The Barbarian (1933)

MGM’s The Barbarian (AKA A Night in Cairo) is a comedy/romantic melodrama that belongs to the “beautiful American girl gets swept off her feet by dashing handsome desert sheikh” sub-genre.

This is a movie that will have some modern viewers heading for the fainting couches. But then if you insist on trying to view movies made the best part of a century ago through the ideological lens of the 2020s then you’re not going to be able to enjoy any of the movies of this era. You just have to accept that things were different in 1933.

The movie opens with a dragoman named Jamil (Ramon Navarro) bidding a fond farewell to a whole series of tearful European ladies. We figure out that as well as acting as tourist guide Jamil is a rather successful gigolo.

He has already picked out his next target, a young American woman named Diana Standing (Myrna Loy). He has not the slightest doubt that he will easily be able to seduce her.

Young Diana is however no fool. She knows that Jamil is trying to entice her into a romantic dalliance which will certainly be profitable to him. She is confident that his charms will have no effect on her.

Jamil does not give up easily. Diana is outraged when he kisses her passionately. The mere idea of being kissed by a servant is horrifying, although we get the feeling that she rather enjoyed it.

Jamil has a knack for making himself useful. Diana tries to fire him but he just won’t stay fired.

This is embarrassing given that Diana’s fiancé Gerald (Reginald Denny) is more than a little suspicious of Jamil. To add to Diana’s difficulties she is also being pursued by the rich middle-aged Pasha Achmed (Edward Arnold). She has far too many men to cope with.

Then Jamil tells Diana that he is actually a prince. Whether she believes him or not is another matter.

It should perhaps be added that Diana is half-Egyptian herself.

This is a pre-code movie so get the obligatory scene of Myrna Loy in her underwear (looking remarkably hot). But she really sizzles once she gets her clothes off for the nude bathtub scene. If like me you have always thought that Claudette Colbert’s milk bath in The Sign of the Cross is the sexiest moment in pre-code cinema then you ain’t seen nothin’ yet. Loy out-sizzles Colbert in the nude bathing stakes.

Loy’s performance overall is excellent. Ramon Navarro is all sleazy phoney charm but he does it well. Reginald Denny is reliable as always. C. Aubrey Smith adds some comic relief.

This is a very amusing rather witty movie. The dialogue isn’t as racy as you might expect but there are plenty of situations with obvious sexual implications.

The movie changes gears halfway through and becomes more of an adventure romance, and there are even some action scenes. And it gets more and more pre-code. I haven’t mentioned the rape scene yet, or the whipping scenes. Yes, scenes. Miss Loy gets whipped twice.

Lots of modern reviewers just can’t cope with this movie at all. Even with the smelling salts within easy reach. It really is a rather outrageous movie. If you tried to make a scene-for-scene remake today then every single scene would end up being cut.

But then that’s the appeal of pre-code movies. At the time they took people out of their comfort zones and a movie like The Barbarian still does that today. Compared to the bland fare offered up these days this movie is like receiving shock treatment. Pre-code movies were meant to be provocative. They don’t provoke people today for the same reasons, but they still provoke. Perhaps sometimes we need to be exposed to provocative ideas.

I liked The Barbarian and I highly recommend it.