Tuesday, August 28, 2018

Movie review - Aces of Action#13 - "Raiders of the Desert" (1941) **

Richard Arlen and Andy Devine were teamed by Universal in a series of action comedies, which I think were inspired by the antics of What Price Glory? - two friends who get into various adventures. This one sends them to a backlot fictitious Arabian country - a part of which is being developed by a benevolent American businessman (George Carleton), who isn't the villain, but an admirable figure - which is an interesting depiction of American colonialism. There are villainous locals who want to reclaim the country for themselves, so not it's not exactly PC.

I didn't mind the film. It's not terribly bright but it moved along and Arlen (a heavyset actor) and Devine are fine as a team. Linda Hayes is spirited as the girl, and various white actors pretend to be actors. Even though it was a low-budget film and only at Universal, it was still Universal so the production values are decent and there's quite an impressive brawl at the end, with the French (?) Foreign Legion coming to the rescue.

The film is interesting not just for its political depiction but also its support cast - Maria Montez is in a very small role as a local girl, and Turhan Bey has a more prominent part as a villainous local. Both would go on for bigger and better things.


No comments: