Mon 5 Jul 2010
A Movie Review by Walter Albert: THE DESERT SONG (1943).
Posted by Steve under Films: Comedy/Musicals , Reviews[10] Comments
THE DESERT SONG. Warner Brothers, 1943. Dennis Morgan, Irene Manning, Bruce Cabot, Lynne Overman, Gene Lockhart, Faye Emerson, Jack La Rue. Screenwriter: Robert Buckner, based on the play co-written by Oscar Hammerstein II. Director: Robert Florey. Shown at Cinecon 27, Hollywood CA, September 1993.
After the success of Casablanca earlier that year, this vintage operetta was updated, setting the nomadic Berber Riffs of northern Morocco against the dastardly Nazis and shot in eye-popping technicolor.
Florey is noted for his stylish films and this was a restored beauty. Both Jim Goodrich and I gasped at the stunning overhead angled shot of a belly-dancer as she fell back onto the floor and spread her multi-colored skirt to fill the screen.
It’s also a film for fans of Bruce Cabot, with a world-weary but effective one-note performance by Gene Lockhart as a Riff cabaret owner. Fine singing of a lovely score by Dennis Morgan and Irene Manning.
Editorial Comments: This film, as I understand it, has never been shown on television. Complications over the copyright of one of the songs perhaps, and it sounds reasonable, given the amount of money involved, or is it just the principle? The movie had been made once before, in 1929, which was barely into the sound era, but at least parts of it were in Technicolor, believe it or not. It starred John Boles and Carlotta King in the two leading roles.
And it was filmed once again, in 1953, this time with Kathryn Grayson and Gordon MacRae. This is, of course, the version that most people have seen. (But not me. In 1953 you couldn’t drag me to a movie like this. Based on an operetta? Are you kidding?)
July 5th, 2010 at 8:18 pm
There is an early technicolor test short film version of this, THE RED SHADOW (1932), that has appeared on TCM once or twice.
Usually when a film is kept off the air it turns out to be a complication with the musical rights. You would think the studios would have fixed that early on, but it seems to be the most common excuse for keeping a film off the air and off of video.
The Broadway production is mentioned in the film bio of Sigmund Romberg, DEEP IN MY HEART with Jose Ferrer. Mystery writer Frederick Arnold Kummer (Arnold Fredericks) was a frequent collaborator with Romberg and Victor Herbert on the libretto’s for their operettas.
Raymond Massey and Steve Cochran are also in the Gordon MacRae version of the play.
The late Jim Neal, a copy editor with UP, well known Robert E. Howard fan, and amateur actor who did this operetta on stage always called this Der Red Shadder, which is how I always think of it.
July 5th, 2010 at 9:46 pm
The movie does exist, of course, or Walter and Jim Goodrich wouldn’t have been able to watch it in 1993. But the only copies I’ve been able to discover on DVD, even deep underground ones, are in black and white and/or in terrible shape.
It’s a shame, as this looks like an enjoyable film. Even more so, since I can’t have it!
July 5th, 2010 at 10:43 pm
Since it is a Warner’s film it is likely in the TCM archives, just can’t be shown because of legal reasons. Quite a few films aren’t lost, just tied up.
Both REAR WINDOW and VERTIGO were kept out of circulation for a few decades and John Wayne’s estate held HONDO, MCCLINTOCK, ISLAND IN THE SKY, and THE HIGH AND THE MIGHTY out of circulation for many years, the last two only released fairly recently — though in those cases I believe it was a marketing plan rather than legal problem.
Though it can be purchased on the gray market the 1934 Samuel Goldwyn film BULLDOG DRUMMOND STRIKES BACK with Ronald Colman, Loretta Young, and Warner Oland has never been officially released. Other films that exist but have been kept off video include Douglas Sirk’s SUMMER STORM (based on Chekhov’s only novel — THE SHOOTING PARTY — a mystery, and his LURED and A SCANDAL IN PARIS only recently came to DVD (I think SCANDAL was on VHS briefly).
Hopefully since a nice print exists this one will eventually be released.
The 1929 film with John Boles and Myrna Loy seems to have been extremely racy even by pre code standards and heavily censored because of that post code. There is some question whether the technicolor sections still exist in color.
July 6th, 2010 at 12:35 am
While doing some research on the 1943 version, I discovered that bits and pieces of the one from 1929 are on YouTube, all running no more than 3 to 5 minutes long.
Here’s a link to one that must have had all of the men in audience sweating. It’s Myrna Loy in a costume like one you may never have seen her in before.
It’s entitled “Myrna Loy performs Azuri’s Dance.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dawwrf0jKpU&feature=related
I wasn’t sure that it was really Myrna Loy the first time I watched this clip, so I watched it again, and so far several times now.
July 6th, 2010 at 3:33 am
Thanks for the link. I’ll have to see that. She also has a nude bathing scene in another pre code film THE BARBARIAN — clear water and no soap bubbles, and I wouldn’t be surprised if she doesn’t have a racy dance in John Ford’s THE BLACK WATCH with Victor MacLaglen, since she is playing Yasmini, the cult priestess from Talbot Mundy’s KING OF THE KHYBER RIFLES. THE BARBARIAN shows up once in a while on TCM.
It’s hard to remember sometimes that before she was everyone’s favorite sexy housewife Myrna Loy specialized in sexy exotic seductresses — like Fu Manchu’s daughter with Boris Karloff in THE MASK OF FU MANCHU, or ruthless the Eurasian killer in THIRTEEN WOMEN.
Ironically she has a number as a Chinese dancing girl in that famous Paramount short where Warner Oland appears in another segment as Fu Manchu and murders Colin Brooks Sherlock Holmes and William Powell’s Philo Vance. This shows up on TCM once in a while too.
July 6th, 2010 at 6:23 am
I sduspect MGM bought up the rights & suppressed the film when they made their version–common practice in those days.
July 6th, 2010 at 4:50 pm
Regarding THE BARBARIAN, besides its annual appearance on TCM, it’s finally available from the Warner Archives website.
Regarding Myrna Loy herself, there’s a nice gallery of photos at
http://www.flixster.com/photos/myrna-loy-love-me-tonight-10059176
including two while she’s bathing.
July 8th, 2010 at 3:42 pm
I had almost forgotten watching this film, but I certainly enjoyed it. And although I’ve not seen the MGM remake in many years, I don’t remember that film as being a highlight of the MGM library.
I was amused that this all led to a discussion of “The Barbarian,” which I taped off Turner many years ago, largely because of Myrna Loy’s role. She was one of my favorite actresses when I was a tadpole (largely because of the Thin Man films), and I remember, sadly, her taped appearance at an Oscar telecast, shortly before her death.
I thought that I might have seen “The Black Watch” several years ago, but, if I did, Loy’s role didn’t register with me. Which suggests to me that I didn’t see the film.
October 31st, 2010 at 12:42 am
Is it available on DVD??
October 31st, 2010 at 1:13 am
Yes and no. Used copies of it on VHS are on sale at Amazon, and earlier this year a collector-to-collector copy was on sale briefly at ioffer.com. If you place a want ad for it there, the seller may show up again. I hope this helps!