Stometer Save your money for something good and enjoyable

AshUnow This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

Nayan Gough A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.

Mandeep Tyson The acting in this movie is really good.

jacobs-greenwood Directed by Sidney Sheldon, who wrote the screenplay with Herbert Baker and Alfred Lewis Levitt, this late screwball, flat sex farce reunites actor Cary Grant with writer Sheldon, who'd won an Academy Award on his only nomination for The Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer (1947) in their only other collaboration. That's just one of the reasons that make one feel that this comedy could have been better, another is its veteran cast that includes Deborah Kerr and Walter Pidgeon.As it is, the storyline incorporates dated male and female gender roles in a way that's infrequently funny and more often silly. What begins as a promising, although greatly simplified look at the primitive wants and needs of each sex, devolves into a less than amusing review of old stereotypes. The film did receive an Academy Award nomination for its B&W Costume Design.When Clemson Reade (Grant) finally realizes that his fiancée Priscilla Effington's (Kerr) state department job takes too much of her time and will likely delay their wedding, he decides that he's had enough. When 'Effie' realizes that 'Clem' was expecting her to give up her job when she'd married him, they mutually agree to end their engagement. He then sends a telegram to the Khan (Eduard Franz) of oil rich Bukistan, where he'd just been on business, to see if can wed the royal Princess Tarji (Betta St. John), who's been trained since birth, as per their 3,000 year tradition, to care about nothing else but pleasing her future husband. The only trouble is, the state department's Walter McBride (Pidgeon, with a rather minor role) and his assistant Effie, have been negotiating a big oil death with the Khan. They intercept Clem's crude telegram and express their concerns about his plans messing up theirs. McBride then assigns Effie, who understands Bukistan's customs and speaks their language fluently, to act as a liaison between Clem and Tarji, who's father accepts the proposal of marriage.Of course, Tarji is perceived by Clem and his jealous co-worker friends (Les Tremayne, Bruce Bennett, and Richard Anderson's characters) to be the perfect wife, but her native customs (e.g. having to walk 3 feet behind him at all times, being unable to dine with him, etc.) and the fact that the wedding is scheduled 3 months in the future (during which the Princess's imposing bodyguard is to keep them from kissing one another), gives him second thoughts. Heavyweight boxing champion Max Baer's younger brother Buddy plays Tarji's bodyguard and, in the screwball tradition, Dan Tobin does his best "Franklin Pangborn", playing a befuddled hotel manager. So Clem asks Effie to help Tarji to become more sophisticated, or domesticated for U.S. customs, and of course his ex-fiancée is only too happy to educate the Princess about famous suffragettes and other early feminists. Effie's efforts help to undo 3,000 years of Bukistan culture in just 3 months! Meanwhile, Effie begins to see Clem's attraction to Tarji (or at least his ideal of a subservient wife), in a new light. When the now English speaking, yet still very naive Tarji goes out for a walk alone, she attracts men (including Steve Forrest) like flies. It doesn't take a genius to figure out where all this is leading and, in the end, the predictable is delivered.

dougdoepke A big disappointment considering the two legendary leads, Grant and Kerr. And that's despite a rather promising opening. There's comedic potential in a jilted love translating a guy's flowery affections to a non-English new amour. As a result, the movie's best passages involve Kerr doing just that. Here, however, the idea's bound up with Middle East intrigue, and distinctly non-comedic mid-eastern types. There's also comedic potential in watching a woman transition from traditional subservience to modern freedoms. Trouble is these themes fail to catch fire in what amounts to a sloppy screenplay. Too bad too that Grant appears to be walking through his role in very uncharacteristic fashion. There's none of his usual bounce or spark. Apparently, he was on the brink of retiring and would not make another feature for two years. So there may well be an inside story to the MGM production. Kerr too seems too dour to be droll in a rather thankless role. At the same time, the results look like director Sheldon had no feel for the antic material, being more a popular writer than director. At least there's a winsome Betta St. John as the Arabian princess, an aptly commanding Walter Pidgeon as a government honcho, and a fearsome Buddy Baer as a towering enforcer. All in all, however, I expect this was not a movie Grant would like to be remembered by, nor one that his fans will revere him for.(In passing—Iran's Prime Minister of the time, Mohammed Mossadegh, gets a quick mention in the dialog. No wonder, because he had just nationalized the country's oil production and would quickly be deposed by a notorious CIA plot. These events culminated about the time this movie was in production, ie. early 1953, and may well have inspired the premise.)

deewitt I saw this movie for the first time on TCM, interested because of the pairing of Cary Grant and Deborah Kerr. It's really boring, with a silly, unbelievable plot. Worse than that, Grant looks and act in such a peculiar manner. He appears to be bone-thin, with his suits just hanging on him. And his expressions and body language border on the effeminate in some sequences. This is not the dashing, debonair, sophisticated Cary Grant we've all become accustomed to seeing in so many movies over the years.Kerr has a brief drunk scene that is unusual for her screen persona. Aside from that, there's not much to her character that can save this dreary flick.The one thing worth noting is the movie's benign portrayal of Islamic rulers. Was it really like that 50 years ago, or were we just too ignorant to know any better?

Ethereal-Cloud I really love Cary Grant but this movie must have been one of those scripts that crossed his desk and was marked with a $$$ sign on it.There's no excuse for such schlock. There was no chemistry with his fiancée 'Effie' and there was none with his 'to be bride' Tarji'. The whole damn movie was a mess. There's probably some goofs that's going to complain about racism or sexism in the whole mess, I was just wondering if there was another movie that the very cute actress Betta St. John is in. She's a looker but even she's no reason to bother with this flop of a 'movie'. I wonder what were they thinking???? I honestly can't give this more than a couple of stars in good faith.