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Somewhere and somewhen in Ancient Egypt: After her father has been
killed by desert outlaw Herua (Turhan Bey), queen Naila (Maria Montez)
takes it upon herself to track him down and find his desert hideout all by
herself ... but soon enough she is captured by a slaver who brands her a
slave. She manages to escape though to hook up with two desert thieves and
con-men, Merab (Jon Hall) and Nebka (Andy Devine) - and Merab falls for
her in an instant, hook, line and sinker (and not even knowing by the
queen) - but somehow he also finds out she's a pretty good horsewoman, so
at the next horserace, he has her participate, and she triumphs, even
against a mysterious but skilled stranger, who later brings her his
respects - and the two fall for each other of course. Unfortunately, the
horserace was also attended by Horadef (George Zucco), the chief advisor
of Naila's father - but also a traitor of course, who wants to get rid of
the queen at whatever cost. So it was him who actually saw to it that she
fell into the hands of a slaver in the first place, and now he has the
slaver raid the camp in search for her - but she and Merab and Nebka are
saved by the mysterious stranger, who takes them to his camp for freed
slaves somewhere in the desert. And while he and Naila soon fall
hopelessly in love, she eventually has to learn he is actually Herua, the
very man who has killed her father. He has no idea who she is, considers
her just a freed slavegirl, so when she suggeststo become his spy in the
city, he doesn't suspect anything, actually thinks it's a good idea. Naila
returns to the city with Merab and Nebka, who only then learn she's the
queen, and surprisingly, she is welcomed by Horadef with open arms. It
doesn't take her long to lure Herua into a trap and have him thrown into
the dungeon ... but only then does it break her heart, and she starts
having doubts about his guilt. Merab has by now come to terms with the
fact that he will never become Naila's lover, so he frees Herua and takes
his place in the dungeon ... and when found, Horadef shows his true
colours in a fit of rage and has the queen arrested. Merab soon finds
evidence it was actually Horadef and not Herua who killed her father, so
she makes a deal with Horadef: If he released Merab, she will lead him to
Herua's secret hideout - after all, she claims, he has killed her father,
why wouldn't she want to see him crushed. A deal too good to not accept of
course. Of course, Naila has a plan: Merab has to rush to Herua's camp
to warn him, so he can put up his defenses and destroy Horadef's army by
stone avalanches (Herua's death trap only she knew about) - and the
survivors can easily be defeated by Herua's men. Of course it works, and
in the end, Herua gets the girl ... Another exotic
romance/adventure starring Maria Montez and Jon Hall, this one is
interesting inasmuch as Turhan Bey is the romantic lead here and even gets
the girl, while Jon Hall is more of a secondary hero (even if he has about
as much if not more screentime as Bey). Other than that, it's pretty much
by-the-numbers, your typical modest budget Technicolor piece of
historically inaccurate escapism set in some exotic locale, made up of big
feelings, intrigue, betrayal, pretty women and handsome men, an
easy-to-follow story and a clear distinction between good and evil. If
you're up for this and can accept the ramifications of a film of this ilk,
then you'll probably enjoy it. No masterpiece, but fun at least.
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