Main Cast: Bud Abbott, Lou Costello, Marilyn Maxwell, John Conte, Douglas Dumbrille
Release Year: 1944
Country: US
Run Time: 89 minutes
Plot
Lost in a Harem is arguably the best of Abbott & Costello's trio of MGM films; it's certainly the silliest, with any number of nonsensical plot twists and sidesplitting gags. This time, Bud Abbott and Lou Costello play Pete and Harvey, two American magicians stranded in a mythical Arabian Nights kingdom with songstress Hazel Moon (Marilyn Maxwell). Our heroes and heroine become involved with the trials and tribulations of Prince Ramo (John Conte), who hopes to rightfully reclaim his throne from his evil usurping uncle Nimativ (Douglas Dumbrille). Alas, the villain is armed with a pair of hypnotic rings with which he forces everyone to do his bidding: his most anti-social act is to kidnap and hypnotize the entire Jimmy Dorsey Orchestra! Pete, Harvey, Ramo and Hazel risk death at every turn to thwart Nimativ, encountering a giant guard (Lock Martin, later to play the robot Gort in The Day the Earth Stood Still), a gibbering lunatic (Murray Leonard) and a bevy of harem beauties along the way. The film's sets and costumes, as well as the more elaborate musical numbers, are "borrowed" from the recently completed MGM superproduction Kismet. While the plot is for the birds, Lost in a Harem is saved by the fast-and-furious antics of Abbott and Costello. And as a bonus, this is the film in which Bud and Lou, accompanied by Murray Leonard, perform those deathless burlesque classics "Slowly I Turned" and "Mike's Place." ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Daniel B. Cathcart - Art Director, Cedric Gibbons - Art Director, Charles "Chuck" Riesner - Director, George Hively - Editor, Johnny Green - Composer (Music Score), David Snell - Musical Direction/Supervision, Lester White - Cinematographer, George Haight - Producer, Harry Crane - Screenwriter, John Grant - Screenwriter, Harry Ruskin - Screenwriter
When a traveling vaudeville show becomes stranded in the Middle East, their singer, Hazel Moon (Marilyn Maxwell), takes a job at a local cafe. Two of the show's prop men, Peter Johnson (Bud Abbott) and Harvey Garvey (Lou Costello), are hired as comedy relief, but their act unfortunately initiates a brawl. The two men, along with Hazel, wind up in jail, where they encounter Prince Ramo (John Conte), a sheik, who offers to help them escape if they agree to help him regain the throne which his Uncle Nimativ (Douglass Dumbrille) had usurped with the aid of two hypnotic rings.
After escaping jail, Peter and Harvey join Ramo and his desert riders, and hatch a plan to have Hazel seduce Nimativ, as he is quite vulnerable to blondes. Once Nimativ is distracted, Peter and Harvey plan to retrieve the hypnotic rings to facilitate Ramo's reclamation of the throne.
Peter and Harvey enter the capital city, posing as Hollywood talent scouts, and meet up with Nimativ. He is quickly enamored with Hazel and manages to hypnotize Peter and Harvey, who then reveal their plans. They are imprisoned, while Hazel is hypnotized into being one of Nimativ's wives. After Ramo helps the boys escape, they enlist the aid of Teema (Lottie Harrison), Nimativ's first wife, by promising her a movie career. Harvey then disguises himself as Teema, while Peter dresses up as Nimativ. They manage to steal the rings during a large celebration and turn the rings against Nimativ, who abdicates the throne. Ramo again becomes ruler, with Hazel as his wife, and the boys return to the United States.
Production
Lost in a Harem was filmed from March 22 through June 3, 1944, mainly using leftover sets from the 1944 production of Kismet.
This film was banned in Morocco, and Syria required that it be edited before it could be shown there.[1]
Routines
In this film, Abbott and Costello perform the famous "Slowly I Turned" routine. They are in the cell with the derelict (Murray Leonard) and the trigger word is Pokomoko.
DVD release
Although filmed for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Warner Bros. currently owns the rights and it is through them that this film was released on DVD on November 21, 2006.
November 21, 2006
References
^ Furmanek, Bob and Ron Palumbo (1991). Abbott and Costello in Hollywood. New York: Perigee Books. ISBN 978-0-399-51605-4
