The Shriek of Araby

THE SHRIEK OF ARABY is 75% Valentino/desert romance parody and 25% surreal gag machine. Ben turpin sends up THE SHEIK, donning desert robes, aggressively wooing Kathryn McGuire (best remembered as one of Buster Keaton's leading ladies), and fighting off rivals. There are fourth wall jokes, mistaken identities, 20s slang in inappropriate situations, the works. The weirdest part of all takes place at the end, where Turpin's rival the Bandit Kign straight up uses a Bond villain method of trying to kill Mcguire. It's an odd, odd movie, throwing jokes every second and seeing what sticks. A lot of it doesn't and the film goes on too long for its own good, but it's worth a look, particularly if you're like me and the Sheik movies are guilty pleasures.