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The Barbarian Photos

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Movie Info

An Egyptian-American woman (Myrna Loy) runs around Cairo with a desert charmer (Ramon Novarro) who turns out to be a prince.

Genre:

romance
Original Language:

English
Director:

Sam Wood
Runtime:

1h 28m
Production Co:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer

Cast & Crew

Ramon Novarro
Jamil El Shehab

Myrna Loy
Diana "Di" Standing

Reginald Denny
Gerald Hume

Louise Closser Hale
Powers

C. Aubrey Smith
Cecil Harwood

Edward Arnold
Achmed Pasha

Show all Cast & Crew

Critic Reviews for The Barbarian

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Audience Reviews for The Barbarian

Dec 21, 2016

Let's start with the positives - you have the very beautiful Myrna Loy appearing in a bathtub for goodness sake, a suave Ramon Novarro wooing her with beautiful songs, and an exotic pre-code tale set in Egypt. Where modern viewers will struggle is with the scenes in the desert, where Novarro mistreats and later rapes Loy. What started out as a forbidden romance, albeit with borderline creepiness in Novarro's persistence, becomes cringe-inducing, and I have to say, I also hated the ending. Men forcing themselves on women until they gave in was de rigueur for the time, and the fantasy about Arabs post-Valentino was still strong in America, but the film would have been stronger had it either had Novarro's character been truly honorable ('Barbarian' indeed), or Loy's ultimately capable of resisting him if he wasn't. As it is, one feels conflicted and kind of icky with the message it conveys about both Arabs and women. And yet, Loy and Novarro are both pretty compelling, and make it worth watching. Did I mention Loy appears in a bathtub?

Antonius B Super Reviewer