An Exercise In Nonsense

I saw this movie before reading any reviews, and I thought it was very funny. I was very surprised to see the overwhelmingly negative reviews this film received from critics.

It is both painfully honest and laugh-out-loud funny at the same time.

It's a good bad... and worth a popcorn matinée. While it's easy to lament what could have been...

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'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.

I used to enjoy Hopalog Cassidy on early fifties tv with the made for tv 30 min. shows. I had never seen any of his theatrical movies that were made from 1935 to 1948 as these were never shown on tv. Well now on the Westerns Channel they are showing a couple of the 66 movies a month. Most of them are very entertaining as the Hoppy character brings back memories plus it shows a somewhat tougher Hoppy than on tv. This movie however is awful. There is almost no western action and most of it takes place in Arabia (Cal. desert) and cheap backlots and studios made to look like outside desert locations. If this had been the first Hoppy movie I'd ever seen I would never bothered to watch any more. Luckily I have seen enough good ones to remember they are out there and to continue watching hoping to see some better ones than this.