Outlaws of the Desert

I doubt Outlaws Of The Desert got any closer to Arabia than the Mojave. But this film has Hopalong Cassidy and his two sidekicks Brad King and Andy Clyde going to Arabia to do a little horse trading. They are acting as agents for Forrest Stanley to purchase some Arabian stock to blend with his ranch horses. Stanley is along with his wife Nina Guilbert and daughter Jean Phillips. I can think of much better places for a little getaway myself.

Anyway this family gets victimized by a pair of con artists Albert Morin and Luli Deste. Good thing Hoppy was along and an even better thing he made friends with the local sheik Duncan Renaldo doing his best at a Rudolph Valentino imitation. In fact Renaldo was one of a number of players brought in to be cut rate Valentinos when Rudy was at his height.

I can't think of anything looking sillier I've seen in a while than Bill Boyd, Andy Clyde and Brad King in their western costume riding through the Arabian desert with all those native peoples. They looked so ridiculously out of place.

Only for die-hard Hoppy fans.

Looks like producer Sherman was aiming for a change of pace. He got it, but not very successfully. Shifting the action abruptly to the desert sands of Arabia and guys in long robes takes some getting used to. Then again, because of the costuming, it's sometimes hard to tell who's who among the natives. Worse, somebody was ill-advised to slip a robe over Hoppy and put his gun-belt over that. It does look silly compared with what we're used to. Of course, the locale may change, but the idea of good guys and bad guys remains the same. So does Clyde's comedy relief and King's romancing of the spunky girl (Phillips).

Still, there are compensations. The abundant location shots from Lone Pine and nearby desert sands make for some fine eye candy. In fact, some of the horseback shots against the sky are almost striking. Too bad these are interspersed with clumsy studio exteriors that immediately shout 'movie'. Looks like Sherman popped for a lot of extras for the battle scenes and the crowded Arab bazaar. So it's likely the budget was bigger than usual for an oater. And shouldn't overlook slinky actress Deste (Marie). She's an eye-catching presence in an otherwise brief career. Too bad. All in all, the exotic package doesn't work out that well, but does remain a decent try.

While this is probably a poor picture relative to others made at the same time, it has a great deal of sociological and historical value. U.S. citizens at the time knew little more about Saudi Arabia than they do today, and the perspectives are demeaning and arrogant. Their tribal cultures are seen through the concept of native American tribes. However, there are some good comic moments.

I give this film 6 stars only because I know they were trying something different for a change, unfortunately, it just didn't work. Taking Hoppy out of the west is a risky move! They even tried dressing him up as the Sheik in one scene, William Boyd was a fine actor, but even he couldn't save this one. An almost unrecognisable Duncan Renaldo plays a Sheik, years before his Cisco Kid makeover, Andy Clyde tries to lighten things up with a bit of humour, but you can't help but keep hoping Hoppy would get the hell out of there, and back to the old west where he belongs! Well, at least they tried I suppose!

I used to enjoy Hopalog Cassidy on early fifties tv with the made for tv 30 min. shows. I had never seen any of his theatrical movies that were made from 1935 to 1948 as these were never shown on tv. Well now on the Westerns Channel they are showing a couple of the 66 movies a month. Most of them are very entertaining as the Hoppy character brings back memories plus it shows a somewhat tougher Hoppy than on tv. This movie however is awful. There is almost no western action and most of it takes place in Arabia (Cal. desert) and cheap backlots and studios made to look like outside desert locations. If this had been the first Hoppy movie I'd ever seen I would never bothered to watch any more. Luckily I have seen enough good ones to remember they are out there and to continue watching hoping to see some better ones than this.