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?

THE BARBARIAN (1933) starring Ramon Navarro and Myrna Loy is/was an agreeable, no-brainer "B" movie with "A" movie stars of talent, esp. Loy.It's a desert romance story of which the 20's were packed (both Valentino SHIEK movies, THE DESERT SONG and others less famous).None of the Arabs had dark skin, and all of the Oases had unpolluted water holes and half moons shining through the sweeping palm trees and all the sand looked like White Sands, New Mexico with huge (but firm, easy to walk on) sand dunes.Hollywood's idea of the desert in "Arabia." The movie is a "girl's movie" (called a "Chick Flick" nowadays) written by GENTLEMEN PREFER BLONDES author Anita Loos.The movie is about a pushy (probably feminist), spoiled "half Egyptian" leading lady with an American accent about to marry an English aristocrat in Egypt (but who runs off with Ramon Navarro at the very end of the movie..... Ramon had told her when he abducted her in the middle of the movie and proposed marriage that she won't have to be part of a harem, but makes her wait for water at an Oasis waterhole until the horse drinks first, then he drinks.....she's last to drink.)Girls buy movie tickets.Young guys between ages 18 and 24 courting girls and trying to keep the girls happy ALSO buy movie tickets for girls!"Keep the girls happy" is what this movie is all about.She's a pushy, spoiled USA feminista, and the guys (two of them!) both think she's wonderful!It's just like WHEN HARRY MET SALLY (1988) starring Meg Ryan and Billy Crystal.They guys never learn, the girls always win. The guys always pension off the girls at an early age (which is why marriage is so popular with young girls) and kill themselves to do it, and the girls live 30 years longer than the guys, thanks to the good life the martyr husband earned for them before he died early! Unpardonable cynicism, but I put to you and leave it with you.Old story, and it still goes on!The rising races of the world (Orientals, Latinos in the USA) ALL support the ladies, lots of children, and "family values" and the disappearing races (White people loyal to each other in the USA esp.) disappear because their numbers shrink and disappear, like a water hole during a drought.So it goes, and THE BARBARIAN (1933) shows why!Myrna's famous bathtub "nude scene" was dull and boring, (not as good as Maureen O'Sullivan's swim with Johnny Weismuller in TARZAN AND HIS MATE 1934).Myrna was/is a true movie star, and was the best actor in the movie. A pleasure to watch her act.Ramon Navarro wasn't terrible, but also wasn't convincing. His career didn't continue in the sound era, and this movie shows why.

I can't believe the reviews so far on this movie on IMDb. So far, one reviewer gives it a score of 1 and two others a 10!! The simple fact is that very, very , very few films deserve a 10 or 1 but reviewers routinely throw these numbers about without thinking. After all, there's no way that anyone could place this movie among GONE WITH THE WIND, THE BEST YEARS OF OUR LIVES or even STAR WARS just as there is no way this film deserves the same rating as BABY GENIUSES or PLAN 9 FROM OUTER SPACE!!! Like most movies, a realistic score would definitely be somewhere in between.Now this isn't to say that the film reviewers were totally wrong. The one perceptive person who thought the movie was evil because it propagates "the rape myth" is 100% correct--the film is terrible because it seems to indicate that the way to a girl's heart is to kidnap and probably rape her--or at least whip her into submission!! In the 21st century I cannot understand how anyone could rate a movie that treats women like cattle with a score of 10! And, people who would kind of scare me.On the other hand, the film is gorgeous. The cinematography and costuming is incredible and made Myrna Loy (often the "nice girl" in films of the 1930s) into an incredibly alluring figure. Her bathing scene is simply one of the sexiest scenes in screen history--not so much for what it showed, but how it showed so much without showing everything as well as not being pornographic but artful and beautiful. She was, in many ways, like a modern Venus de Milo. Plus, when Ramon Navarro isn't busy trying to rape Ms. Loy, he is a very, very dashing and gorgeous figure himself. So beautiful and compelling that he was like a better and more romantic version of Valentino from THE SHEIK. Plus, given that Mr. Navarro was in real life gay, he deserves a lot of kudos for his convincing romantic scenes. The problem, though, is that the writers didn't know what to do with this romantic figure. One minute he is kind of funny and clever, the next he is an ardent suitor, the next he is selling her into sexual slavery and the next he's a sex offender trying to rape her!!!! The fact is the movie strongly implies he DID rape her (though it is a bit vague in this respect). And, having this confusing package ruins the wonderful romantic elements of the film. After all, what's romantic about a rapist or spousal abuse?! This is in the end, a complete muddled mess that could have been a wonderful film. With a re-write to remove the sick aspects of the film (the physical and sexual abuse AND Ms. Loy's ultimate choice to run away with this sick, twisted freak after being abused), it could have been among the most memorable and romantic films of the age. As it is, mostly it will be remembered for the pre-Code titillating bathing scene with Ms. Loy.

I am constantly amazed at how sexy the precode films of 1933 are (the last year before the Production Code was enforced, which resulted in all Hollywood actresses becoming virgins again overnight), including this intense movie, "The Barbarian", the story of an inter-racial attraction between a white British woman (Myrna Loy, looking exceedingly beautiful here) and an Arab prince (Ramon Novarro, in what has to be his sexiest role ever), who disguises his true identity as part of a coming of age tribal ritual. Myrna's character is attracted to Ramon's Arab the moment she steps off the train in Cairo, Egypt. Fireworks promptly ensue between the two but it is unclear that Ramon is actually falling in love with the woman he pursues until closer to the end of the picture.I completely disagree with another reviewer who called this movie "bilge" because of a certain scene in the desert. It is clear that Myrna finds the Arab desirable, so no real force was involved, it was mutual attraction right from the beginning. This was an important film role for Myrna Loy; she finally got to look beautiful and sexy on screen as the lead, instead of being cast in minor roles in silly exotic parts which didn't do much for her talents. It is not right to attack her memory, as the other reviewer here did, for a theme that has been repeated by Hollywood many times over the decades.Other cast members were perfect here, including dapper Reginald Denny as the fiancée who quickly realizes the Arab's true intents, and Louise Hale as the grandmotherly Powers, who comes off with some of the most hysterically funny lines in the picture.A wonderfully entertaining and intense film, and I give it a 10 out of 10. Excellent and very romantic. I just wish that Ramon's silent film "The Arab" from 1924, which was the basis for this re-make, was available to compare with this one, but unfortunately it is sitting in European archives and unlikely to ever be seen on video or DVD. Even "The Barbarian" is only available for viewing whenever TCM bothers to show it (usually once per year).