Raiders of the Desert

Richard Arlen and Andy Devine are on their way to California, so they stow away on a ship bound to North Africa. Once there, they follow Linda Hayes to a model city in the desert, where she has been hired by the developers as a secretary. While Arlen pursues Hayes, and Devine pursues Maria Montez, desert sheik Ralf Harolde tries to destroy the development, which threatens his command of the local tribes.

It's a pretty desperate action comedy from Universal, which seems to have settled on Arlen & Devine as their answer to Hope & Crosby. Andy sings "I'm A Big, Bad Baghdad Daddy" to Miss Montez, while accompanying himself on the ukulele, and Richard seems to spend most of his time being grouchy with Devine and modeling the extensive wardrobe he has stowed away with. Haralde's strategy for destroying the unsightly American-style city (which looks like a small hotel in the middle of the desert) seems to be to have half his force of about twenty men deal with the hundreds of pith-helmeted soldiers with artillery, while he and the others ride into town, where they can be potted from the second-story windows. Keep an eye out for John Wayne as a truck driver. No, it's a clip from the archives.