The Desert Song (1943)

A Disappointing Continuation

what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

The storyline feels a little thin and moth-eaten in parts but this sequel is plenty of fun.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

For years i was begging t.c.m. to get their boss,Time Warner, to work on the mysterious copy right problem that it had concerning one song that was not a part of the play.I Think it was."Fifi.where is my true love?It sounded like that.That song might have been the problem. It was in 2014 that I was contacting t.c.m. still to work on the copy rights .It was recently in 2016 I had learned that this classic was out on DVD for two years.I think the story is more real in this anti Nazi version.The songs come out more naturally.When Dennis Morgan is singing to Irene Manning,who was hired in 1938 to do the production,but, was delayed,with the title of the movie, You saw the rich Technicolor desert mountains all excellently photographed ,all shot in Arizona.The Native Girl Hajy,played by Faye Emerson, was under staged in this version.She barely spoke.I think Curt Bios ,who play the censor, for the news,was also possibly the originally gay character toned down.Bruce Cabot shows up as the colonel ,who doesn't suspect Victor France,Working for Hitler,to create that railroad ,Half of the film take place in a Morocco night club,where Morgan portrays a singer ,who disguises himself in secret s the El Khobar to help the riff to get free from Francen's oppression. The number about a Parisian was very good and showed Irene 's singing talents well.The music sounded like Max Steiner,but it wasn't his music.It's been out for a while and it's worth seeing,06/3/16

I saw the 1943 production when I was just a young boy and fell in love with the movie. I saw it several times and always enjoyed it. The production starring Gordon McRea lacked quality acting and the music was not as good as the one starring Dennis Morgan.Kathryn Grayson made some good musicals. Showboat was one of them, saw it many times also and have it in my video library. Irene Manning's soprano voice is much softer to the ear and much easier to listen to. Kathryn Grayson's voice is a very high pitched, sharp sounding voice. At times too sharp to listen to.I'm no movie critic but I do know what I like. I do hope that eventually the 1943 production of "The Desert Song" will be available on video or DVD for old timers like me to enjoy the nostaglia of watching and listening to one of the truly great musicals from the early days of Hollywood.

It was in 1944, when my relatives and neighbors, all were very much concerned about the War. My mother and I went to see the Desert Song movie. I was so impressed by the scenery and Dennis Morgan as the hero. One scene were he was looking over a dune at the Nazi soldiers, is so vivid in my mind. After the movie was over and we got home, the phone rang and we were told all of our relatives in Europe were safe and our relatives in the Army were safe. So this movie was really important to us. Thanks or the opportunity to vent my thoughts.Believe it or not only one other person that I know saw the movie, and now he is dead too. Thanks for all.

I saw this quintessentially sappy flick for the first (and only) time in March 1944 when I was an 18 year old infantryman in the US Army. Sort of reminded me of a Tarzan-type film with a desert instead of a jungle setting. No thundering herds of elephants and savage lions and tigers and bears (oh my!). In their place, camels, horses, and evil Arab tribesmen threatening poor Dennis Morgan and his minions.Whereas Tarzan would scream out "UNGAW-A-A" to summon his animal friends, in this flick a good guy would bellow out a minor-key riff of 4 notes -- AH-AHHH! AH-AHHH!. Then beyond the horizon and off-screen would come a thunderous male-voice response -- in perfectly voiced 2-part harmony. Then the sound of horses' hooves (camels', too? I can't remember)and again a hearty minor key response of AH-AHHH! AH-AHHH! -- as the good guys came to the rescue and Dennis Morgan crooned some totally inane lyric as the savage Berbers fled. (No wonder we all rooted for the Arabs)That's all I can remember. Time mercifully blots out the rest. All I remember is that stupid chant and the horses coming over the horizon. Then a cut to Dennis Morgan on his steed, waving the troops into the fray. This made such an impression on us GIs that for several weeks all one could hear in the barracks was the minor-key war cry: AH-AHHH! AH-AHHH! (And, of course, the appropriate response). We were all ready to join the French Foreign Legion. Instead a few months later, after the June 6, 1944 Normandy invasion, most of us ended up in France where there were no camels, alas. Only German tanks.