The Desert Song

I was seven years old when my mother took me to a theater in suburban Atlanta. The opening scene, lasting several minutes, was in Technicolor. It portrayed the Red Shadow with his brilliant scarlet robe flowing as he lead his band of "Riffs" on horseback through the rugged desert country. It was magnificent and unbelievable. In 1930, a movie in color was in the realm of science fiction. I've never forgotten the experience.

'Neath a desert moon, this famous operetta about a lovelorn woman from Paris and the infamous rebel, the Red Shadow, plays out amid the blowing desert sands and cool evening breezes. Not as cinematic as later musicals, this 1929 mega-hit is basically a filmed stage play and runs 2 hours. But the actors are very good and the film is a precious time capsule of 1920 musical theater.

John Boles, who also starred in the 1929 hit RIO RITA, here plays the infamous Red Shadow who is really Pierre, the meek son of General Birabeau. Margot (Carlotta King) has come to Morocco hoping for romantic adventure but is about to marry the dull Captain Fontaine (John Miljan). Margot likes Pierre but cannot abide his meekness. While she pines for adventure, she is also repulsed by the brutality of the Red Shadow.

There's a whole East vs West mentality here in notions about women, love, manliness, etc. Thrown into this stewpot is the exotic Azuri (Myrna Loy), a half-caste dancer forced to live as a "bad girl." She is the only one who knows the identity of the Red Shadow.

For comic relief we have the dowdy Susan (Louise Fazenda) and her silly (read gay) boyfriend Benny (Johnny Arthur) who also seem to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Boles, King, Loy, Fazenda, and Arthur are all excellent in their roles.

The 1943 and 1953 versions got progressively sanitized and streamlined, deleting the comic roles, all sexual innuendo, and several songs.

The original 1929 film had several color sequences (apparently lost) but exists in complete form.

It was the best of times, the worst of times(Dickens);"The Singing Fool" and the "Jazz Singer" rescued W.B. from bankruptcy but the advent of sound ruined actors who failed to make the transition:e.g. John Gilbert's squeaky voice. 1929 saw the great crash and the onset of Depression.It was also the time of Abd-El-Krim who fought the French in Morocco and may have been the inspiration of this operetta.

The titling looks so very much like a silent,plus the 10 min.intermission.The stiffness is forgivable,considering some facts: silent actors still had to declaim and gesture;synch.sound had to be filmed in booths,restricting movements(no blimps those days),and the camera crane and boom had only just arrived.

Carlotta King is in excellent voice,but has a distinct almost UK elocution resembling Margaret Dumont's.I still think that John Boles' acting as the R.S. is as passionate as one could wish, his portrayal as the inane Pierre overplayed until his father tells him of Margot's intended trip with Fontaine,when his disappointment is obvious.The music keeps to the imported Viennese style except the Riff Song and one or two others.The "Desert Song" duet is a delight and the difference with this film and other musicals is that the background music is there all the time and keeps the action going,not just dialog interspersed with a song or two.I think that their voices compensate for any acting deficiencies and the sincerity comes over very well.The two later versions do not match it in content, and given the choruses and dances the production values for the time are great.The original was partly in Technicolor,I am informed.I disagree about Benny's gaiety:the term was unknown in those days and would not have been implied.I saw this historic masterpiece in Brighton UK in '30,and wish there was a decent video.

... instead it is barely a footnote. That is mainly because Warner Brothers failed to recognize that this era in film history - 1928-1929 - was a special time and required them to dispense with their rigid film release schedule. The Desert Song was complete and ready for release in November 1928 - one of the if not the first Technicolor all sound musicals, a true innovation and marvel of the time. But instead it sat in its can until May 1929, its scheduled release date. By that time it was a museum piece as MGM's Broadway Melody, released in February 1929, won all of the accolades and the Best Picture Oscar.

And now for the production itself, adapted from the musical, and the truest adaptation of all of the filmed versions. The film begins with The Riffs, Arab soldiers, charging across the desert, and camping in a small canyon. And I mean very small considering the breadth of the desert. That is because once the Riffs dismount their horses they break into the rousing "Riff Song", and the limitations of early sound cinematography do not allow for wide shots. The leader, "The Red Shadow" (John Boles), is actually the French Pierre Bierbeau . He tells his story to two of the Riffs -and it is the longest narrative in the film - because still in the age of the title card, the alternative would be dozens of title cards!

Pierre speaks of how his love for Margot caused him to join the French army years before, sending him to Morocco. He was ordered by the cruel general in charge there to attack and destroy an Arab village. He saw the savagery of such an act and refused. The general, Margot's father, accused him of treason, slapped him so hard he fell, and demanded he resign. Pierre fled into the desert, asked the Riffs to follow him as the Red Shadow - his face always disguised so they would not know he was French - and then he returned to town acting as though his disgrace in the army turned him into a flower picking simpleton. This allows him to wander in and out of the French settlement, learn of the Army's plans, and then warn and lead the Riffs as a sort of Robin Hood, always unsuspected by his fellow Frenchmen. Complications have arisen as now Pierre's father is the general charged with the capture of the Red Shadow, dead or alive.

Carlotta King plays Margot. WB's wardrobe people are a curious lot. They either have her dressed as a seductress and singing to the troops in a cabaret, or dressed in a riding habit which makes her look quite frumpy. Margot is engaged to the slimy soldier Fontaine (John Miljan). Apparently Fontaine is planning to marry Margot for at least partially political reasons, because he is carrying on with the "half caste" Azuri (Myrna Loy). The title card tells you she is "half caste" (part European), because not even in the precode era would a romance between a European and an Arab be allowed in an American film. Azuri learns the true identity of the Red Shadow, but she is biding her time as to what she does with the information. Poor Myrna Loy. Being forced by WB into roles where she is always the vindictive vamp who cannot speak in complete sentences. No wonder she fled from there as soon as her contract allowed.

Humor is injected into the plot by Benny Kid (John Arthur), a timid reporter with rather effeminate qualities. He is being vigorously pursued by the rather ditzy blonde flirt Susan (Louise Fazenda). Louise Fazenda spent 1929 playing the voluptuous giggly flirty type, but then in 1930 she suddenly is portraying portly prudish matrons from that point forward! I don't know what happened here, particularly since she was married to Warner Brothers producer Hal Wallis.

How wil this all work out? I'll let you watch and find out, but good luck finding a copy. Until recently all I could find was the blurry copy that has been around for years, the only copy in existence, the black and white print found in Jack Warner's vault. It appears this film has been recently restored. Of all of the players here - three had notable film careers that made it past the early sound era. Of course there is Myrna Loy who had a great career over at MGM, there is Louise Fazenda who played comic supporting roles until she retired in 1939, and finally there is John Boles whose rich tenor voice made him a natural in the early musicals and whose film career was robust until the beginning of WWII. Boles was unusual in that he was married to the same woman for 52 years until his death in 1969.

Forgive this long review, but these early sound films and their eccentricities are one of my guilty pleasures.

I remember seeing this film in 1929 when I was 8 years old and how dramatic and thrilling it was. John Boles was a wonderful singer and actor who appeared in many great movies in the 30's.