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Setting aside all the implausible elements in the story, it's a pretty good, briskly told yarn, made exciting by the way the plot actually becomes more complicated as the film careens wildly to its conclusion. So it's easy to watch, first of all, this garden of unholy criminals in the middle of nowhere working through their mutually broken honor among thieves. Pre-code, you'll find only the hint of a bosom flashing from a very minor female character. Otherwise the sexual innuendos are largely verbal. Like another reviewer, I too appreciated the hotel-in-the-desert ambiance and its effervescent symbolism. And the strangely obsequious Arab natives flitting about never intrude upon the Westerners. Meanwhile Ronald Colman and ever-pleasantly baby-fatty Fay Wray may not be the last word in chemistry, but they do get the job done nicely.

Welcome to 1930. Talkies are one year old and studios are continuing to experiment madly with all kinds of plots, all kinds of screenplays, and all levels of acting competence. In this film we get broad elements of slapstick and mushy love scenes, and, because it's pre-Code, a little skin deliciously displayed (Fay Wray being happy to oblige). You'll see early on that this film turns out to be way too rough-hewn, and its slapdash construction will not be successful: audiences don't want to watch a mess. The only person really trying to make it all work is Ms. Wray; she practically owns the screen every time she appears, even with her awful accent. If you find yourself attracted to her work -- as I have become -- this flick's worth a quick watch.

If you lived through this achingly awful time in our country's history, you will already be familiar with where the battle is joined on many of the issues presented in this film. Personally, I did not find one single thing that was new to me. It seems that, instead of choosing to do a thorough, in-depth analysis of the many things Dick Cheney did and said, the makers of this documentary chose to go the "College Freshman's Introduction to Dick Cheney" route: Keep it simple, keep it matter-of- fact, let the audience connect the dots (if they can), and by all means, don't ruffle any feathers. So many important details were left out, like the remarkable time Mr. Cheney averred that, if America voted for John Kerry for President, that would be a win for Al Qaida -- a completely irresponsible, hugely, gapingly un-American thing for any politician to say. And that's just one of many. And nowhere was the question ever posed, "Do you feel responsible for all those unnecessary deaths of American soldiers in Iraq?" To treat this man as anything other than a murderer gives him a modicum of dignity he doesn't deserve. The producer and director were clearly scared to death to get down to the real nitty-gritty. Don't misunderstand me: There's nothing terribly wrong with this film -- just a failure of nerve.