What studio head decided to put this goober in one of the leads? His southern drawl pulls you right out of the fantasy. At least we have the great Ronald Coleman to save the film.
When there are two, one betrays-Jean-Pierre Melville
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You're right. He was fine until he opened his mouth. A character in this kind of film who uses naturalistic, everyday speaking is saying a great deal about himself. The Caliph, as Hafiz reminds us, should act like one, and talk like one, too.
I'm all right, I'm alllll right!
If you ask me, and I know you didn't, James Craig is one of the elements that make this film work.
William Dieterle had worked with him before in "The Devil and Daniel Webster" and he knew exactly what he was doing by casting this raw hunk' o' hunk of burning love in the part of the young Caliph. (This is the kind of part Dieterle himself played when he was a young man.) The idea was to depict a Caliph who really behaved like a gardener's son, picked fights in the street and was not afraid of his own Vizier, his own judgment and his own sexual impulses. He is also the only version of the Caliph who has the gonads to stand up to everyone - including death threats, his advisor's admonitions and the beggar's eloquence, lies and "snobbishness" - and to actually tear down the walls of his intended when mating season comes around. This is the scene that really clinched the film for me and made me wonder what the stage play could have been like without the usual subtle Hollywood censorphip.
From the trivia section on James Craig's IMDb bio:
"He was name-dropped several times in the novel 'Myra Breckinridge' (1970) by Gore Vidal, as the eponymous hero's favorite and most romantically desirable movie star."
I don't think you need to be a transgendered Gore Vidal heroine to agree on that one.
Benoît A. Racine
Toronto (Ontario) CANADA
Good points. Those are all the things I like about the character and about Craig's performance. It's more like a feeling I had that when he was being a commoner he should talk like one, but when he was not, he should speak in a somewhat less "ordinary" manner. But I can see why he doesn't.
I'm all right, I'm alllll right!
James Craig's accent bothered you, yet Edward Arnold's didn't? And the British and German accents were acceptable, as well?
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