Arabian Nights (1942)

User Rating:

6.4/10   

Director:

John Rawlins

Writers:

True Boardman (additional dialogue)
Michael Hogan (screenplay)

Release Date:

24 January 1944 (Sweden)

Genre:

Action | Adventure

Tagline:

Dashing Thieves of Baghdad...riding out of the magic and splendor of

Plot:

Dancer Sherazade was told by the stars that she will become wife of the kalif in Bagdad. She tells Kamar...

Plot Keywords:

Dancer | Arabian | Beautiful Woman

Awards:

Nominated for 4 Oscars.

Cast

Sabu	...	Ali Ben Ali
Jon Hall	...	Haroun-Al-Raschid
Maria Montez	...	Scheherazade
Leif Erickson	...	Kamar (as Leif Erikson)
Billy Gilbert	...	Ahmad
Edgar Barrier	...	Nadan
Richard Lane	...	Corporal
Turhan Bey	...	Captain of the Guard
John Qualen	...	Aladdin
Shemp Howard	...	Sinbad
William 'Wee Willie' Davis	...	Valda
Thomas Gomez	...	Hakim
Jeni Le Gon	...	Dresser / Dancer's Maid
Robert Greig	...	Eunuch
Charles Coleman	...	Eunuch

Runtime:

86 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Recording)

Certification:

USA:Approved | West Germany:12 (nf) | Finland:S | Germany:12 (DVD rating) | Sweden:15 | USA:Unrated

Filming Locations:

Kanab, Utah, USA

Company:

Universal Pictures

Trivia:

This film marks the first use of 3-strip Technicolor by Universal.

Quotes:

Kamar: [to Captain of the Guard] Son of infamy! Every bone in your body shall be broken if you continue to defy me!

Movie Connections:

Featured in Rock Hudson's Home Movies (1992)

Good old mindless fun

Provided you really don't know or want to know the real tale of Scheherazade, then you'll no doubt enjoy this film. The actual book, "The Arabian Nights" (also known as "The Book of One Thousand and One Nights"), was supposedly written by Princess Scheherazade and consists of many short stories she supposedly invented each night in order to save her life from her crazy husband. In this movie there is no reference to this and apart from some of the names of characters from the book (such as Sinbad and Ali Baba), there isn't much similarity between them. Additionally, if you think too much and question the silliness of it all, you'll probably hate the film since it is purely an escapist style film--not too much unlike a movie serial condensed into 90 minutes. As for me, I enjoyed the silly escapism and learned to ignore all the mistakes in the film and the rather limp love affair between Maria Montez and Jon Hall . It was nearly non-stop action and fun--complete with perhaps a bit too much slapstick provided by the very large stomach of Billy Gilbert. However, I did enjoy the references to Sinbad and Ali Baba--especially because over and over, Ali (John Qualen) would grab every lamp he found and rubbed it furiously hoping for a genie. Also, it was nice to see Shemp Howard in one of his many appearances before going on to replace his brother, Curley, as a Stooge.

If you liked this silly adventure film, try watching Hall and Montez in COBRA WOMAN or Sabu in THE THIEF OF BAGHDAD--both of which are better than ARABIAN NIGHTS.