Harem Girl (1952)

A fairly weak comedy set in an Arab country. Joan Davis plays Susie Perkins, a wise-cracking woman who is accompanying an Arab princess back to her country as a paid companion. But the country is riven with strife, and apparently the cause of all this is the untapped oil wealth! The comedy is pretty corny, and at one stage Susie dresses as an Arab guard for disguise, complete with fake moustache.

The film has Arthur Blake as Sheikh Abdul, and as Blake was a female impersonator, the film has appeared on some lists for that reason: however Blake plays a very camp Sheikh, without any transgender overtones.

At the end of the film the French Foreign Legion arrive, and the Internet Movie Database plot summary states that Susie joins the Legion, but in the film this is a throwaway gag and we don't see her in uniform.

HF December 2009

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