Lovesusti The Worst Film Ever

BootDigest Such a frustrating disappointment

CrawlerChunky In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.

Payno I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

mark.waltz Two decades before her debacle of the movie version of the Broadway musical "Mame", Lucille Ball had a truly wretched film which she herself had badmouthed. It was all to get out of that Columbia contract, hopefully to appear in the big Cecil B. Demille smash, "The Greatest Show on Earth", but of course, that didn't happen. Instead, she ended up on TV and the rest was immortality.Lucy's a princess here, beyond miscast as an obviously non-Arab Arab princess. This is miscasting at it's worst, with Lucy acting like she's ready to have a cat fight with the first actual Arab to come along and reclaim the title she seems to have stolen from them. She's the sister of the caliph, the subject of affections by the caliph's right hand man (Raymond Burr) who is twice as evil as the usurper caliph, having nefarious intentions himself. Years before, the rightful caliph was murdered, and his heir is sent off on a magic carpet, growing up to be John Agar, a common thief. Hired as the caliph's doctor simply because he cured his hiccups, he soon finds out his real identity and becomes involved with both Lucy and Patricia Medina, a peasant girl who is no Maria Montez or Yvonne De Carlo. Corny to the end, this is a quota quickie (produced by poverty row producer Sam Katzman) that was perfect for Saturday matinée audiences but forgotten soon after. Burr is appropriately sinister, with Lucy obviously phoning in a performance. George Tobias provides comedy relief while the actual carpet is pretty impressive allegedly flying through the air with the greatest of ease.

bkoganbing Harry Cohn making use of those sets he constructed for Cornel Wilde and A Thousand And One Nights made this B film The Magic Carpet that starred John Agar, Lucille Ball, and Patricia Medina. It looks like it should have come from Universal which specialized in these Middle Easterns in post World War II America churning them out by the dozen for its young contract stars, Jeff Chandler, Tony Curtis, and Rock Hudson.But John Agar never attained the stature of these guys and doesn't quite cut it in sword, sandal, and camel. Poor Lucille Ball she was just waiting for I Love Lucy to start and just running out her contract. Lucy especially put all the emoting of George Raft into her role as the usurper princess. Of course her red hair looked as out of place in these films as Maureen O'Hara did.As this story opens the Caliph of Bagdad is proclaiming his infant son his heir when he's struck down in a palace coup. Before the revolt is finished the Queen is also killed, but not before she dispatches the infant like Moses not in a waterproof basket, but on the family flying carpet, set on autopilot and to the home of William Fawcett a physician who brings up the kid in his profession never revealing to the kid who grows up to be John Agar his true identity. Fawcett even keeps the carpet which proves of immense help.Patricia Medina who appeared in more than one of these kind of films has the proper spirit playing the girl who Agar really likes. But I sure can't believe she's George Tobias's sister. Raymond Burr who appeared in some great films and some not so great like this one is always good, here as the villainous vizier of the false Caliph who discovers who Agar is and tries to destroy him. The Magic Carpet is a mediocre sand and scandal story with leads who just can't really summon up any conviction.

dougiedc To judge anything out of Hollywood on a par with some of the incredible live performances of today's megastars is "apples n' oranges." That's why everyone still refers to it as "The Factory." Particularly now with most everything is loaded with computerized graphics - to satisfy my preteen grandchildren's Xbox fantasyworld. Back when Hollywood could crank out these pieces of trash allowing us to roll around on the living room floor laughing until we ache all over even now is the epitome of why "The Factory" churned out this stuff. Seeing very gay Raymond "Ironside" Burr sashay around in my grannies old drapes (AND THAT HILARIOUS TURBAN) is right up there with the old Mummy, Dracula, Werewolf and Frankenstein films. My dinner guests absolutely chortle with glee when I pull out one of these chestnuts, and then there's all those perfectly tacky buccaneer movies with John Payne, Steve Reeves and Maureen O'Hara.

SkippyDevereaux 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??