Senteur As somebody who had not heard any of this before, it became a curious phenomenon to sit and watch a film and slowly have the realities begin to click into place.

mraculeated The biggest problem with this movie is it’s a little better than you think it might be, which somehow makes it worse. As in, it takes itself a bit too seriously, which makes most of the movie feel kind of dull.

Teddie Blake The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

Claire Dunne One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

blanche-2 This 1944 "Kismet" was supposedly an enormous and expensive MGM production. Filmed in color, the film stars Ronald Colman, Marlene Dietrich, Joy Page, James Craig, and Edward Arnold.There are songs in this movie, not memorable -- it's not the Broadway musical that Vincente Minnelli directed in film form starring Howard Keel.Set in Baghdad, Colman plays Hafiz, who calls himself the King of the Beggars by day and by night plays the role of royalty from a foreign land. He has a daughter, Marsinah, and now that she's older, he realizes that he promised her the world and isn't going to be able to deliver. Marsinah is content, however -- she's in love with a gardener's son (James Craig) who is really the Caliph of Baghdad but likes to go incognito. So Hafiz goes incognito as wealthy and the Caliph goes incognito as poor.Hafiz poses as a dignitary and manages to get into the palace of the Grand Vizier. He's determined to have his daughter become part of the household; also, he's in love with sovereign from a distant land and romances the beautiful Jamilla (wife and queen of the grand Vizier). The big scene in this is Dietrich's dance, with her legs painted gold. As always, she is incredible and beautiful. Colman is a little old for Hafiz, but in this version, he has a teenage daughter. He's terrific as the sly beggar. As his daughter, Joy Page is lovely and innocent. She was Jack Warner's stepdaughter, not that it did her much good. She is still remembered as the young Bulgarian woman whose virtue is saved by Bogie in "Casablanca." The sets are obviously backdrops and studio builds. But somehow, one believes it's a foreign land. The color is beautiful.The musical numbers, except for Marlene's dance, are on the dull side. In the musical Kismet, the songs were fashioned from the music of Aleksandr Borodin, the melodies of which are very familiar, particularly Stranger in Paradise, and And This is My Beloved. So this isn't Howard Keel, Ann Blyth, and Delores Gray; it's Colman, Page, and Dietrich. Since it's not a musical, that's more than good enough.

Doghouse-6 Ronald Colman and Edward Arnold (even as a villain) furnish most of the otherwise inadequate charm of this bit of Arabian nights cotton candy that tells of the "King Of the Beggars" who masquerades as a prince each evening while the true local royalty, the Caliph, also roams the streets of Baghdad by night, disguised as a peasant to learn what his subjects really think of him. A premise with promise; full potential unrealized.Marlene Dietrich, while contributing to the decor, is largely wasted as Colman's love interest, a captive queen amused by his extravagant lies but unaware of his true identity. Her best moments come during her verbal sparring matches with Arnold. Colman, as always, makes the most of his role which, if not tailor made for him, certainly appears that way. James Craig gives it a gallant try, but is sorely miscast as the Caliph. Had wartime not curtailed Hollywood's supply of young leading men, Craig's participation herein would have been unlikely. It was simply too much to ask to bend his corn-fed, all-American, big lug nice guy type to the part, and MGM might better have borrowed Turhan Bey from Universal. The Technicolor camera seems to like Joy Page, appearing as Colman's daughter in her second film, but her role gives her fewer opportunities as an actress than her first appearance (in "Casablanca," as the Bulgarian newlywed whose husband tries to win money for exit visas at the roulette table). An almost unrecognizable Florence Bates has a couple good moments as Colman's household servant (begging pays well), but Hugh Herbert, with his 'woo-hoo' persona unaltered from that so familiar in Warners musicals of the previous decade, is rather incongruous as one of Colman's fellow beggars, even in as whimsical a fantasy as this.On a recent TCM screening, host Robert Osborne went on and on about the lavish production values - which he reported offended some during wartime - but I must say, for an MGM production, the money doesn't really show on screen. With its fanciful painted backdrops and stylized sets, it instead resembles one of 20th-Fox's more cut-rate (Technicolor notwithstanding) Grable-Miranda features.All in all, KISMET is an undemanding way to kill a hundred minutes, but aside from the always-welcome presence of Colman and Arnold, not much more can be said of it.

moonspinner55 Third version of popular story (without the musical score) involving beggar/magician in Bagdad who impersonates a prince. Meanwhile, the beggar's daughter falls for a camel-boy who's really a prince in disguise! Somehow, Marlene Dietrich gets shoehorned in as sheltered royalty who rebels by doing a hot dance routine which must've been pretty risqué for 1944 (she's slathered in gold paint). MGM adventure does a nice job rewriting the original play by Edward Knoblock, featuring a colorful production and welcome comedic elements. It's jaunty fun with a fairly fast pace, hindered only by Ronald Coleman's miscasting in the lead (and his surprising lack of chemistry opposite Dietrich). **1/2 from ****

Stinkier Whew! Beautiful colors! But that's it. Remember "Ninotchka?" "Garbo laughs"? Well, in this movie, Edward Arnold, as the evil vizier, laughs and laughs and laughs, and he's not nearly as good looking. And the two young lovers? There is a reason James Craig is not remembered, he has trouble speaking English with any clarity, rhythm or sincerity. And Joy Page, in the words of Humphrey Bogart, should "go back to Bulgaria." (Yes, that was her. James Craig was the second loser she picked for a husband.) Dietrich provides comedy relief, sounding exactly like Madeline Kahn in "Blazing Saddles." Thank goodness they at least have Hugh Herbert popping up from time to time...and, well, don't tell anyone but I LIKED Ronald Colman in this one....And we haven't even gotten to the truly jaw-dropping (as in bad) special effects. If you want to feel good about yourself at someone else's expense, watch.