Omar Khayyam (1957)

Director:

William Dieterle

Writer:

Barré Lyndon (writer)

Release Date:

23 August 1957 (Finland)

Genre:

Adventure

Plot:

Omar Khayyam was one of the greatest Persian poets. He was also a brilliant mathematician. Though his quatrains were written in the 11th century...

Plot Keywords:

Assassin | Poet | Beautiful Woman

Cast

Cornel Wilde	...	Omar Khayyam
Michael Rennie	...	Hasani Sabah
Debra Paget	...	Sharain
John Derek	...	Young Prince Malik
Raymond Massey	...	The Shah
Yma Sumac	...	Karina
Margaret Hayes	...	Queen Zarada
Joan Taylor	...	Yaffa
Sebastian Cabot	...	The Nizam
Perry Lopez	...	Prince Ahmud
Morris Ankrum	...	Imam Nowaffak
Abraham Sofaer	...	Tutush
Edward Platt	...	Jayhan
James Griffith	...	Buzorg
Peter Adams	...	Master Herald

Also Known As:

The Life, Loves and Adventures of Omar Khayyam
The Loves of Omar Khayyam (USA) (alternative title)

Runtime:

101 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Recording System)

Certification:

Finland:K-12 | Sweden:15

Filming Locations:

Bronson Canyon, Griffith Park - 4730 Crystal Springs Drive, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Paramount Pictures

Trivia:

In April 1957, this film was distributed on a double bill at many drive-in theaters with Dino (1957) starring Sal Mineo.

Quotes:

Omar Khayyam: They call you Chosen One... the Seventh Excellent Creature.Are you also to be appointed Caliph, interpreting the Will of God, Supreme Ruler above all earthly kings?
Hasani Sabah: If it were not so, I could not wear these robes nor hold this office.
Omar Khayyam: You have named me your Counsellor, but
[pause]
Omar Khayyam: I am happier with lesser matters, like this strip of vellum on which I have reduced the year to better reckoning. These figures will guide the lives of men when our mouths have been stopped with the dust of a thousand years, and the name Omar Khayyam is just as long forgotten...
[...]

Movie Connections:

Featured in Budd Boetticher: A Man Can Do That (2005) (TV)

Soundtrack:

Tell My Love

Cornel Coins the Rhymes, Rennie Starts the Rebellion

Omar Khayyam, medieval poet and scholar and quite the scientist as it turns out in this film, stars Cornel Wilde in the title role. Khayyam is a guy content to do his scholarly thing, but there's a whole lot of treachery going in Persia and it's coming from people close to him.

The legend of Omar Khayyam has him involved with two others, a rich merchant Hisreini who becomes leader of the assassin cult and Nizam who is prime minister to the Shah, played respectively by Michael Rennie and Sebastian Cabot. Rennie who is as always cultured and refined, is the 12th century Osama Bin-Laden of the piece. His is probably the best performance of the film.

By the way Omar Khayyam gives one an opportunity to see both the men who Cecil B. DeMille considered for the role of Joshua in The Ten Commandments in the same film. John Derek who is the crown prince played Joshua and Wilde was the one originally offered the part.

The film was done at Paramount which was a bit unusual itself because the Arabian knights type films were an in house staple of Universal Studios.

Probably Cornel got the part after Tyrone Power who was freelancing then turned it down. It was that way all Wilde's life, getting sloppy seconds from either Power or Errol Flynn.

The film is all right, but should have had Wilde doing a bit more swordplay. He was in real life a champion at fencing.