Rank really liked Donald Sinden. Here is is as a young naval officer caught up in an Arab country which think the Brits have a weapon when they don't. Appparently the original novel on which this is based had more point. Maybe.
Rank invested in colour and elaborate sets, the film pushes Sinden as a hunk (he's often without his shirt), there are Arab harem women like a 1950s Universal movie, I'm sure the lechers went through then, yet still in a studio that had Kay Kendall and Diana Dors under contract the dull Sarah Lawson is the lead. When Lawson goes undercover as a harem girl at the end it should be funny - imagine the Carry On girls doing it - but it's not.
The movie starts of with three sailors and it should have had three sailors all the way through - it mostly has Sinden, although Bill Kerr joing him an hour in and the action perks up. It's fun to see him as an Aussie.
Kenneth More wanted to play the lead but it was after Genevieve had been shot and before it was released. That was a mistake.
This movie seemed to go on forever despite gorgeous colour, sets and girls, there was just something plodding about it. Director Ken Annakin later admitted farce wasn't his natural genre and he was right.
No comments:
Post a Comment