Siren of Bagdad

Siren Of Bagdad is a rather broad satire from Columbia of all those Arabian Knights Maria Montez films from Universal. Even after Maria died young those sets got a good dozen years use over at Universal International for such people as Rock Hudson, Tony Curtis, and Jeff Chandler.

Playing the title role is Patricia Medina the beautiful daughter of the deposed sultan. Against her charms the witty and sophisticated Paul Henreid, magician and head of a traveling entertainment troupe doesn't have a chance. His troupe of dancing girls plus his assistant Hans Conreid get involved in the politics of Bagdad as they help Medina kick out the usurper. That magician's magic box meant to entertain never saw quite the service it saw in this film. Came in quite handy.

Also coming in handy are those dancing girls. As usurper Charles Lang is seeking to replenish his harem the girls provide a wonderful entrée into intrigue.

This is a decent enough satire, don't try to take it seriously, just relax and enjoy.

Kazah the Great (Paul Henreid), a magician heads a troupe of girls and acrobats traveling in Arabia. The girls are stolen by Sultan El Malid Charles Lung), and Kazak joins forces with Zendi (Patricia Medina), the daughter of the rightful sultan that was deposed by Malid to get the girls back and rid Bagdad of the evil Soradin and Malid

Paul Henreid plays a magician who loses his dancing girls and he's quite breezier than usual which matches the strong tongue-in-cheek-cheek tone prelavent. It's a comedy adventure with some funny lines, lots of beautiful girls, the most idiotic sultan and a pantomime villain played by George Keymas. Patricia Medina adds some extra beauty as the former sultan's daughter. It's silly, has self aware campy humour, the plot is thin, but it's quite amusing.

That immortal line sums it up, folks. This campy desert feature has even more gags than it has harem girls, and they're often as funny as they are unbelievable. Paul Henreid plays a dashing magician (with a dash of Vaudeville) in a kind of low-rent "Arabian Nights" empire. Henreid's famous role in "Casablanca" must have led to a fascination with the Sahara, because he did more than one sword-and-sandal picture later, though they were an odd fit. Patricia Medina, who had her own long career in costumers, is beautiful as the "siren" but doesn't have much chemistry with Henreid. The great character actor Hans Conreid, as Henreid's wise-cracking sidekick, utters the immortal line quoted above, among others. I would like to think that some minor studio executive said, "Paul Henreid and Hans Conreid? Aren't they the same guy?" That's the spirit in which this one was made.

It's a minor film indeed Paul Henreid, a boring lead But Hans Conried? I'd watch him read!

This is the kind of movie that happens if you are running an assembly line. Sooner or later everybody gets a little slap-happy and and stops taking the enterprise seriously. The story, and I suppose there is one, takes place in that fuzzy movie middle-east, the one that never existed. It clearly is set before the onset of electricity but after the invention of brightly colored fabric dyes.

Henreid plays a womanizing, swashbuckling magician with a girl in every, uh dune. This is the light-hearted breezy Paul Henreid. If anything, it shows he had a wider range than you thought. His pal/companion/assistant/whipping boy is the glorious and goony Hans Conreid. Somehow bandits "steal" all Henreid's dancing girls, and in getting them back he has to fight a corrupt Caliph and his evil assistant. The Caliph, incidentally, is dubbed by voice powerhouse Paul Frees. Can't imagine why but it's great to hear him.

Given this tired setup it's not too surprising that the enterprise just goes over-the-top goofy. They throw in film in-jokes, anachronisms, and magic tricks that would be more appropriate in a Las Vegas showroom. You're a little disappointed that Hope and Crosby don't wander in for a cameo, but they'd have to cross studio lines to do it.

I'll put it this way. If you watch too many old movies, it's pretty fun. If you never seen an old movie, this might put you off them forever.

I stumbled across this movie on TMC by accident, and I'm glad I did. Filmed in a time when movies steered towards the dramatic, seeing Paul Henreid in this role was refreshing, and probably something he wanted to do to spice up his versatility as an actor. As soon as I saw Hans Conreid as his sidekick Ben Ali I knew this movie would be great fun, and I stayed for the duration. Very campy but this is the kind of movie to enjoy and not take seriously (despite my jealousy over those beautiful dancing girls). Of all the sand and sandal movies I have seen, this one is definitely my favorite. I highly recommend it to all, but right now I have to catch my crosstown camel!