Very well executed

Excellent adaptation.

A Masterpiece!

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 is an example of an extinct musical sub-genre, the operetta. You get a dashing hero, a hissable villan, and a damsel in distress in any typical example. THE DESERT SONG has all these, plus, what I feel is one of the loveliest of all operetta scores, in this case, composed by Sigmund Romberg. This is the third film by Warner Brothers of this show. A few details have been changed from the 1926 stage show, but that is not important. The story flows along with Kathryn Grayson and Gordon MacRae bursting into song in true operetta fashion. Allyn McLerie does an exotic dance, and there are some gorgeous settings and scenery. I saw this years ago on a vhs tape, and, the Technicolor was a bit washed out. It is stunning on the Warner Archive dvd, and the glorious voices of Grayson and MacRae are perfectly recorded. Indeed, this was one of the last operettas filmed in the early '50s. They're out of style, and, I suppose, laughable to more sophisticated audiences of today, but they and this one in particular possess a great deal of charm, not to mention talent. If you want to escape to another world, far far away from the problems of today, immerse yourself in the soothing melodies of THE DESERT SONG.

My wife and I are fond of a number of Rogers and Hammerstein musicals, especially South Pacific, so we thought we would give this one a try (Hammerstein is here, not Rogers). The Technicolor photography is striking, the desert scenes very good, the secondary characters are good, the lead actors are good, but in spite of that it is rather disappointing. The songs are really not that good. The plot is rather predictable. Kathyrn Grayson's singing reminds of that of Snow White in the classic Disney animated movie from the 1930s: too sweet, too many trills and "ah-ah-ah"s. Speaking of animation, the plot and feel of the movie remind me of a comic book. Another poster here wrote of the Silver Age of comics, and that this movie seems to fit right in. I see what he means (although the Silver Age was roughly 1955 - 1968). We have a "super hero" (Gordon MacRae) who wears a disguise and has an alter ego. With his glasses, he looks remarkably like Clark Kent. Grayson looks a lot like Lois Lane. There's even a near perfect replica of Jimmy Olson! (Dick Wesson). Too bad Perry White doesn't show up (but there is Ray Collins, soon to join the Perry Mason TV series).All in all, it has some good features but really seems too much like a B-western, in spite of the A- cast.-henry

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.

As I said in my summary, I would heartily recommend this movie to anyone who wants to see a classy movie. It has a very worn plot, but its simplicity would appeal to anyone who is tired of seeing violence and sex on the screen. It is like anything goes!! Kathryn Grayson, and Gordon McCrae sang beautifully. I've seen other movies that they have sung in and they always put on a good show. As far as the scenery, it was very authentic, and the color was awesome. I haven't seen the movie since I saw it in the Music Circus, and the Theatre, but I will never forget the red in the costume that Gordon McCrae wore, and the white of the desert sands. You would have never guessed that this man wearing glasses was the one who would come to the rescue of Kathryn Grayson. I wish that they would show it on AMC or TCM; I'd love to see it again even if it's shown on a small screen.