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Just perfect...

A lot more amusing than I thought it would be.

Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

Two Arabian Knights is a film about escape from a prisoner of war camp, but it is a comedy. The title of this silent film from 1927 is the first clue that it's a comedy.This restored film has some spots where the images are grainy or damaged, but not enough to be annoying. And other parts of the film display really excellent image quality.I found this film delightful. The two protagonists, who conspire and escape together, are not really friends. They rub each other the wrong way and they do not hide that fact. Still, they have a common goal and work together to escape. They tunnel, they disguise themselves, they hide. It seems like they will never achieve ultimate freedom, as something always goes wrong for them.Along the way, they meet an Arab princess (Mary Astor) who provides some diversion from their objective.I love the way the director framed this picture. He had a knack for zooming in close when the actors' faces are most important, and holding back when the action is most important, sometimes allowing the actors to be off-screen. The stunts are well-designed and satisfying, as if the director adhered to a strict policy of design quality. In a film from the 20s, this is a trait to be appreciated.The humor in Two Arabian Knights is timeless, just as enjoyable today as when it was filmed.

German aristocrats are famous for their stiff Teutonic humour, but at least once a year-no more than one or two days of course-the German mood lightens and it is time for frivolity. One seeks out the company of a rich and fat heiress and when the planets are in rare alignment it is also good to watch an entertaining though unimportant silent film.But that it is not an easy matter to achieve because, besides classic Teutonic gravitas, there are no insignificant silent films in Germany. Thus it is necessary to turn to developing cultures, particularly Amerika, where there are many light hearted films that can occasionally be enjoyed even by a strict German count."Two Arabian Knights" is one such Amerikan film and was directed in the silent year of 1927 by Herr Lewis Milestone. The film tells of the complicated relationship between two Amerikan soldiers as they travel across Europe; an enmity and rivalry that will traverse frontiers and take those strange comrades from France to Northern Germany and then to Turkey and finally to Arabia. In this latter place they will, after being rescued from a shipwreck, fight each other for the favours of Dame Mirza, a mysterious Arabian lady.As this German count mentioned before, the only purpose of the film is to entertain and certainly that intention is achieved in this conventional adventure silent film that includes the necessary ingredients of those commercial and popular films; that is to say, exotic settings, some action and funny situations. Herr Milestone has not made a milestone silent film though there is some clever camera-work, particularly at the beginning of the film where, from different angles ( up and down ), we see the two men battling each other in a foxhole while astonished German soldiers look on.The film intertwines World War I sequences (light hearted rather than dramatic)as well as exotic adventures in the East, an East of course that is seen through Western eyes and one that is deliberately frivolous and cliché ridden. It is the perfect fictional setting for these two strong personalities who, in spite of their rivalry, can't live without each other ( or Dame Mirza, natürlich!.)And now, if you'll allow me, I must temporarily take my leave because this German Count must continue with the exclusive and aristocratic art of being bored.Herr Graf Ferdinand Von Galitzien http://ferdinandvongalitzien.blogspot.com/

TCM came through by acquiring this wonderful, silent, comedy/drama for television. Until recently it had been locked away in an achieve somewhere. It premiered on TV for the 1st time since its theatrical release in 1927. Two Americans fighting in World War I (William Boyd and Louis Wolheim) are hiding in a defensive position with German soldiers advancing. They however are fighting with each other and working the nerve of one-an-other. They of course are caught, but after an inventive escape they are taken on a whirlwind adventure in Arabia, with all the humor you might find in an Abbott and Costello movie. Very funny and sometimes even touching. A great silent picture and winner of an Academy Award for "Best Comedy Direction". Directed by Lewis Milestone.

Turner Classic Movies is showing 'Two Arabian Nights' on December 15, 2004, as part of their salute to Howard Hughes, subject of the new movie "The Aviator." TCM's web site states that their 'salute coincides with this month's theatrical release of The Aviator, Martin Scorsese's film biography of Hughes. Part One includes three silent films from Hughes' early career as a producer that have not been seen since their initial release, along with two key Hughes movies from the early sound era. The silent films are part of an extensive collection of memorabilia donated by the Hughes estate and the Howard Hughes Corporation to the Film Department at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV), and digitally restored through TCM funding by special arrangement with Flicker Alley. Each has a new score by composer Robert Israel.'