Most undeservingly overhyped movie of all time??

Fanciful, disturbing, and wildly original, it announces the arrival of a fresh, bold voice in American cinema.

Tells a fascinating and unsettling true story, and does so well, without pretending to have all the answers.

Great story, amazing characters, superb action, enthralling cinematography. Yes, this is something I am glad I spent money on.

While not perfect, The Desert Song has a lot to like about it. The story is very improbable and does drag in spots, and Steve Cochran is sadly underused to the point he was wasted although he does do his best. However, the cinematography is absolutely gorgeous, the sets are handsome and the costumes are colourful, if anything the production values are one of the film's strongest attributes. The Desert Song has a very pleasant and lively score and the songs are great, especially The Desert Song, One Alone and Gay Parisienne. The dialogue is snappily written without ever been corny and there are some very sweet moments without being saccharine, the conflict is also convincing. The dancing is deliciously exotic and choreographed in a way that doesn't interfere with the story or the pacing of it and the direction is not too flashy and never indifferent. Gordon McRae is immensely charming and shows that he is natural in comedy, his voice, one of the beautiful on film, is as ever splendid. It is the same with Kathryn Grayson, who brings personal charm and sass to her role, who is energetic in Gay Parisienne and really goes for it in One Alone that it is easy to feel the emotion. Raymond Massey is a perfect villain and for me he was the best and juiciest performance in the film. To conclude, The Desert Song is not quite glorious but it's well performed, handsomely made and makes for good entertainment. 8/10 Bethany Cox

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.

I have to say from the outset I'm a sucker for operettas. I like music as long as it has a melody and there's nothing more melodious than an operetta. The Desert Song is filled with wonderful melodies and Gordon MacRae and Kathryn Grayson sing them to perfection in this third film adaption of the Romberg-Harbach-Hammerstein operetta.The real surprise for most people is that the Riffs are quite real. A hardy fighting group they were led in the teens and twenties of the last century by a romantic hero very much like the Red Shadow(El Khobar)named Abdel-Krim. They are the indigenous folk who inhabit in and around the Atlas mountains of Morocco and what was at that time Spanish Morocco. During the post World War I years American correspondents reporting from those wars were pretty much on the side of the Riffs who were seeking independence from France and Spain. Spain which was not a combatant in World War I took the brunt of the fighting. And Abdel Krim led them on a merry chase for a decade. The Spanish army was beaten at every turn. A guy named Francisco Franco got his first military combat in the Riff Wars.Eventually the French entered the war in a big way and Abdel-Krim became a prisoner. He went into exile after release and died in the mid 60s. He was a warrior, Abdel Krim in the tradition of Saladin of the Crusades, not at all like today's terrorists. He never made war on civilians. The guy most responsible for his capture was Marshal Phillippe Petain who led the French army, his most notable activity between both world wars.No doubt in my mind that Abdel-Krim was the model of our hero. Of course since this is the west doing the story we make the hero a Frenchman named Paul Bonnard who by day is a mild-mannered archaeologist from a French University by day and the fearsome lion of the desert by night. Gordon MacRae even dons glasses in his Paul Bonnard mode, just like Clark Kent.And the leading lady is Margot, daughter of the French commandant and a typical 1920s flirt. In this version that would be Kathryn Grayson. But it's the wonderful romantic music that Sigmund Romberg wrote that will make the Desert Song last forever. The main songs, The Desert Song One Alone, the Riff Song and Margot's soliloquy Romance are done in fine style by the leads. I wish more of the score got into this version.Doing operetta, of necessity a lot of it is tongue in cheek. As villains Raymond Massey and Frank DeKova seem to be having a great old time, hamming it up. Kathryn Grayson got to do a lot of classic operetta and opera while she was at MGM. Gordon MacRae had a terrific baritone voice and sad to say in his case, he didn't come along in the 1930s or he could have done a lot of the operetta that was being filmed then.One more thing about Abdel Krim. I can't prove it, but I think he was the model for Rudolph Valentino's The Sheik and we all know how popular that was.For us operetta fans of all ages.