With Martin and Lewis, Abbott and Costello and the Three Stooges keeping juvenile audiences entertained with their sometimes insipid plot lines that adults either accepted for what they were or groaned at, veteran comic Joan Davis joined that group as a bored American who longs for adventure and heads to the North African coast where she finds romance, excitement, and an Arabic culture that disappeared long before this took place. She is traveling with pretty Peggy Castle whom she has no idea is actually an Arabian princess, and finds more excitement when she is confused with the beautiful young lady and placed inside the current ruler's harem.
Repeats of gags we already saw in "Road to Morocco" and "Abbott and Costello in the Foreign Legion" are moderately funny if you see this film before you do those, but like her T.V. show, Joan is sometimes overly forced. Her earlier films were amusing programmers, but by this time, the old gags were getting tired. A few good lines here and there do not make a classic comedy, and the stereotypical view of Islamic customs and lifestyles just seems trite. Unlike other 50's funny ladies (Lucy, Eve), I can take maybe an hour of Joan's schtick, so this is the perfect length. There's some good slapstick, but unfortunately, this doesn't hold up as well as other farces with comics I mention above. Veteran comic character actress Minerva Urecal has a funny bit as the head mistress of the Harem (think Marjorie Main in a toga), and Joan is certainly likable. It's just too bad that the scripts she took seemed just so rushed so ultimately they end up mediocre and quickly forgettable.
Repeats of gags we already saw in "Road to Morocco" and "Abbott and Costello in the Foreign Legion" are moderately funny if you see this film before you do those, but like her T.V. show, Joan is sometimes overly forced. Her earlier films were amusing programmers, but by this time, the old gags were getting tired. A few good lines here and there do not make a classic comedy, and the stereotypical view of Islamic customs and lifestyles just seems trite. Unlike other 50's funny ladies (Lucy, Eve), I can take maybe an hour of Joan's schtick, so this is the perfect length. There's some good slapstick, but unfortunately, this doesn't hold up as well as other farces with comics I mention above. Veteran comic character actress Minerva Urecal has a funny bit as the head mistress of the Harem (think Marjorie Main in a toga), and Joan is certainly likable. It's just too bad that the scripts she took seemed just so rushed so ultimately they end up mediocre and quickly forgettable.