Just what I expected

A lot of fun.

This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

This movie feels like it was made purely to piss off people who want good shows

Looks like producer Sherman was aiming for a change of pace. He got it, but not very successfully. Shifting the action abruptly to the desert sands of Arabia and guys in long robes takes some getting used to. Then again, because of the costuming, it's sometimes hard to tell who's who among the natives. Worse, somebody was ill-advised to slip a robe over Hoppy and put his gun-belt over that. It does look silly compared with what we're used to. Of course, the locale may change, but the idea of good guys and bad guys remains the same. So does Clyde's comedy relief and King's romancing of the spunky girl (Phillips). Still, there are compensations. The abundant location shots from Lone Pine and nearby desert sands make for some fine eye candy. In fact, some of the horseback shots against the sky are almost striking. Too bad these are interspersed with clumsy studio exteriors that immediately shout 'movie'. Looks like Sherman popped for a lot of extras for the battle scenes and the crowded Arab bazaar. So it's likely the budget was bigger than usual for an oater. And shouldn't overlook slinky actress Deste (Marie). She's an eye-catching presence in an otherwise brief career. Too bad. All in all, the exotic package doesn't work out that well, but does remain a decent try.

William Boyd (Hopalong Cassidy), Brad King (Johnny Nelson), Andy Clyde (California), Jean Phillips (Susan Grant),Forrest Stanley (Charles Grant), Nina Guilbert (Mrs Jane Grant), Luli Deste (Marie Karitza), Alberto Morin (Nickie Karitza), George Woolsley (major), Duncan Renaldo (Sheik Suleiman), Jean Del Val (Faran El Kalar), Mickey Eissa (Salim), Jamiel Hasson (Ali), George J. Lewis (Yussuf).Director: HOWARD BRETHERTON. Screenplay: J. Benton Cheney, Bernard McConville. Based on characters created by Clarence E. Mulford. Photography: Russell Harlan. Supervising film editor: Sherman A. Rose. Film editor: Carrol Lewis. Art director: Ralph Berger. Music composed by John Leipold, directed by Irvin Talbot. Assistant director: Glenn Cook. Associate producer: Lewis J. Rachmil. Producer: Harry Sherman.Copyright 3 December 1941 by Paramount Pictures, Inc. No recorded New York opening. U.S. release: 1 November 1941. Australian release: 9 April 1942. 7 reels. 6,014 feet. 66 minutes.SYNOPSIS: Journeying to Arabia to purchase horses, Hoppy and his pals thwart a kidnapping plot.NOTES: Number 40 of the 66-picture series.COMMENT: Beyond its curious setting — Arabia — this entry has little to commend it, outside of: (1) a few nice compositions on desert locations (thanks, Russell Harlan); (2) an appealing heroine (Jean Phillips); and (3) an interesting villain (Duncan Renaldo, of all people). Despite the promising setting, the script manages to work in little action, a scarcity made more noticeable by the plodding pace set by ho-hum director, Howard Bretherton.

I doubt Outlaws Of The Desert got any closer to Arabia than the Mojave. But this film has Hopalong Cassidy and his two sidekicks Brad King and Andy Clyde going to Arabia to do a little horse trading. They are acting as agents for Forrest Stanley to purchase some Arabian stock to blend with his ranch horses. Stanley is along with his wife Nina Guilbert and daughter Jean Phillips. I can think of much better places for a little getaway myself.Anyway this family gets victimized by a pair of con artists Albert Morin and Luli Deste. Good thing Hoppy was along and an even better thing he made friends with the local sheik Duncan Renaldo doing his best at a Rudolph Valentino imitation. In fact Renaldo was one of a number of players brought in to be cut rate Valentinos when Rudy was at his height.I can't think of anything looking sillier I've seen in a while than Bill Boyd, Andy Clyde and Brad King in their western costume riding through the Arabian desert with all those native peoples. They looked so ridiculously out of place.Only for die-hard Hoppy fans.

I'm a big Hoppy fan & like everything Hoppy's ever been in, except for this film. The previous reviewer (who stated that this is the worst of the Hoppy films) is correct. There's much more bad about it than what's good about it. I don't care for the "exotic" Arabian locales, I like my westerns to be set in the American west. Seeing William Boyd dressed in Arabic robes made him seem somewhat ridiculous! I prefer Hoppy in his all- black outfit (translation= "ready to take care of business"), but here he wore a gray shirt with black pants & hat, then got into the robes, & that just doesn't do it for me! Here are the positive points of this film: it starts out in Gila-Bend, which is nice; Hoppy identifies himself as a "county Deputy Sheriff"; California gets to ride Topper for a few minutes while Hoppy is breaking in a horse. That's it, even the comedy from California is weak. On the negative side, we have: the clothes issue (above), the absurdity of traveling to Arabia with Topper in tow (& I assume his side-kicks' horses as well), the very slow pace, the unexciting action sequences (3 gunfights, but apparently no one is even so much as wounded in any of them), the song by Brad King (although he's far from the worst of Hoppy's young sidekicks, see Jay Kirby & Jimmy Rogers for that "honor"), & the miscasting of Duncan Renaldo (TV's "Cisco Kid," who I like a lot) as an Arabic Sheik (whose Spanish accent creeps through at times, although he was "educated inEngland"!). There's really not much to recommend here. As of this writing, imdb voters gave it a 7+ rating, which makes it one of the higher rated Hoppy movies. That's hard to believe, because there's 65 other Hoppy movies out there that are better than this one! This is the only film of Hoppy's that I'd rate below a 5/10, & I give it a 3/10.