The Camels Are Coming

The Camals Are Coming is a rather disappointing British comedy from 1934. I purchased this because I like desert adventures and states on the box that it is a drama. It certainly isn't.

It is about a couple who head for Egypt to capture some desert drug smugglers.

This would have been much better if it had been done as a drama instead of a comedy, which lets it down a lot. It is quite silly in parts. Depsite this, there are some good action and location scenes.

The cast is lead by Jack Hulbert with Anna Lee as the love interest.

One viewing is enough for this movie. Overall, a disappointment.

Rating: 2 stars out of 5.

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 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.

I am not that familiar with the work of Jack Hurlbert. Apart from his Bulldog Drummond film and one other, these are all I've seen of this British actor's work up until "The Camels Are Coming"...so I am not a great judge of him and his work. I get the impression he was beloved in his homeland and few Americans ever saw his movies.

This movie is set in Egypt during the British occupation. Jack (Jack Hurlbert) is in the Camel Corps, a group of flyers who patrol the county and ensure the peace. However, there are some evil drug smugglers who the Corps has been unable to find any information on a group of drug smugglers who apparently are running a big and dangerous operation. So, Jack goes undercover to investigate....and pretty much makes a boob of himself through most of the story. Oddly, towards the end, he goes from total boob to an action hero...something I certainly didn't expect!

In some ways, this film reminds me of an early Bob Hope comedy or Arthur Askey film, though Hurlbert plays an even dopier character! Additionally, he sings and uses countless disguises (including a dark-face one which is sure to annoy some today). I know a lot of the reviewers really liked it...but to me it felt a bit second-rate because Hulbert's character was a bit too stupid and the humor didn't always work for me. Often, the laughs just fell flat. Now it is VERY possible this difference in reviews might be because of where we are from or our ages. Perhaps those who like the film grew up on Hurlbert's films and there is this nostalgic connection...and this is quite reasonable.

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.