With the aid of a magic carpet, the true heir to an Arabian caliphate leads an uprising against the pretender oppressing his people.
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Checking YOUR pulse after watching this Arabian adventure would be a good idea as well. Someone, somewhere at some time must have thought his was a pretty good idea for a picture, but obviously overlooked the fact that a man dressed in bright scarlet red would not exactly have looked inconspicuous as the leader of a band of desert rebels attempting to win back his lineage.Well I don't know, you'd think a picture with Lucy Ricardo and Perry Mason on hand would be something of a unique film experience, and this one certainly qualifies, but probably for all the wrong reasons. I see a number of other reviewers had some fun with this one pretty much along the same lines as I did. It's cool to see these actors go through their paces, but the result is just a mess. Seriously now, can you imagine Raymond Burr having the desert hots for Lucille Ball?As for the magical flying carpet, well that was just the icing on the cake. Not only was it comical looking, but you had to wonder how the players managed to keep a straight face. When it was all over, I finally figured out where John Kay (you know, the lead singer of Steppenwolf) might have gotten the inspiration for his mega-hit. I wonder if he ever saw the picture.
I totally disagree with some previous comments. It seems as though everyone wants message films, or biting dialog for a picture to be great. Whatever happened to films being made strictly for entertainment sake. If you are looking for academy award performances forget it, but for a rainy afternoon and you just want some simple escapism then this is just the thing. The interesting thing about the whole movie was how Lucille Ball foiled all of the bigwigs who tried to put the screws to her by offering her this movie to fulfill her contract obligation. they all thought she would turn them down but she fooled them and accepted and as soon as the film wrapped she was gone.
Lucille Ball didn't have to do THE MAGIC CARPET and chose to make it just to finish off her contract with Columbia and move onto her planned new TV show, and we all know the result of THAT. Columbia did not believe that Ball would accept the role in this film, but she outfoxed them all and played the villainess in this Arabian Nights-type fun film. I saw it initially when it was first released, and I LOVE LUCY was already a smash hit on the tube. It was the second half of a double bill, and the audience enjoyed every minute. It was an unintentional(??) riot to see Ball so out of the character that we had come to expect already from LUCY. The SRO audience hooted, laughed, giggled, and had a great time. I don't even recall what the main feature was.... But THE MAGIC CARPET is still remembered, and I would love to find a copy.
Okay, this movie is a cheap Saturday matinée type film from the 1950's, but heck, that is all it is meant to be. It is one of those silly Arabian nights movies that is fun to watch. I wish it were released on DVD, as I would gladly buy it. As a child, I liked this movie when I saw in on television, and just recently saw it again and still like it. Runs in the family as those 1950 Universal Studio Tony Curtis "Son Of Ali Baba" type films and "Son Of Sinbad" with Vincent Price. These movies may not be great in any sense of the word, but they sure are fun to watch one right after the other when there is nothing else to do!! And besides, like my summary said, where else can you find a film that has Lucy Ricardo, Perry Mason and Abner Kravitz in it??