current Caliph, naturally a usurper). Equally predictably, the true heir to the throne (blandly played by John Agar) has survived an attack upon his life as an infant and, unaware of his heritage, has taken to living a life of poverty as a physician. The heroine, then, is a feisty (but who effortlessly works her feminine charms when the need arises) Patricia Medina – a regular in this type of film – who not only gets off with Agar on the wrong foot (by wanting to join the all-male band of rebels he secretly and all-too-suddenly finds himself leading under the guise of "The Scarlet Falcon"!), resents Ball (obviously over her attentions to Agar, eventually in the Caliph's employ when he cures a case of hiccups he had brought about in the first place) but has a brother of her own (Agar's sidekick and the film's obligatory supplier of comedy relief, George Tobias). As for the chief villain, we get no less than Raymond Burr: needless to say, he craves Ball's favors but she only has eyes for the dashing hero. The titular fabric comes in handy many a time during the course of the film, usually to allow Agar to make a nick-of-time escape or to meet up with his rabble and give them the low-down on the Caliph's movements so that they can finally storm the palace, rid the country of a tyrant and put Agar himself in his rightful place. As can be expected, the film is instantly forgettable and hardly great cinema but certainly makes for colorful fare and fun viewing to boot i.e. it provides perfect relaxation after a hard day at work.

michael-248 This low budget adventure stars John Agar, Raymond Burr of TV's Perry Mason, and a very pregnant Lucille Ball The poor production values used to make this movie give it the look of a Technicolor, Three Stooges episode. It's really too bad I would have enjoyed a good Arabian Adventure, starring Lucille Ball!