Two Arabian Knights (1927-28)

 

It takes a couple of scenes for Two Arabian Knights to reveal that it is truly a comedy. The film is set near the end of World War I and begins with two men fighting each other in a pit. They are American soldiers, W. Daingerfield Phelps III (the pretty one with the clever ideas, played by William Boyd) and Sgt. Peter O’Gaffney (the tough guy, a former con artist, played by Louis Wolheim), and they’ve just been captured by the Germans. They obviously didn’t like each other before being captured, and it takes a while for them to bond over their plans to escape from a prison camp in northern Germany. Through a series of misadventures, they wind up on a train bound for Turkey and then on a boat headed for Arabia. Each of these locations presents a new dilemma for them. They manage to escape the train by setting fire to some hay and then jumping onto a wagon carrying even more hay. The time on the boat involves them rescuing a beautiful Arabian princess named Mirza (played by Mary Astor) from near drowning and then having to escape possible death in Arabia at the hands of Mirza’s intended husband. Those might not sound like comedic bits, but each one of them involves some form of physical comedy. For example, the escape from the prison camp involves them stealing a couple of white robes so that they can blend in with the snow. Of course, they have large identification numbers on the backs of the robes, but never mind. They have to crawl under two barbwire fences, all while distracting a German shepherd who mimics their movements. They then almost get caught when Pete almost sneezes, but thoughtfully, Boyd’s character (whom Pete nicknames “Brains”) hits him and knocks him out. Then, of course, he has to dunk Pete’s head under water in order to revive him. It’s quite silly, especially when they emerge from the water and their robes freeze in a position that leaves the bottom flared out like a dress over a hoop skirt. The film must have been beautiful in its original condition, but even with a restoration about a decade ago, some images are almost completely gone. Watching silent films like this one, which was almost lost, makes you appreciate the beauty of the cinematography of that time. In terms of the overall plot, I’m not sure what to make of the moment at the end of the film when Pete looks at a character described as a eunuch earlier in the film; it’s almost like Joe E. Brown’s “Nobody’s perfect” moment at the end of Some Like It Hot. Pete has another rather enigmatic moment involving him asking the ship’s purser to come into his room; later he emerges with enough money to pay for his, Brains’, and Mirza’s fares even though none of them had money beforehand. The purser was played by, of all people, a young and rather handsome Boris Karloff. Both scenes raise some questions about Pete’s possible sexual fluidity. By the way, the category for which Two Arabian Knights won an Oscar, Best Director of a Comedy Picture, only existed during the first year of the awards. For just one time, the Academy acknowledged that making a dramatic film and making a comedic film are quite different processes.

Oscar Win: Best Director of a Comedy Picture (Lewis Milestone)