Harum Scarum

I'm busy watching "Harum Scarum" while doing my exercises, meaning I see about 10 minutes in the morning and 10 minutes in the evening.

I think this is a great movie among the Elvis Presley movies. Someone writing at Wikipedia made a general statement that "The film is regarded by many Elvis fans as one of his worst[citation needed] despite being the only film he received a million dollar salary for appearing in." That seems like a very odd thing to say. What difference does it make how much his salary was whether it's good, bad, or terrible? And as for these "many Elvis fans," I must've missed the vote.

I've been an Elvis fan since 1956 and I think it's a good one.

Look what you get. An exotic locale, Middle Eastern shieks, kings, princesses, the whole Rudolph Valentino setting, the Arabian Nights scene. Beautiful harem girls in colorful "I Dream of Jeannie" costumes. Elvis looking great, dressed up in his own exotic costume. A funny thief and sidekick of Elvis. All this and Billy Barty too! Great songs. More about this later. Elvis singing in interesting settings, in a public square, in a jail cell, in a pool of water (imagined to be there by the princess.) Elvis sitting out by the desert in a caravan. A diabolical seductress. A band of assassins. It's all delightful.

As for the songs, I've listened to the soundtrack CD probably 20 times over the years and I love the songs. "Go East, Young Man," "Kismet," "Mirage" ...

I really like "Kismet." Once I hear it I keep it in my head for a day or so.

I'm up the place now where Elvis has broken out of the jail, with the help of Billy Barty, has let the girls down the wall by the rope, and is going toward the palace, to go down through the skylight. So it's getting very exciting.

"Harum Scarum" is an excellent Elvis movie. In my opinion.