Checking YOUR pulse after watching this Arabian adventure would be a good idea as well. Someone, somewhere at some time must have thought his was a pretty good idea for a picture, but obviously overlooked the fact that a man dressed in bright scarlet red would not exactly have looked inconspicuous as the leader of a band of desert rebels attempting to win back his lineage.Well I don't know, you'd think a picture with Lucy Ricardo and Perry Mason on hand would be something of a unique film experience, and this one certainly qualifies, but probably for all the wrong reasons. I see a number of other reviewers had some fun with this one pretty much along the same lines as I did. It's cool to see these actors go through their paces, but the result is just a mess. Seriously now, can you imagine Raymond Burr having the desert hots for Lucille Ball?As for the magical flying carpet, well that was just the icing on the cake. Not only was it comical looking, but you had to wonder how the players managed to keep a straight face. When it was all over, I finally figured out where John Kay (you know, the lead singer of Steppenwolf) might have gotten the inspiration for his mega-hit. I wonder if he ever saw the picture.

To judge anything out of Hollywood on a par with some of the incredible live performances of today's megastars is "apples n' oranges." That's why everyone still refers to it as "The Factory." Particularly now with most everything is loaded with computerized graphics - to satisfy my preteen grandchildren's Xbox fantasyworld. Back when Hollywood could crank out these pieces of trash allowing us to roll around on the living room floor laughing until we ache all over even now is the epitome of why "The Factory" churned out this stuff. Seeing very gay Raymond "Ironside" Burr sashay around in my grannies old drapes (AND THAT HILARIOUS TURBAN) is right up there with the old Mummy, Dracula, Werewolf and Frankenstein films. My dinner guests absolutely chortle with glee when I pull out one of these chestnuts, and then there's all those perfectly tacky buccaneer movies with John Payne, Steve Reeves and Maureen O'Hara.

THE MAGIC CARPET is great fun. A Sam Katzman Supercinecolor bargain counter costume extravaganza with Lucille Ball and John Agar... what's not to like? It made me want to see Monogram's ALADDIN and HIAWATHA made he same year also in Super cine-color... which I thought was fantastic and rich in every mad hue possible. What a calling card for Super Cinecolor! You actually could have a whole weekend watching all these films and top it off with RKOs SON OF SINBAD. Any scene with Lucy and a very confused Raymond Burr is hilarious and she clearly is between TV shows and running not walking through this silly funny film. Tin swords that clatter, people stamping about on the floor, and a flying carpet that looks like a stiff beach towel..... yippee! It's a masterpiece of razzle dazzle cine-color whizziness. See it and laugh.

Lucille Ball didn't have to do THE MAGIC CARPET and chose to make it just to finish off her contract with Columbia and move onto her planned new TV show, and we all know the result of THAT. Columbia did not believe that Ball would accept the role in this film, but she outfoxed them all and played the villainess in this Arabian Nights-type fun film. I saw it initially when it was first released, and I LOVE LUCY was already a smash hit on the tube. It was the second half of a double bill, and the audience enjoyed every minute. It was an unintentional(??) riot to see Ball so out of the character that we had come to expect already from LUCY. The SRO audience hooted, laughed, giggled, and had a great time. I don't even recall what the main feature was.... But THE MAGIC CARPET is still remembered, and I would love to find a copy.