Ali Baba et les quarante voleurs (1954)

Director:

Jacques Becker

Writers:

Cesare Zavattini (story)
Jacques Becker (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

7 January 1955 (Belgium)

Genre:

Comedy | Romance

Plot Keywords:

Thief | Love | Robbery | Arabian Nights | Harem

Cast

Fernandel	...	Ali Baba
Samia Gamal	...	Morgiane
Dieter Borsche	...	Abdel, bandit chief
Henri Vilbert	...	Cassim
Édouard Delmont	...	Père de Morgiane
Edmond Ardisson	...	Mendiant
Manuel Gary	...	Mendiant
Julien Maffre	...	Mendiant
Leopoldo Francés
Gaston Orbal	...	Mufti
Bob Ingarao	...	Un bandit
Yoko Tani
Fanfan Minucci
José Casa	...	Mendiant
Abdelhaq Chraibi

Also Known As:

Ali Baba
Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves (USA)
Dance of Desire (USA) (reissue title)

Runtime:

92 min

Country:

France

Language:

French

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Sound System)

Certification:

Finland:K-12 | Sweden:Btl

Filming Locations:

Taroudant, Morocco

Company:

Les Films du Cyclope

Movie Connections:

Version of La cueva de Ali-Babá (1954)

Soundtrack:

Ali-Baba

A nice comedy about Ali Baba

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

Ali Baba is the servant of a rich merchant. One day, his master send him to the market to buy a woman slave. There, he find Morgiane, a beautiful dancer who is being sold by her own father. And he instantly become passionate for her. In the next day, he finds the cave where 40 thieves keep their stolen treasures. As he heard the magic words that open the cave's door, he can enter and steel some of the money kept there. So, Ali Baba becomes rich and buy Morgiane from his master. All seemed to be OK but the chief of the gang of thieves is pursuing Ali. After some laughable situations, Ali Baba, in the end, marry with Morgiane and give the money in the cave to the poor and the needed of the city. This is a funny version of the famous tale of Ali Baba and the 40 Thieves. In the leading role, we have Fernandel, a french comedian of the 40's and 50's, who was very popular here in my country, Portugal. Of course, it's not a movie in which the director wanted to make a masterpiece, but I think it's a good comedy about exotic people and landscapes. It was filmed on Taroudant, at 80 km from Agadir, on the south of Morocco. And it was the work of Georges Wakhevitch, who designed the memorable cave who opens with the command "Sesame, Open". In reality, it was a mobile door arranged against a true cave on the valley of Sous, the region from where are the 4000 Berbers who figure on the film. The feminine star on the movie, the Morgiane character, is played by a Egyptian dancer and actress, Samia Gamal, who became a star of the Egyptian cinema and who married a Texan oil magnate, overwhelmed by her womb dances.