The Camels Are Coming is a 1934 British comedy adventure film directed by Tim Whelan and starring Jack Hulbert, Anna Lee, Hartley Power and Harold Huth."Film details: 'The Camels Are Coming' (1934)." BFI, 2019. Retrieved: 5 August 2019. A British officer in the Royal Egyptian Air Force combats drug smugglers.Brennan, Sandra. "Review:'The Camels Are Coming' (1934)." AllMovie, 2019. Retrieved: 5 August 2019.
Plot British officer Jack Campbell has arrived in Cairo with the first aircraft of the newly-formed Egyptian Air Force. Jack commands the first group of volunteer aviators. The general commanding the Air Force gives him the mission to stop Nicholas, an American posing as an archaeologist, but involved in drug trafficking.
Nicholas has the help of an Arab sheikh, whose caravans crisscross the desert. During a patrol, Jack intercepts one of these caravans without finding anything. Just then, an aircraft piloted by a beautiful aviator, Anita Rogers lands nearby. Back in Cairo, Jack is sure Anita has something to do with the criminal activities, and follows her.
Jack manages to steal a suitcase that a stranger gives to Anita. After a chase among the pyramids of Gizeh, the suitcase turns out to contain only cigarettes. The escapade makes headlines and Jack feels the wrath of the general's anger. Shortly after, Anita, who has fallen in love with Jack, apologizes and offers to help Jack by playing the role of the Sheikh's wife while Jack pretends to be the sheikh.
While disguised as Arab, Jack offers Nicholas the chance to sell him hashish. The pretense is uncovered when the real Sheikh arrives. A fight ensues with Jack managing to knock out the two drug traffickers. Jack and Anita, with Nicholas slung over a horse, are pursued by the sheikh's men.
Jack and Anita take refuge in the ruins of a fort, where they are soon besieged but manage to warn Cairo, thanks to a passenger pigeon. The general immediately sends aircraft and troops to help them.
With the drug smugglers put away, Jack and Anita plan their happy future.
Cast Jack Hulbert as Jack Campbell Anna Lee as Anita Rodgers Hartley Power as Nicholas Harold Huth as Doctor Zhiga Allan Jeayes as Sheikh Peter Gawthorne as Colonel Fairley Norma Whalley as Tourist Peggy Simpson as Tourist Tony De Lungo as Smuggler's servant Percy Parsons as Arab
Production Based on a story by Tim Whelan and Russell Medcraft, The Camels Are Coming was directed by Tim Whelan, an American who made a number of British films. It was filmed at Islington Studios and on location in Egypt around Cairo and Gizeh including at the famous Shepheard's Hotel.
The aircraft used in The Camels Are Coming were: Avro 626 de Havilland DH.60G Gipsy Moth II c/n 3053, SU-ABB de Havilland DH.60G Gipsy II Moth c/n 1914, SU-ABFSantoir, Christian. "Review: 'The Camels Are Coming'." Aeromovies, 2 July 2014. Retrieved: 5 August 2019.
Many of the scenes in The Camels Are Coming later had to be reshot in London at the Gainsborough Pictures studios, as sand had got into the cameras, and high winds prevented the recording of dialogue.Richards 1998, p. 163.
The Camels Are Coming was a major success at the British box office, but was not released in the United States.Reid 2007, p. 44.
Surviving Recording On the 1968 Music for Pleasure (record label) LP record release, (A Fabulous Cast Sing and Play) 'The Hits of Noel Gay', (MFP1236), Track 3, Side 2, includes 'Who's Been Polishing the Sun' ?, with Hulbert Assisted by 'Eddie and Rex and Orchestra'. Before the film's re-release on commercial dvd, in 'British Comedies of the 1930s, Volume 8', forty-eight years later in 2016, this release was the only way the recording could be heard. (Brian Rust wrote its liner notes).
Reception In the review of The Camels Are Coming, the TV Guide wrote: "Lightweight comedy is slightly above average for British offerings of the period.""Review: 'The Camels Are Coming'." TVGuide.com, 2019. Retrieved: 5 August 2019.
References Notes
Citations
Bibliography
Bawden, James and Ronald G. Miller. Conversations with Classic Film Stars: Interviews from Hollywood's Golden Era. Lexington, Kentucky: University Press of Kentucky, 2016. . Reid, John Howard. Hollywood's Classic Comedies Featuring Slapstick, Romance, Music, Glamour Or Screwball Fun!. Morrisville, North Carolina: Lulu.com, 2007. . Richards, Jeffrey. The Unknown 1930s: An Alternative History of the British Cinema, 1929– 1939. London: I.B. Tauris & Co, 1998. .
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