Verschollen im Harem

Elvis returns, this time he is slightly weathered, quite a bit more lethargic, and desperate to escape his captors. But, his captors are not the oil paint smeared Arabs, nor the fairly innocuous women that surround him. His captors are much bigger than one motion picture could possibly describe. They are the entire industry he has found himself immersed in. They are the money-hungry culture vultures that readily devour a popular figure like him until he is but a bloated pasty corpse. This film shows them as they are through their sinister machinations. They can be seen with invisible marionette string as they force Elvis to march around in costume, as they prod him with sharp knives into doing little lackluster dances that turn into morose forced marches across the barren tundra of his once mighty career. This is not the Elvis of folklore, nor is it the Elvis that will return one day and save us from mediocrity. This is the dry Elvis, milked fully, udders raw, yet ever sedated. The Elvis that might have died on the screen in front of your eyes and you might have not even noticed it. Don't let the bright lights and forced smile fool you. It is your duty to lament this vision before you, because it is an ugly one.

It's very easy to dismiss an Elvis flick with a goofy title like HARUM SCARUM just by hearing it. But I was actually rather surprised by this colorful and unconventional Presley romp. It turned out pretty good for a Presley knock-off, despite the hokum.

Taking Elvis into the odd world of the Middle East is in itself a fresh change of space considering the formulaic nature of his films. It's not high art by any stretch of the imagination, but it's fun. And leading ladies Mary Ann Mobley and Fran Jeffries are gorgeous to behold.

None of the songs are very strong, but there are plenty of them to go around this time.

For me, "Harum Scarum" is a prime example of different people having different opinions...I honestly don't think this is THAT bad, really. I'm an Elvis fan so I can be accused of bias, but I didn't think every film Elvis did was top notch. I'm not a western kind of guy so "Flaming Star", "Love Me Tender" and "Charro", but I think "Harum Scarum" is far more enjoyable and attention keeping than "Girls!Girls! Girls!", "The Trouble with Girls", "Tickle Me" and even "Blue Hawaii"...like I say, different people have different tastes. I know Priscilla Presley certainly doesn't like "Harum Scarum" she slates it in her autobiography "Elvis and Me" and even The King's Manager Colonel Tom Parker didn't like this and he was the man responsible for holding Elvis back in Hollywood. Once again, Mary Ann Mobley appears as the leading lady, looking even more beautiful than she did in "Girl Happy", as a king's daughter, while another beauty - actress and nude model Fran Jefferies also has a starring role as one of the villains. The director was the dancer and musical director Gene Nelson, and the set was used in a Laurence of Arabia type movie earlier. In "Harum Scarum", Elvis plays actor, singer and martial arts Hollywood star Johnny Tyrone, who is kidnapped by naive sheik's who believe Tyrone's movie skills where he can kill a tiger with his bare hands are real, and they want him to kill a king so they can take over control. Once held captive, Tyrone attempts to escape and return to America. En route, he meets and is smitten by Mary Ann Mobley and his escape plan soon makes way for plan B as he plots to save the King from the evil assassins and win the heart of his daughter. The soundtrack is not bad. They only song I'm not fond on is "Shake That Tambourine". "Kismet" and "Golden Coins" are fine songs, but all are nowhere near the sublime "So Close, Yet So Far (from Paradise)". A real hidden Gem from Elvis' movie soundtracks and one of my top 10 Elvis songs he ever recorded, it's a shame it had to appear in one of his most critically panned movies thus gets so criminally overlooked.

Perhaps I was in a very forgiving frame of mind but "Harum Scarum" went down pretty well. Widely regarded as one of the King's worst offenders and he was disappointed with the results as he thought (before reading the finished script) that this would be a welcome change of pace from his established formula.

The scenery is a breath of fresh air (though we all know it's MGM's back lot for the most part) and the film has a bit more of a plot than usual; although it's very clumsily handled. The comedy bits are fairly lackluster and the action is rather stiff but the film moves along well with few to no lulls. Elvis has a strong presence but he really doesn't strain himself too much and he receives little support from his fellow co-stars; though Billy Barty (most memorable as J.J. MacKuen from "Foul Play") does induce a few chuckles without a line of dialog.

The songs range from pedestrian to very good ("Kismet" and "So Close (Yet So Far) From Paradise") and the girls, as almost always is the case with Presley films, are quite the eye candy.

"Harum Scarum" is not good but it's breezy enough entertainment for fans of Elvis that's not quite as bad as it's reputation suggests. I'd choose this over "Stay Away, Joe" any day of the week.

Colonel Tom Parker who usually took great care in the movie properties acquired for Elvis Presley must have cringed with the lemon he got Elvis stuck in here. IMDb says that Colonel Tom thought that Harum Scarum might have needed a talking camel so that there would be no question this was a comedy. Obviously the Colonel had the Road to Morocco in mind. But I'll go one better. Elvis the singer may have needed a comedian along with him, like Bob Hope.

Back when the Road to Morocco was made it was satirizing those sword and sandal desert epics that were popular back in the day. Usually those were about some mythical kingdom. We don't have mythical kingdoms any more, they're not in vogue in Hollywood. Poor Elvis was stuck in genre that was way out of date.

Also I don't think anyone had any doubt that when they went to see the Road to Morocco they were seeing a comedy. The gags here just fall flat. Now I doubt Elvis could have gotten Bob Hope, but a comedian of Elvis's generation to co-star might have brought off the comedy, but only might have.

Elvis is in good voice, but none of the songs from here are especially memorable. Certainly not like Jailhouse Rock or Blue Hawaii.

Harum Scarum belongs at the bottom of Elvis's movie credits. Only devoted fans of the King will like this and maybe not even them.