Thanks for the memories!

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

THE MAGIC CARPET is great fun. A Sam Katzman Supercinecolor bargain counter costume extravaganza with Lucille Ball and John Agar... what's not to like? It made me want to see Monogram's ALADDIN and HIAWATHA made he same year also in Super cine-color... which I thought was fantastic and rich in every mad hue possible. What a calling card for Super Cinecolor! You actually could have a whole weekend watching all these films and top it off with RKOs SON OF SINBAD. Any scene with Lucy and a very confused Raymond Burr is hilarious and she clearly is between TV shows and running not walking through this silly funny film. Tin swords that clatter, people stamping about on the floor, and a flying carpet that looks like a stiff beach towel..... yippee! It's a masterpiece of razzle dazzle cine-color whizziness. See it and laugh.

Arabian Nights romps are popular around the house especially during this time of year for their exotic flavor, fantasy elements, action outbursts and general mindlessness. This film is best-known, if at all, for the presence of Lucille Ball; interestingly, she does not play the heroine but rather a sultry semi-villainess (the ambitious sister of the current Caliph, naturally a usurper). Equally predictably, the true heir to the throne (blandly played by John Agar) has survived an attack upon his life as an infant and, unaware of his heritage, has taken to living a life of poverty as a physician. The heroine, then, is a feisty (but who effortlessly works her feminine charms when the need arises) Patricia Medina – a regular in this type of film – who not only gets off with Agar on the wrong foot (by wanting to join the all-male band of rebels he secretly and all-too-suddenly finds himself leading under the guise of "The Scarlet Falcon"!), resents Ball (obviously over her attentions to Agar, eventually in the Caliph's employ when he cures a case of hiccups he had brought about in the first place) but has a brother of her own (Agar's sidekick and the film's obligatory supplier of comedy relief, George Tobias). As for the chief villain, we get no less than Raymond Burr: needless to say, he craves Ball's favors but she only has eyes for the dashing hero. The titular fabric comes in handy many a time during the course of the film, usually to allow Agar to make a nick-of-time escape or to meet up with his rabble and give them the low-down on the Caliph's movements so that they can finally storm the palace, rid the country of a tyrant and put Agar himself in his rightful place. As can be expected, the film is instantly forgettable and hardly great cinema but certainly makes for colorful fare and fun viewing to boot i.e. it provides perfect relaxation after a hard day at work.

I totally disagree with some previous comments. It seems as though everyone wants message films, or biting dialog for a picture to be great. Whatever happened to films being made strictly for entertainment sake. If you are looking for academy award performances forget it, but for a rainy afternoon and you just want some simple escapism then this is just the thing. The interesting thing about the whole movie was how Lucille Ball foiled all of the bigwigs who tried to put the screws to her by offering her this movie to fulfill her contract obligation. they all thought she would turn them down but she fooled them and accepted and as soon as the film wrapped she was gone.

This low budget adventure stars John Agar, Raymond Burr of TV's Perry Mason, and a very pregnant Lucille Ball The poor production values used to make this movie give it the look of a Technicolor, Three Stooges episode. It's really too bad I would have enjoyed a good Arabian Adventure, starring Lucille Ball!