Lost in a Harem

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Lost in a Harem
Lostinaharem.jpg
Theatrical release poster
Written by Harry Ruskin
John Grant|
Harry Crane
Directed by Charles Reisner
Starring Bud Abbott
Lou Costello
Marilyn Maxwell
Murray Leonard
Original language(s) English
Production
Producer(s) George Haight
Cinematography Lester White
Running time 89 min.
Distributor Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer

Lost in a Harem is a 1944 film starring the comedy team of Abbott and Costello.

Plot[edit | edit source]

When a traveling vaudeville show becomes stranded in the Middle East, their singer, Hazel Moon (Marilyn Maxwell), takes a job at a local cafe. Two of the show's prop men, Peter Johnson (Bud Abbott) and Harvey Garvey (Lou Costello), are hired as comedy relief, but their act unfortunately initiates a brawl. The two men, along with Hazel, wind up in jail (where Abbott and Costello perform the famous "Slowly I Turned" routine with a crazy derelict [Murray Leonard] with Pokomoko as the trigger word). They encounter Prince Ramo (John Conte|), a sheik, who offers to help them escape if they agree to help him regain the throne that his Uncle Nimativ (Douglass Dumbrille) had usurped with the aid of two hypnotic rings.

After escaping jail, Peter and Harvey join Ramo and his desert riders and hatch a plan to have Hazel seduce Nimativ, as he is quite vulnerable to blondes. Once Nimativ is distracted, Peter and Harvey plan to retrieve the hypnotic rings to facilitate Ramo's reclamation of the throne.

Peter and Harvey enter the capital city, posing as Hollywood talent scouts, and meet up with Nimativ. He is quickly enamored with Hazel and manages to hypnotize Peter and Harvey, who then reveal their plans. They are imprisoned (and encounter once again the derelict, who this time lives through vivid imaginations with clear sound effects from a door, a piano and a broken glass), while Hazel is hypnotized into being one of Nimativ's wives. After Ramo helps the boys escape, they enlist the aid of Teema (Lottie Harrison), Nimativ's first wife, by promising her a movie career. Harvey then disguises himself as Teema, while Peter dresses up as Nimativ. They manage to steal the rings during a large celebration and turn the rings against Nimativ, who abdicates the throne. Ramo again becomes ruler, with Hazel as his wife, and the boys return to the United States with the derelict as the driver.

Cast[edit | edit source]

Production[edit | edit source]

Lost in a Harem was filmed from March 22 through June 3, 1944, mainly using leftover sets from the 1944| production of Kismet|.[1]

Despite the fact that this motion picture was filmed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer before In Society for Universal Pictures, it was released at a later date. It is also the second of three films that Abbott and Costello made on loan to MGM while under contract to Universal, the other two being Rio Rita| and Abbott and Costello in Hollywood.

Jimmy Dorsey and his orchestra perform several musical numbers, the first of which backs Maxwell singing What Does It Take early in the film.

Douglass Dumbrille's character's name, "Nimativ", is "vitamin" spelled backwards.

International reaction[edit | edit source]

  • This film was banned in Morocco, and Syria required that it be edited before it could be shown there.[2]

Routines[edit | edit source]

  • In this film, Abbott and Costello perform the famous "Slowly I Turned" routine with Murray Leonard. Here the trigger word is Pokomoko.
  • In this film, Abbott and Costello also perform their routine from episode 6 of The Abbott and Costello Show, "invisible friend". The invisible friend's name in this film is Mike.

DVD release[edit | edit source]

Warner Bros. released the film on DVD, along with Abbott and Costello in Hollywood, as a double feature-disc on November 21, 2006.

See also[edit | edit source]

References[edit | edit source]

  1. ↑ Furmanek, Bob and Ron Palumbo (1991). Abbott and Costello in Hollywood. New York: Perigee Books. ISBN 978-0-399-51605-4
  2. ↑ Furmanek, Bob and Ron Palumbo (1991). Abbott and Costello in Hollywood. New York: Perigee Books. ISBN 978-0-399-51605-4

External links[edit | edit source]

Abbott and Costello
Films
  • One Night in the Tropics
  • Buck Privates
  • In the Navy
  • Hold That Ghost
  • Keep 'Em Flying
  • Ride 'Em Cowboy
  • Rio Rita
  • Pardon My Sarong
  • Who Done It?
  • It Ain't Hay
  • Hit the Ice
  • In Society
  • Lost in a Harem
  • Here Come the Co-Eds
  • The Naughty Nineties
  • Abbott and Costello in Hollywood
  • Little Giant
  • The Time of Their Lives
  • Buck Privates Come Home
  • The Wistful Widow of Wagon Gap
  • The Noose Hangs High
  • Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein
  • Mexican Hayride
  • Africa Screams
  • Abbott and Costello Meet the Killer, Boris Karloff
  • Abbott and Costello in the Foreign Legion
  • Abbott and Costello Meet the Invisible Man
  • Comin' Round the Mountain
  • Jack and the Beanstalk
  • Lost in Alaska
  • Abbott and Costello Meet Captain Kidd
  • Abbott and Costello Go to Mars
  • Abbott and Costello Meet Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
  • Abbott and Costello Meet the Keystone Kops
  • Abbott and Costello Meet the Mummy
  • Dance with Me, Henry
  • The 30 Foot Bride of Candy Rock (Costello only)
  • The World of Abbott and Costello
    • Shorts
    Television
    Bits
    Key personnel


    Template:Charles Reisner


    Category:1944 films Category:1940s comedy films Category:American films Category:American comedy films Category:Abbott and Costello Category:American black-and-white films Category:English-language films Category:Films directed by Charles Reisner Category:Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer films

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