C'est la fête au harem

Now this was something, not really a good something but it was something nonetheless. Being a novice when it comes to the filmic work of 'The King' I approached this film and his others from a fresh perspective. I guess I was put off by the stigma of corniness that plagues his filmography. After checking out Jaihouse Rock, Paradise Hawaiian Style and Spinout I thought I'd give this relative b-movie a look.

I enjoyed the pseudo middle eastern soundtrack and expected the visual equivalent here, which essentially is what I got. The faux parody element of the film falls by the wayside pretty quick unfortunately and ultimately becomes another vehicle for Elvis' kung-fu, romancing and spontaneous song performances. Shake Your Tambourine and So Close So Far are the performance highlights and there is some overlooked snappy dialogue. The less said about the creepy Hey Little Girl sequence though the better. My favourite song, the Garage-lite Animal Instinct was sadly not featured in the film.

Its universally looked at as the bottom of the barrel in the career of Elvis but I think its a pretty fun 80 mins or so, there are far worse movies out there.

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 Poor Elvis was stuck in genre that was way out of date.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.

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.

With a couple of exceptions any Elvis Presley movie was merely a vehicle to display his singing talent. Movie executives thought that because he was such a colossal pop-star that any movie they put him in, no matter how trashy, was bound to sell. They were right, of course, & Elvis fans watched his movies in their droves. Harum Scarum is definitely one of his worst & pure hokum. It is so bad that it has the distinction of being listed in John Wilson's book of "The 100 Most Enjoyably Bad Movies Ever Made". It definitely fits into the "so bad that it's good" category of movie. It is enjoyable mainly because it is so utterly nonsensical & because, for us lads anyway, it showcases a number of gorgeous hot babes. Former beauty queen Mary Ann Mobley (who sadly died last December 9 aged 77) plays Princess Shalimar. Her talents as an actress are hardly called upon at all so she doesn't have much to do except look gorgeous & she never had any problem doing that. Pretty much the same goes for Fran Jeffries playing Aishah. It also contains a very enjoyable Arabian dance routine done by three more glamorous ladies played by Wilda Taylor (Amethyst), Gail Gilmore (Sapphire) & Brenda Benet (Emerald).

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.