Friday, June 2, 2023

Adventure in Iraq (1943)

 History has shown adventures in Iraq to generally be a mistake, which kind of holds for this film. There was actually a fairly interesting proxy war in the area between the Axis and Allies, while this plays some role in the story it's not particularly central to it. 'Adventure in Iraq' is the third screen adaptation of William Archer's 1921 play 'The Green Goddess', only here the action is moved from a fictional kingdom to Iraq in order to incorporate some contemporary geopolitics presumably for a change of pace and/or attempt at relevance.

Former 'Flying Tiger' Warren Douglas is flying mildly estranged couple Ruth Ford and John Lodar from India to Cairo (why the film dosen't bother to say) when their plane goes down in the pine forests of Iraq (wha?) due to running out of gas (seems like this should have been anticipated). They are taken in by a local Sheik (Paul Cavanugh) whose people happen to be Satan worshippers. The Western educated Sheik agrees to protect our trio, then toys with using them as bargening chips to secure the releasse of some Axis sympathizing half brothers, but he dosen't particularly like his kin so he drops that, having become enamored of Ruth.

The film is a very talkie adventure story, there are various interigues, a prisoner escape, one of the three die and as the others appear doomed American forces arrive and the Sheik gives up and let's his prisoners go. A strange film, kind of endering odd, but still not good. **

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