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Very disappointing...

One of my all time favorites.

It's easily one of the freshest, sharpest and most enjoyable films of this year.

The thing I enjoyed most about the film is the fact that it doesn't shy away from being a super-sized-cliche;

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.

It is what it is. For more serious-in-depth reviews, please look elsewhere in this reviewer reviews section, as I didn't pay much attention to who was doing what and why. This is a fun movie to read the Sunday paper by, and glance at occasionally. Glaring Technicolor, 'exotic' sets and costumes, and of course the trilling song stylings of Ms. Grayson and the rumbling song stylings of Mr. McRae. Look up at the TV and there's Kathryn Grayson in the desert, wearing a corseted lavendar gown, with what looks like a score of Foreign Legionaires at her feet (for all the world looking like a score of boy dancers ready to lift her over their heads and twirl her around). Look up again later, see an exotic belly dancer in a dark nightclub - mostly dancing, less belly! Look up again and see a pretty blue-eyed Arab princess painted with the fakest dark makeup the Westmores had in stock! A fun movie. If you like operetta, even more fun!

What saves this movie is the wonderful singing done by Gordon MacRae and Kathryn Grayson. This movie really was something different for these general movie musical stars. They actually played in a film that involved intrigue.Usual evil player, Steve Cochran, is given little to do in the role of a nice guy, most unusual for him. Even in the Virginia Mayo-Danny Kaye films, Cochran got better parts as gangsters.Raymond Massey, who by this time had fallen into supporting roles, is evil as ever as the Arab to watch. His game of blaming other Arab factions in the movie worked only for a while.Grayson and MacRae sing the title song with great beauty.Note an interesting part by Robert Conrad and the guy who played Edward G. Robinson's brother in "The Ten Commandments," is as wicked as ever here.

Spritely, joyous, full of heroics, romance and beautiful music, beautifully performed by Gordon McCrae and Katherine Grayson, a truly lovely actress, "The Desert Song" is simply one of the finest musicals of the first half of the twentieth century, and this 1953 version, the third filming by this studio, is by far the best. From the "Drum, drum, drum of Hobart's in the sand," as the Riffs ride across the vast trackless desert at the beginning of the film, the music seems almost continuous. On of the few disappointments of the film is the haunting "Azuri's Song" from the original musical, but the quality of acting, with Ray Collins, Raymond Massey, Frank De Cordova and William Conrad, assure that the action never becomes dull. This is the way musicals should be filmed and the direction J. Bruce Humberstone, who cut his teeth on the first Charlie Chan movies of the thirties makes it all come together in a real treat. Sit back and enjoy as El Khobar and the Riffs go riding across your living room.