mark.waltz Two decades before her debacle of the movie version of the Broadway musical "Mame", Lucille Ball had a truly wretched film which she herself had badmouthed. It was all to get out of that Columbia contract, hopefully to appear in the big Cecil B. Demille smash, "The Greatest Show on Earth", but of course, that didn't happen. Instead, she ended up on TV and the rest was immortality.Lucy's a princess here, beyond miscast as an obviously non-Arab Arab princess. This is miscasting at it's worst, with Lucy acting like she's ready to have a cat fight with the first actual Arab to come along and reclaim the title she seems to have stolen from them. She's the sister of the caliph, the subject of affections by the caliph's right hand man (Raymond Burr) who is twice as evil as the usurper caliph, having nefarious intentions himself. Years before, the rightful caliph was murdered, and his heir is sent off on a magic carpet, growing up to be John Agar, a common thief. Hired as the caliph's doctor simply because he cured his hiccups, he soon finds out his real identity and becomes involved with both Lucy and Patricia Medina, a peasant girl who is no Maria Montez or Yvonne De Carlo. Corny to the end, this is a quota quickie (produced by poverty row producer Sam Katzman) that was perfect for Saturday matinée audiences but forgotten soon after. Burr is appropriately sinister, with Lucy obviously phoning in a performance. George Tobias provides comedy relief while the actual carpet is pretty impressive allegedly flying through the air with the greatest of ease.

ptb-8 THE MAGIC CARPET is great fun. A Sam Katzman Supercinecolor bargain counter costume extravaganza with Lucille Ball and John Agar... what's not to like? It made me want to see Monogram's ALADDIN and HIAWATHA made he same year also in Super cine-color... which I thought was fantastic and rich in every mad hue possible. What a calling card for Super Cinecolor! You actually could have a whole weekend watching all these films and top it off with RKOs SON OF SINBAD. Any scene with Lucy and a very confused Raymond Burr is hilarious and she clearly is between TV shows and running not walking through this silly funny film. Tin swords that clatter, people stamping about on the floor, and a flying carpet that looks like a stiff beach towel..... yippee! It's a masterpiece of razzle dazzle cine-color whizziness. See it and laugh.

nycritic THE MAGIC CARPET is notorious for one thing only: it was the movie that divided Lucille Ball's acting career neatly in two, for from here on she would be pioneering the Age of Television as Lucy Ricardo in "I Love Lucy", a show which over half a century after its release has been seen in practically every country in the world and has garnered her more notoriety than any meaty role, and more satisfaction that winning that golden statuette. However, at the time, she was taking a major risk which could become a hit or backfire miserably and Ball wasn't a particularly optimistic person, having toiled hard to crack the ceiling of her B-movie status. Pushing forty, completely washed up as a film actress as her talents had been ignored from every major studio, pregnant with daughter Lucie, struggling to make her marriage to Desi Arnaz work, she had read the message on the wall. It was best to be done with this mess and move on. Move on she did, and once she completed this poor excuse of an Arabian adventure, her foundling of a show shot to the top of the Nielsen ratings and made television history.

michael-248 This low budget adventure stars John Agar, Raymond Burr of TV's Perry Mason, and a very pregnant Lucille Ball The poor production values used to make this movie give it the look of a Technicolor, Three Stooges episode. It's really too bad I would have enjoyed a good Arabian Adventure, starring Lucille Ball!