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Don't listen to the negative reviews

I cannot think of one single thing that I would change about this film. The acting is incomparable, the directing deft, and the writing poignantly brilliant.

This film is so real. It treats its characters with so much care and sensitivity.

There are moments that feel comical, some horrific, and some downright inspiring but the tonal shifts hardly matter as the end results come to a film that's perfect for this time.

As a Presley fan, this film plumbs the depths of bad acting and casting. The script, if you call it that is so threadbare that you will snooze off within minutes. The cast look disinterested and frankly not one of them shows any real acting ability. With a ludicrous story line, and the lead who looks totally out of his depth, forget this film. It really is awful! Such a shame that this film will be another in the category of 'turkeys' that Presley made.The whole Arab love affair is so predictable and the simplistic hero villain dimension is outdated and predictable. I can only assume that this was one of many films made on an assembly line basis since clearly there was no attempt to widen Presley's audience of fans as this one simply repeats every cliché that appeared in so many of his films.

"Harum Scarum" gives even second-rate Elvis movies a bad name. If you're counting, Harum Scarum" was Elvis' nineteenth opus, coming between "Tickle Me" and "Frankie and Johnny." Reportedly lensed in a mere 18 days, "Harem Scarum" combines routine musical numbers with a pedestrian Arabian Nights adventure. Virtually everything about "Kissin' Cousins" director Gene Nelson's atrocious epic reeks of inconsistency. Not for an instant is anything about it believable. One minute everything is light-hearted nonsense, and then the next minute, everything becomes serious. Only the villain dies, and he perishes in a burst of machine gun fire. Inevitably, Elvis croons some lackluster tunes. This forgettable Sam Katzman produced potboiler unfolds in an imaginary Middle East that has little to do with the real Middle East. Mind you, for the sake of cost-cutting, everything was shot on back-lot MGM soundstages instead of actual locations in the Middle East. American celebrity superstar Johnny Tyrone (Elvis Presley) has agreed to represent the U.S. State Department on a goodwill tour of the Arab nation of Babalstan. The Ambassador and he have arranged a premiere of his latest cinematic swashbuckling saga "Sands of the Desert," for a well-heeled audience of dignitaries and their dates. These misguided people actually believe that the on-screen Elvis hero is as formidable as the off-screen Elvis. Elvis relies on his considerable karate skills to dispose of a leopard that stands between him and a bound princess in the movie shown them.Oxford educated scenarist Gerald Drayson Adams had earlier written swashbucklers like "The Golden Horde," "The Desert Hawk," and "The Prince Was A Thief," so he knew all the right tropes to cover. He serves up clichés galore as our handsome, dark-haired hero accepts an invitation from sinister Prince Dragna (Michael Ansara of "Sol Madrid") to enjoy the hospitality of his older brother King Toranshah in Lunarland. Not-surprisingly, his fictional country is surrounded by rock formations know as the Mountains of the Moon. Predictably, U.S. Ambassador McCord (Hugh Sanders of "Mr. 880") is flabbergasted by Prince Dragna's gracious offer. "Johnny, this is a tremendous honor. Do you realize that you're the first American His Majesty, King Toranshah, has ever invited into his kingdom?" Dragna's date Aishah (Fran Jeffries) provides additional information for Johnny's benefit, "When you cross theMountains of the Moon into our country, Mr. Tyronne, you'll be stepping back 2,000 years. You will find the pageantry and beauty almost unbelievable." Strangely enough, the villains in Lunarland carry vintage World War II British sub-machine guns so 20th century smugglers must have penetrated its boundaries. No sooner has he flown over a rugged range of mountains and ridden on horseback through the wilderness does Johnny find himself drugged by the beautiful Aishah, abducted by the notorious Arab Sinan (a bald-headed Theo Marcuse), chief of a band of Assassins, and forced to assassinate King Toranshah (Phillip Reed) so Prince Dragna can negotiate oil deals. Of course, Elvis falls in love with Toranshah's daughter, the gorgeous Princess Shalimar (former Miss America Mary Ann Mobley), but he entangled himself in local intrigue with a con artist Zacha (Jay Novello) and his band of thieves. Long-time Elvis bodyguard Red West plays one of Sinan's henchmen. Naturally, the girls look sexy, the surroundings brightly lighted, and script about as serious as a comedy. Only the most die-hard Elvis fans will find this palatable, and the King warbles his way through this crap without a shred of credibility.

Widely considered to be Elvis' dumbest movie ever and the source of many prime gags in Top Secret, Harum Scarum is worth watching only for those Elvis fans interested in answering the question of what went wrong with his movie career. The answer was quite simply that, to Colonel Parker, Elvis was a carnival concession. He was getting million dollar offers to keep at the same old formula junk and since Parker had no idea how good movies were made he kept agreeing to the deals while the money was there. Harum Scarum shows the formula at its most derivative. Elvis himself looked bored and distracted at times on screen and even messed up some of his lip synching! The bulk of the songs are strictly for the Pat Boone set and badly out of date before the movie even came out. At a time of rapid change and great excitement in the music world (the Beatles made HELP around the same time) the music in Elvis' movies did not evolve or change, it just got recycled. The sets are also retreads, studio back lot leftovers from earlier better movies which look about as authentically middle eastern as a Moroccan restaurant in Brentwood. The costumes are a bad joke, and look like I Dream of Jeannie cast-offs. Elvis himself spends most of the movie looking foolish (and a bit like a Popsicle) in lime green pants. Add in a ridiculously predictable hand-me-down story about intrigue in the palace of the sultan and a few unfunny minor characters, and there is not much to like here, even for die hard Elvis fans. Even Elvis haters looking for a cheap laugh will find themselves bored by this exercise.

I see where this movie could have really been good, i know i use to own it, the story line is so blasted lame and i do mean lame!!!!! and the songs are even lamer!! except maybe the song Who Am I!! and with it towards the end Elvis" lips aren't matching the recording! Sam Katsman definitely should have worked harder on directing this film, but can can you say about the man who was nicknamed the king of the quickies! I've read a lot about Sam Katsman, his work in the 30s and 40s. to bad he got his hands on Elvis huh. I firmly believe Elvis should have gotten a lot more involved with the scripts, maybe he would have cared a lot more about what direction his career was going. sign slapstck2000