User Reviews

It would be interesting to see the first, now lost, 1915 film version of the Edgar Selwyn play, The Arab (1911) as Selwyn himself played the title role and director Cecil B De Mille made a similar movie on the tense relationship between a white woman and a romantic man of color the same year, his more well known The Cheat. Ramon Novarro,the star of this 1924 version also appeared in a loose remake from 1933, more provocatively retitled The Barbarian. Both of these versions feature a scene halfway through where the heroine (here Alice Terry, later Myrna Loy) takes a whip to the Arab. The somewhat ragged video copy of the 1924 version that I was able to see came from Gosfilmofond and is missing the opening (which explains how he is deserted by his father and lands up in Turkey) and the ending, running a total of 63 minutes whereas the original length was a bit longer, 7 reels. There are traces of director Rex Ingram's renowned pictorialism in several shots taken through archways, or from the Arab's tent toward the end; and traces of cinematographer John Seitz's compositions in light and shade.The surviving material also shows the benefit of Ingram's shooting some of it on location in Algiers (not that common in that time) and using real desert natives in the cast. As a whole however it fails to live up to the very enthusiastic review that its first showings got from Variety.From today's perspective, the two Sheik pictures with Rudolph Valentino which play with similar motifs are more enjoyable.

There were two different film figures named Rex Ingram: interestingly, the English director Michael Powell worked with both of them. One of the two Rex Ingrams was an African-American actor who appeared in both film versions of 'The Thief of Bagdad'. The other Rex Ingram was an Irish-born director who set up an independent film studio in France after establishing himself in Hollywood as a highly innovative auteur with a unique visual sense. Sadly, after proving himself one of the most distinctive visual stylists of the silent-film era, Ingram's career petered out rapidly with the coming of sound.

It is this Rex Ingram -- not the black American actor -- whom fellow Irishman James Joyce praised in 'Finnegans Wake'. It may well be that the director 'borrowed' his name from the black actor: ironically, the director's real name was Hitchcock ... perhaps he thought that nobody could be a successful film director with a name like Hitchcock! (All further references to 'Rex Ingram' in this review apply to the Irish director, not the American actor.) Throughout his career, Ingram showed a penchant for the exotic, but in later years he became increasingly interested in the culture and religion of Arab lands. The interest was sincere, apparently, as Ingram eventually converted to Islam. His film 'The Arab' was based on an existing play, yet this movie appears to be a project which Ingram initiated, and which was deeply personal for him, as opposed to some studio assignment.

I viewed an archive print of 'The Arab' which had its original titles cut out and Russian translations spliced in. Fortunately, a Russian curator (who wanted to see the film herself) screened it with me and offered verbal translations of some of the titles. This review is based on the film's visual images and a second-hand version of the title cards. (Why won't IMDb allow me to post 'intertitles' as one word -- the proper term -- instead of breaking it up into two words?)

CONTAINS SPOILERS. The setting is Syria, during a war with Turkey. (I make no claims for the historical accuracy of this movie.) Jamil is a soldier in the Bedouin defence forces, but he has deserted his regiment. In a remote village, he encounters an orphan asylum run by American missionaries: Mary Hilbert and her father. Jamil and Mary feel a mutual attraction. Meanwhile, the Turks are on their way to pillage the village. The leader of the villagers is identified in the Russian title cards as 'the Governor', but surely 'the Mayor' is more accurate. The Governor (sic), eager to placate the oncoming Turks, arranges for the children in the orphanage to be 'evacuated' to Damascus for their safety: actually, he intends to hand them over to the Turkish invaders, knowing that the children will be slaughtered.

Jamil is modest and self-effacing. Mary is a Christian and Jamil is (at the moment) a Moslem, yet he casually admits to her that he has been a Christian several times and will probably be one again. It seems that his convictions change as easily as the desert winds.

But now some of Jamil's fellow Bedouins arrive. Will they shoot him as a deserter? No. It turns out that Jamil is the son of the ruling sheikh. (He was too modest to mention this.) And it also turns out that Jamil's father has died, so now Jamil is the new sheikh. As soon as he assumes this mantle (or burnoose), Jamil suddenly gains a sense of responsibility. He risks his own life to save the children, repel the Turks, and overthrow the corrupt Governor. Naturally, sweet Mary gets a case of the hots for him. There is an exciting climax.

Earlier scenes in the film hinted that the passion between Mary and Jamil is doomed to failure, due to their differing cultures and faiths. But now Mary -- who has devoted her entire life to Christian works -- starts dropping hints that she might convert to Islam. Why not just let Jamil convert one more time, as he's had more experience at it?

Much of this movie is deeply implausible, but Ingram directs it with a panache and visual flair that make the film exhilarating even while we don't believe a word of it. One assumes that he brought his personal beliefs to this project. In the lead role, Ramon Novarro takes the bold step of playing Jamil as a protagonist who must *earn* our sympathy and respect, rather than having them from the start. Alice Terry (Ingram's wife, and his leading lady in many of his films) is far less effective in her portrayal of the young Christian missionary. She is quite beautiful and photogenic, but Terry's good looks actually work against her in this role: would a missionary in a remote location devote quite so much time to her hair and make-up? I'm rating this very entertaining movie 8 out of 10, but I may be overrating it slightly to compensate for the fact that I saw it in difficult circumstances.