The Camels Are Coming

I wasn't expecting to enjoy this film but me and the missus loved it. Totally absurd and wildly unbelievable, it produced some of the funniest scenes ever. Don't expect anything but bizaar enjoyment.

One of the best of Hulbert's pictures, and certainly the most extravagantly produced, this is 80 minutes of fun all the way. It's also a must for all Egyptologists and airplane buffs. Our only complaint: only two songs, but both of them beauties. A rousing march song: "Sons of the sand/We're brave and bold to a man/We rob and kill where we can/Along the trail of the caravan." And a wonderfully amusing song-and-dance in which Hulbert does some of the craziest jigs imaginable.

Whether double-taking his way out of embarrassing confrontations with Peter Gawthorne (the scene in which he distracts the colonel in order to recover the goatskin bag from a locked valise is a classic), or imperiling the heroine, unintentionally outwitting the villain, or simply spoofing Beau Geste, Hulbert is priceless. His unabashed cheekiness, his bravado (both real and mock), his romantic daring, endear him to every picturegoer who feels that the days of the meek, put-upon, Fate-tossed comedian are numbered. Hulbert makes his own fate. True, his stupidity is a hindrance to his ambitions, but at best he seems only half aware of any mental shortcomings. Certainly he doesn't let his shortage of brains stop him in his unwavering pursuit of both career and romantic success. And he can dance and sing too. Anna Lee makes an appealing, perkily resourceful heroine, Peter Gawthorne is his usual delightfully irascible authority figure, whilst Hartley Power does the honors as the welcoming heavy.

The locations are brilliantly utilized as backgrounds to the comedy. They include a wild car chase from the Great Pyramid to Cairo, a hectic lunch in the exotic gardens of Shepheard's Hotel, and a climactic chase and attack in the desert in which Hulbert, Lee and their dummies hold off the marauders from an abandoned fort.

Briskly directed and beautifully photographed, The Camels Are Coming is a model of movie craftsmanship. Odd that it was never released in the United States because just about all its main technicians were offered Hollywood contracts including director Tim Whelan (who had actually worked with Harold Lloyd), photographer Glen MacWilliams (who went to 20th Century-Fox), editor Fred Smith (who was signed to a 20-year contract with MGM), producer Robert Stevenson and writer Guy Bolton.

I watched this British Comedy again yesterday,and it is 72 minutes of very pleasant viewing.

Our intrepid hero(Jack Hulbert),an RAF pilot,is seconded to the Egyptian Air Force and given the task of rooting out a gang of desert Riff drug smugglers.

He launches into his mission with great enthusiasm,proving to be both a hindrance and a help,much to the consternation of his commanding officer!

Pretty,bubbly Anna Lee is on hand to assist our Jack,and appears to enjoy every minute of the proceedings!

Jack's barmy but entertaining song and dance routine to Noel Gay's "WHO'SE BEEN POLISHING THE SUN",complete with appreciative equine audience,plus some good location photography help make this a fun film.

I taped this off UK Channel 4 in the '80's - the adverts I unfortunately included are more dated than the film itself now. Britain's colonial past is paraded before us - it's worth remembering however that Egypt only finally ditched British and French masters as late as 1956, from then on preferring American masters instead.

The title cashes in on the first "Biggles" book by W.E. Johns published a year or so before - but of course the film bears hardly any comparison to the book, but is OK in its own right. Jack, working for the British-Egyptian air force, has to stop dope smuggling across the desert, organised by an American (Hartley Power) controlling a band of singing Riff robbers. On the way he meets ever smiling Anna Lee and they fall instantly in love. This makes it the odder that he ends up singing his famous song "Who's been polishing the Sun" to a squatting dopey tribesman! This is the only song in the film and it was not the version that was commercially available.

Without ads my copy runs 70 minutes, so maybe the PC censor had already done some chopping by 1989. Some nice primitive aerial footage of the pyramids etc, some nice olde style charming gags make TCAC a pleasant, if not very enlightening experience.

Its all about searching for smugglers in Egypt. Jack Hulbert's comedy doesn't date too well, but this is a happy film that has some interesting old planes and aerial views of the pyramids. Jack singing 'everythings coming my way' is also fun.