mark.waltz With gorgeous music by Sigmund Romberg, lyrics by a variety of writers and its exotic setting, this fourth version of the 1926 operetta holds a special place in my heart simply because of how well it is sung. With gorgeous soprano Kathryn Grayson and baritone Gordon MacRae in the leads, the music is superbly recorded even if MacRae is miscast as a supposed Arab hero. While the 1929 film appears to be lost (or unavailable for viewing), a 1934 short ("The Red Shadow") and a 1943 remake are available. However, it is the last version of the film which has made it out onto home video, and it is definitely worth viewing simply for the lushness of its score, if not some of the uninspired casting.Other than his appearance in drag in "Calamity Jane", I never found anything amusing about Dick Wesson, and as MacRae's sidekick (once again), I found him extremely trying as he tries to be funny and just can't even get a grin out of me. He's totally unbelievable as a member of the Foreign Legion. William Conrad (as the main villain), Ray Collins, Raymond Massey, Steve Cochran and Allyn Ann McLearie fare better, but it really comes down to my love of the Sigmund Romberg score, particularly the title tune, "The Riff Song" and "One Alone", a gorgeous duet between MacRae and Grayson that is worth putting up with everything else. It's ironic that the same year, MGM's Howard Keel (Grayson's partner in 3 musicals) came over to co-star opposite Doris Day (MacRae's partner in half a dozen films) in "Calamity Jane", scoring quite nicely.

MARIO GAUCI The third (and most popular) film version of the Oscar Hammerstein II-Sigmund Romberg operetta features an eclectic assembly of handsome singing stars (Gordon MacRae and Kathryn Grayson) and reliable character actors (Raymond Massey, Steve Cochran, Ray Collins and William Conrad). While I cannot say that the song score was particularly memorable in itself, the film is made tolerable enough by its straight "Arabian Nights" trappings: a mysterious avenger (MacRae, of course, posing by day as a mild-mannered anthropologist) takes on the might of a tyrannical Sheik (Massey) and the French Foreign Legion (commandeered by Cochran and Collins) while romancing the latter's rebellious daughter (Grayson). Also on hand to round up the colorful cast of characters are Dick Wesson as an indomitable reporter successfully providing the expected comic relief, Allyn Ann McLerie as the requisite dancer-temptress with a proverbial heart of gold and Frank DeKova as a typically hot-headed (and ultimately duplicitous) desert rebel.

bkoganbing I have to say from the outset I'm a sucker for operettas. I like music as long as it has a melody and there's nothing more melodious than an operetta. The Desert Song is filled with wonderful melodies and Gordon MacRae and Kathryn Grayson sing them to perfection in this third film adaption of the Romberg-Harbach-Hammerstein operetta.The real surprise for most people is that the Riffs are quite real. A hardy fighting group they were led in the teens and twenties of the last century by a romantic hero very much like the Red Shadow(El Khobar)named Abdel-Krim. They are the indigenous folk who inhabit in and around the Atlas mountains of Morocco and what was at that time Spanish Morocco. During the post World War I years American correspondents reporting from those wars were pretty much on the side of the Riffs who were seeking independence from France and Spain. Spain which was not a combatant in World War I took the brunt of the fighting. And Abdel Krim led them on a merry chase for a decade. The Spanish army was beaten at every turn. A guy named Francisco Franco got his first military combat in the Riff Wars.Eventually the French entered the war in a big way and Abdel-Krim became a prisoner. He went into exile after release and died in the mid 60s. He was a warrior, Abdel Krim in the tradition of Saladin of the Crusades, not at all like today's terrorists. He never made war on civilians. The guy most responsible for his capture was Marshal Phillippe Petain who led the French army, his most notable activity between both world wars.No doubt in my mind that Abdel-Krim was the model of our hero. Of course since this is the west doing the story we make the hero a Frenchman named Paul Bonnard who by day is a mild-mannered archaeologist from a French University by day and the fearsome lion of the desert by night. Gordon MacRae even dons glasses in his Paul Bonnard mode, just like Clark Kent.And the leading lady is Margot, daughter of the French commandant and a typical 1920s flirt. In this version that would be Kathryn Grayson. But it's the wonderful romantic music that Sigmund Romberg wrote that will make the Desert Song last forever. The main songs, The Desert Song One Alone, the Riff Song and Margot's soliloquy Romance are done in fine style by the leads. I wish more of the score got into this version.Doing operetta, of necessity a lot of it is tongue in cheek. As villains Raymond Massey and Frank DeKova seem to be having a great old time, hamming it up. Kathryn Grayson got to do a lot of classic operetta and opera while she was at MGM. Gordon MacRae had a terrific baritone voice and sad to say in his case, he didn't come along in the 1930s or he could have done a lot of the operetta that was being filmed then.One more thing about Abdel Krim. I can't prove it, but I think he was the model for Rudolph Valentino's The Sheik and we all know how popular that was.For us operetta fans of all ages.

Deusvolt Gordon Macrae does look a lot like Superman and Clark Kent and in this film, he has a secret identity as a mild mannered professor as contrasted with his hero persona, El Khobar.I must admit I was a collector of Batman, Superman, The Flash, Green Lantern and Silent Knight comics when I first saw this movie as a boy in knee pants. But even then, I knew a good song when I heard it. So well into adulthood when this movie was re-released, I made it a point to see it again. I have borrowed the video version twice and I plan to do so again. I simply can't let go of the melodies of The Desert Song and One Alone.On Gordon MacRae, what can I say? It doesn't seem fair that one so handsome could also be the greatest singer on celluloid and besides, he is funny. Spoiler: Even my little sons who had no clue about Broadway musicals were in stitches when he pulled that stunt with the ethnic musical instrument that sounded like a cross between the bleating of an ass and a sheep.Kathryn Grayson who strikes me as prim and proper with a seriously classical singing voice gamely plays the role of a flirt. I am sure if she didn't hit it very big in the movies, she would have been the resident soprano of a major opera theatre. She is always a treat to watch and listen to.