Adventure in Iraq (1943)

For most of this film, I couldn't help but wish that Paul Cavanagh's scheming "Sheik Ahmid" had been played by Basil Rathbone! Not that it would have improved the story much, but it might have injected a touch more menace to this desert adventure. It's all about a group of Americans whose plane crashes and who find themselves as "guests" of the aforementioned potentate. "George" (John Loder), "Tess" (Ruth Ford) and "Doug" (Warren Douglas) soon realise that they are but pawns in a deadly game being played out around them. Can they thwart that cunning plan and escape with their lives? The first twenty minutes are actually quite good fun, but thereafter there is an awful lot of dialogue to compensate for a paucity of action, and it falls away before an ending that I found very disappointing - almost comical - especially the radio man in the throne room giving bombing instructions! Ford turns in quite a lively effort and it's still quite en enjoyable hour to pass.