Der Wüstenfalke

This is a fun movie starring Richard Greene, playing an outlaw helping his people in the Middle East who coincidentally years later would find his fame playing Robin Hood on TV. It's fun, Jackie Gleason and Joe Besser provide the laughs, it has beautiful damsels in distress and nasty villains, a good matinee movie. Amusingly this movie depicts Muslims 600 years before Mohammed, which is quite incredible.

It's a fairy tale like out of Arabian Nights and very much romanticised and Hollywoodised but with above all spectacular clothing and fencing scenes. It's a comedy like out of the days of Douglas Fairbanks and Rudolph Valentino and set in the same kind of fantasy world of highly romantic splendour but totally drowned in superficiality. Richard Greene as the Desert Hawk is just a dashing adventurer like any pirate, and Yvonne de Carlo as the princess is also kept down on a very basically superficial level - she is not allowed to do much dancing. The other characters are amusing enough with their tricks, while the most impressing character actually is George Macready as one of his many suave and very wicked crooks excelling in foul play. The colours are also magnificent throughout, this is a dashing costume drama of great swashbuckling and a dazzling extravagance of costumes all the way, while Frank Skinner's music isn't too bad either. To sum it up, it's good enough as entertainment but not much more.

This is entertaining for a tale about the mideast intrigues, the title hero is a rogue superhero like person in a red robe, one thing is this has Sinbad and Aladdin relegated to comic relief sidekicks, and the Sherherizade (of 1,001 Nights) as the romance interest switching with villainess, if these famous characters are included they gotta at least live up to their names, however enough satisfying action here against routine Califs and about the title Desert Hawk as battling against the taxing fiendish people, the checklist of things is harems, people in rugs, slave markets, turbans, dungeons, some good palaces here.

The beautiful Princess Scheherazade (Yvonne DeCarlo) is betrothed to Prince Murad (George Macready). Unfortunately for her, Prince Murad is a bit of a tyrant, and his tax collectors have been oppressing the common people. Challenging his tyranny is the man known as the Desert Hawk. His real identity is under wraps, and when not fighting injustice he's a humble blacksmith under the name of Omar.

Richard Greene plays the Desert Hawk in this sprightly Arabian Nights adventure ( minus the fantasy elements) and he's a Robin Hood figure. It's nothing new, but that doesn't mean it isn't entertaining. There's a lot to enjoy like scimitars clashing, riders in the desert landscape, diabolical plots, and some nice twists and turn. It was quite enjoyable.

Both stars - Yvonne DeCarlo and Richard Greene- enliven this film further, with Decarlo's haughty princess adding some spice, and Greene's dashing acting. He really swordfights well.

It's got the typical Hollywood's exaggerated version of Arabia with harems and poetic language. But it's harmless fun that had me cheering the hero.

Once again Universal getting out of those sets that they created for Maria Montez and her films creates The Desert Hawk with romantic bandit leader Richard Greene romancing the Princess Scherazade played by Yvonne DeCarlo.. Fortunately Greene has two villains to contend with George MacReady and evil prince and Carl Esmond leader of a cult of assassins who work at cross purposes.

To keep DeCarlo from marrying MacReady in an arranged marriage Greene pretends to be MacReady and he has a clergyman in his gang marry them. These days we'd go to court for an annulment, but back then this is a beheading offense.

The film also has Jackie Gleason and Joe Besser playing Aladdin and Sinbad. Not those two legends from Arabian Night but a pair of burlesque comedians of those times who look jarringly out of place. Gleason looks like he crash dieted for this film, God only knows why.

Rock Hudson plays one of MacReady's henchmen and he was up and coming over at Universal at the time. Lucky this was early in his career or within two years he would have had the lead and this would be remembered as a Hudson picture.

Definitely one of Universal's lesser homages to the Arabian Nights.