The Barbarian (1933)

Touches You

Too much of everything

Fantastic!

Better Late Then Never

Let's start with the positives – you have the very beautiful Myrna Loy appearing in a bathtub for goodness sake, a suave Ramon Novarro wooing her with beautiful songs, and an exotic pre-code tale set in Egypt. Where modern viewers will struggle is with the scenes in the desert, where Novarro mistreats and later rapes Loy. What started out as a forbidden romance, albeit with borderline creepiness in Novarro's persistence, becomes cringe-inducing, and I have to say, I also hated the ending. Men forcing themselves on women until they gave in was de rigueur for the time, and the fantasy about Arabs post-Valentino was still strong in America, but the film would have been stronger had it either had Novarro's character been truly honorable ('Barbarian' indeed), or Loy's ultimately capable of resisting him if he wasn't. As it is, one feels conflicted and kind of icky with the message it conveys about both Arabs and women. And yet, Loy and Novarro are both pretty compelling, and make it worth watching. Did I mention Loy appears in a bathtub?

Film was awarded a 2 for filming, but content earns a 0.While I can give a pass to certain inequities in movies, (i.e. the Nicholas Brothers dance number that Fred Astaire rated as the best dance number ever filmed) I draw the line at praising a film where a woman is kidnapped, raped, eventually returned, ridiculed upon her return, then runs off with her kidnapper/rapist, for the lame reason of her mother was half Egyptian, feeding into the stereotype that people of certain ethnic backgrounds should stick together.The cinematography of the film rated a 2 because that could be interesting.No matter when this picture was made, pre-code, post-code, whatever, there is no excuse for tolerating the torture of a woman, then have the woman go out of her way to return to her torturer. Sorry, no can do.

This is one pre-Code movie I will miss should I ever come across it again.****This may contain spoilers**** The reviews seem to be divided between whether Myrna's character (Diana) is British or American. The movie tells us she is half Egyptian.Whatever her nationality, what she endures is much more obvious. Lured to a house under false pretenses by Roman Navarro's character (Jamil), where she is subjected to being whipped (we hear the off screen screams), a whip that Navarro himself hands to Edward Arnold (Pasha), she is "rescued" by her betrayer and bought back. This leads to a trek across the desert with Jamil wistfully repeating "you called for me". Right, Diana called for him rather than her no where to be seen fiancé or the police.Then after a fight with some of Pasha's men sent to bring back Diana, Jamil, the winner of the fight, makes Diana walk across the desert to the oasis.After all of this comes the much debated scene. Jamil grabs her and forcefully kisses her, completely with pulling hair scene. She tries to fight him off. Did he or did he not rape Diana?The movie makes this very plain in the very next scene. A close up of Diana, face tear stained, eyes vacant, she recoils when Jamil talks to her, offers her a cloak to cover herself for the rest of the trek in the desert. He graciously offers to let her ride the horse this time.At his father's camp, Jamil reveals he is a prince and that he adores Diana, even wanting to marry her. She goes so far as to go through the ceremony until it is her turn to drink from the wedding cup. She throws the water in his face and storms out. Humiliated, Jamil grabs a whip and strikes her. A second whipping! Yes, this is love. Then he relents and sends her home.Back with her people, and her fiancé, Diana is getting ready to be married that day. The movie gets in one more subtle hint to what happened to Diana. Her close confident, overcome by emotion at seeing her friend ready to be married responds to Diana's request to be alone by saying "yes, your last moment of virgin solitude" then turns away from Diana suddenly realizing the import of her words indicted by her gasping and whispering "virgin".And at the end of all of this, Diana runs away with Jamil!Another reviewer commented that we shouldn't judge a movie made so long ago by our century's standards. I disagree adamantly. Eighty years or eighty centuries, rape is rape, abuse is abuse.Skip this one and watch one another of Myrna Loy's pre-Code movies such as "Penthouse" or "When Ladies Meet".

At a train station in Cairo, handsome Arab playboy Ramon Novarro (as Jamil El Shehab) bids farewell to a couple of female conquests. From each, he obtains a piece of expensive jewelry. Scouting for a new lover, Mr. Novarro is smitten when he sees lovely Myrna Loy (as Diana Standing) getting off a train. The feeling appears mutual, but Ms. Loy is engaged to dapper Reginald Denny (as Gerald Hume). Novarro maneuvers his way into Loy's entourage, as a guide, after stealing her pooch. Although Loy seems interested, having a fiancé around makes an affair with Novarro awkward. Finally, he takes drastic measures...Producer/director Sam Wood does a nice job for MGM and Novarro with "The Barbarian", which resembles the star's successful silent "The Arab" (1924). Novarro is both charming and disturbing, as the script dictates. His singing of the lush "Love Songs of the Nile" (by Nacio Brown & Arthur Freed) was a sheet music and Top Ten hit (for Leo Reisman's orchestra). Loy is an alluring co-star; she plays her nude bathtub scene with innocent sex appeal, although many in the 1930s took such display of flesh as vulgar and censorable...The real problem with the story is illustrated later. After Novarro becomes more and more aggressive with Loy, we see her slumped by a tree and crying after an evening with (and without) him, then initially recoil when reaches for her - the cinematic grammar is unmistakable and it stops the romantic fantasy dead in its tracks. Having the characters whip each other was enough. Interesting, too, that the times dictated Loy's character must be revealed as "half Egyptian" - but Novarro's "I wouldn't care if she was Chinese" reply is such a clever way to punctuate the objectionable element, you can forgive, at least, some xenophobia.****** The Barbarian (5/12/33) Sam Wood ~ Ramon Novarro, Myrna Loy, Reginald Denny, Louise Closser Hale