The Desert Hawk 1950

A slave in the Palace of 1000 Delights !

5.1 / 10   7 vote(s)
NR
Action Adventure

A desert guerilla, with flashing scimitar, opposes a tyrannical prince and marries the caliph's daughter.

Release Date 1950-08-05
Runtime 1h 17m
Directors Frederick de Cordova, Russell Metty
Producer Leonard Goldstein
Writers Aubrey Wisberg, Gerald Drayson Adams, Jack Pollexfen

A remarkably decent cast fail to enliven this rather verbose and dull Arabian Nights adventure based around the legendary character of "Scheherazade". This time she (Yvonne de Carlo) is the daughter of the Caliph who is tricked into marrying "Omar" (Richard Greene) in the belief that he is the Prince "Murad" (George Macready). Nobody is very impressed by this arrangement, the Princess demands the head of "Omar" and off we go on some colourful desert shenanigans during which the Princess realises that she might just have backed the wrong horse! Sadly, though, it is all just descends quickly into a routine sand and scimitar story as the men vie for her affections whilst pursuing wealth and power at the same time. It looks quite good, but the dialogue is pretty stilted and even with Jackie Gleason and a bit-part from Rock Hudson, it never really flows - indeed, much of the time it is just too meandering and lacklustre. Pity, though - better writing and direction could have made more of it.

CinemaSerf