The Adventures of Hajji Baba (1954)

In Ispahan, Persia, Hajji Baba is leaving his father's shop to seek a greater fortune, while the Princess Fawzia is trying to talk her father, the Caliph into giving her in marriage to ... See full summary »

Director:

Don Weis

Writers:

Richard Collins (screenplay), James Justinian Morier (novel)

Stars:

John Derek, Elaine Stewart, Amanda Blake

Cast

Complete credited cast:
John Derek	...	Hajji Baba
Elaine Stewart	...	Princess Fakzia
Amanda Blake	...	Banah
Rosemarie Stack	...	Ayesha (as Rosemarie Bowe)
Thomas Gomez	...	Osman Aga
Paul Picerni	...	Nurel-Din
Donald Randolph	...	Caliph

Storyline

In Ispahan, Persia, Hajji Baba is leaving his father's shop to seek a greater fortune, while the Princess Fawzia is trying to talk her father, the Caliph into giving her in marriage to Nur-El-Din, a rival prince known far and wide as mean and fickle. Her father intends Fawzia for Fawzia to marry a friend and ally, and makes plans to send her to him. But a courier brings word from Nur-El-Din that an escort awaits Fawzia on the outskirts of the city and she escapes the palace disguised as a boy. Hajji encounters the escort-warrior at the rendezvous spot, is attacked and beats up the escort with his barber's tools. The princess arrives and mistakes Hajji as the escort until he mistakes the emerald ring sent by Nur-El-Din to Fawzia as the prize to be delivered. In her efforts to escape him, her turban becomes unbound and Hajji realizes that the girl herself is the treasure Nur-El-Din awaits. Hajji promises to escort her and they spend the night with the caravan of Osman Aga, who invites ...

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Plot Keywords:

caliph | princess | emerald | merchant | persia | 

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Taglines:

The girls pronounce it "Hotcha Baba!"

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Genres:

Action | Adventure | Romance

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Certificate:

Approved

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English Albanian

Release Date:

1 October 1954 (USA)

Also Known As:

De slavinnen van Bagdad

Filming Locations:

Alabama Hills, Lone Pine, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Walter Wanger Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

94 min

Sound Mix:

4-Track Stereo (Western Electric Recording)

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.55 : 1

Did You Know?

Quotes

[first lines]
[eyeing a bevy of beautiful slave girls]
Merchant: When is the auction?
Auctioneer: These girls will be sold in Masharif. They go today in Osman Aga's caravan.

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Connections

Edited into In Search of Kundun with Martin Scorsese (1998)

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Soundtracks

"Hajji Baba (Persian Lament)"
Sung by Nat 'King' Cole
Music by Dimitri Tiomkin
Lyrics by Ned Washington
Arranged by Nelson Riddle

User Reviews

Elaine Stewart looked cool, lush and marvelous...

Anyone who has been married to both Ursula Andress and Bo Derek, must have something… Now in a white or orange turban and playing a brave young barber called Hajji Baba, in Isphahan, Persia, John Derek is still attractive to women and especially to Princess Fawzia (Elaine Stewart).

In the Fifties, Derek was the dashingly good-looking young hero of adventure films, rated by his teenage female fans as a 10 on the scale of male beauty…

In "The Adventures of Hajji Baba," Derek helps an insolent princess – disguised as a boy – on her way to marry a distant powerful prince (Paul Picerni) against the wishes of her father… Once they arrive to meet him, in the desert, they soon discover he is a rogue, whose plans for marriage are purely for one ambitious purpose… Hajji Baba then rebels against the prince, rescuing and winning the heart of the beautiful princess by believing in himself…

The glamorous Elaine Stewart looked cool, lush and marvelous as the spoiled selfish cruel princess who walks through the entire motion picture expressing her bad temper, and silencing everyone by threat…

By the early Seventies and despite public interest in her, Stewart's career did not fulfill its potential… Her phase was over, but she had certainly proved that she could be a star and, 35 years later, fans of Fifties' movies are still enamored of her…