Sessue Hayakawa invades Douglas Fairbanks' genre with this light-hearted romp, playing an Egyptian dragoman -- a great-grandson of Napoleon -- who goes to work for a wealthy western family, rescuing them from evil Pasha Fred Jones, who looks a lot like Billy De Wolfe in a fez, and a small horde of oriental hopheads, to whom Jones has promised a year's supply of hashish.
Hayakawa does Fairbanks, both in terms of climbing, leaping and such physical feats -- although in no ways as gracefully as Fairbanks did -- and in making fun of a current craze, in this case a belief in reincarnation. The aunt in the family he is working for believes she is the reincarnation of a two-thousand-year-dead queen and Hayakawa the reincarnation of her lover, and every time she exhorts Hayakawa, he replies insultingly in Arabic --which is translated for the audience.
Although not a great film, it is enjoyable, Worth a look, anyway.
Hayakawa does Fairbanks, both in terms of climbing, leaping and such physical feats -- although in no ways as gracefully as Fairbanks did -- and in making fun of a current craze, in this case a belief in reincarnation. The aunt in the family he is working for believes she is the reincarnation of a two-thousand-year-dead queen and Hayakawa the reincarnation of her lover, and every time she exhorts Hayakawa, he replies insultingly in Arabic --which is translated for the audience.
Although not a great film, it is enjoyable, Worth a look, anyway.
