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Trying to remember the title to a Silent comedy about a Sultan, his harem of lovely women, a fabric peddler and a bunch of fat Eunuchs sitting outside of the Palace, to keep the harem both protected and imprisoned.

I had thought it might be Lubitch's "Loves of the Pharaoh," but that's wrong.

Sounds like SUMURUN (1920)

Thanks for that Henry. I have it in my collection but confused the title with the comedy, "Two Arabian Knights" (1927).

I have "Sumurun" ("one Arabian Night") in my video collection, even having divided it into Acts, 1 through 6.

It's a very fun film available today on YouTube.

Big Silent Fan wrote: ↑

Sun Sep 30, 2018 6:17 am

Thanks for that Henry. I have it in my collection but confused the title with the comedy, "Two Arabian Knights" (1927).

I have "Sumurun" ("one Arabian Night") in my video collection, even having divided it into Acts, 1 through 6.

It's a very fun film available today on YouTube.

and Filmstruck.

Bob

Sumurun. I didn't know that one. What a perfect set of oriental clichés!

Also, ahead of its time. Someone was holding his phone the short side up here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DyjtzqmWucc&t=4m40s

William Boyd and Louis Wolheim in a scene from "Two Arabian Knights", United Artists production. Boyd and Wolheim, in this film, are a carefree team of doughboys who wade through a series fo hilarious situations and adventures in Arabia after escaping from a German prison. Mary Astor is the heroine of the story, which was filmed by Caddo Productions, new United Artists' unit, under the direction of John W. Considine, Jr.

Because I last looked at Sumurum about a quarter of a century ago on a Grapevine tape and had not been impressed, this thread and its availability on FilmStruck from the Murnau/Transit restoration made me take another look last night.

First, this matches the description. That print is beautiful and runs considerably longer than the listed time, like the other silent Luvitsches on the site. It’s also a bit of a draggy movie, unless you have the hots for Miss Negri, as Lubitsch seems to have had. Not a patch on his farces. I think I’ll see if his adoration of Pola had cooled by the time he made The Wildcat, which I recall as a better and funnier film.

Bob