Three Americans flying a small plane to Cairo, Egypt, are forced by engine failure to land in Iraq and are taken prisoner by an Arab chieftain.

It encountered strong objections from the OWI, who charged that its plot was unintentionally both anti-British and anti-Arab and was potentially offensive to America's ally and to neutral Arab countries.

[2] Writing in Turner Classic Movies, critic Frank Miller noted that, "Warner Bros. had no problem re-making The Green Goddess, the twice-filmed tale of a duplicitous, lustful Himalayan Raja, as Adventure in Iraq, the tale of a duplicitous, lustful Iraqi sheikh.

In truth, the writers seem to have expended more effort updating the story to World War II than they did changing the location and the villain's cultural background."

"[3] A review of the film by Craig Butler in AllMovie noted that "the plot is overly familiar and not especially believable.