The Prince Who Was a Thief (1951)

In 13th-century Tangiers, regent Mustapha hires a paid assassin to kill baby Prince Hussein in order to usurp his throne but the assassin has second thoughts and steals the baby for himself.

Director:

Rudolph Maté

Writers:

Gerald Drayson Adams, Theodore Dreiser (story)

Stars:

Tony Curtis, Piper Laurie, Everett Sloane

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Tony Curtis	...	Julna
Piper Laurie	...	Tina
Everett Sloane	...	Yussef
Jeff Corey	...	Emir Mokar
Betty Garde	...	Mirza
Marvin Miller	...	Hakar
Peggie Castle	...	Princess Yasmin
Donald Randolph	...	Prince Mustapha
Nita Bieber	...	Cahuena
Milada Mladova	...	Dancer
Hayden Rorke	...	Basra
Midge Ware	...	Sari
Carol Varga	...	Beulah
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Larry Storch

Storyline

In 13th-century Tangiers, regent Mustapha covets the Caliphate's throne. Baby Prince Hussein is next in line to the throne but he is too young to rule. An envious and ambitious regent, Mustapha hires a paid assassin to kill the infant king, leaving Mustapha free to rule the Caliphate as he pleases. On the night of the planed murder, the paid assassin, master thief Yussef, enters the chambers of the baby Prince ready to strike his deadly blow. However, Yussef is impressed by the child's innocent gaze and decides to steal the infant Prince. Yussef lies to Mustapha the baby is dead but in fact the baby is safely in Yussef's home. Yussef raises the baby as his own and teaches the young boy to be one of the best thieves in Tangiers. Nevertheless, having a deposed prince with many powerful enemies for a son could be dangerous.

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Plot Keywords:

bare chested male | prince | thief | redheaded woman | tattoo | 

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Taglines:

Exciting as an Arabian Night's Adventure!

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Genres:

Adventure

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Certificate:

Approved

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

26 December 1951 (Sweden)

Also Known As:

El principe bandolero

Filming Locations:

Universal Studios - 100 Universal City Plaza, Universal City, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$1,000,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Universal International Pictures (UI)

Technical Specs

Runtime:

88 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Recording)

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Starring debuts of Tony Curtis and Piper Laurie.

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Quotes

Emir Mokar: Son of a noseless mother! Maggot-brained child of a jackass!

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Connections

Referenced in Sandy Wexler (2017)

User Reviews

Oriental adventure with all the usual ingredients , including glowing colour and distinctive photography in Cinemascope

Arabian Nights adventure style with glamorous gowns , noisy action , sword-play and dealing with a Prince who was a thief . More fabulous than the tales of the Arabian Nights , more exciting tan the travels of Marco Polo , more spectacular tan the splendors of Kublai Khan . In 13th-century Tangiers, regent Mustapha (Randolph) wishes the Caliphate's throne. Baby Prince Hussein is next in line to the throne but he is too young to rule . As Mustapha hires a paid assassin to kill baby Prince Hussein in order to usurp his throne but the alleged killer has second thoughts and takes the baby for himself. Yussef (Everett Sloane) raises the baby (grown-up is Tony Curtis) as his own and teaches him his peculiar skills . Here Tony Curtis is a valiant hero/thief of the people who comes to take his throne , being helped by Piper Laurie . As a thief swears to retrieve the throne and he is soon involved the twisted intrigue and mysterious plots .. A Legend In Battle! Her Kiss Of Surrender... The Prize Of Victory! .Exciting as an Arabian Night's Adventure!

This was an utterrly unexpected hit at boxoffice that shot Bernie Schwartz , alias Tony Curtis , and Rosetta Jacobs , alias Piper Laurie , to stardom , two sensational new young stars , at the time . Adventure and stirring movie set in North Africa , including bandits , schemers , astute rulers , gorgeous dancers , intriguing sheiks , romance and many other things . Another look at ¨The prince who wa a thief ¨ today reveals it to be a bit short on action but here outstanding the sympathetic and funny Rosetta Jacobs , alias Piper Laurie . Curtis plays a young boy to be one of the best thieves in Tangiers , using his cunning and shrewness he managed to spring from this ridiculous camp Oriental Adventure outing to stardom . Tony as the fearless thief is pretty well in this adventure set in ancient Tangiers , Curtis work is well up to his ordinary high standards , being inspired from the Arabic fairy tales of One Thousand and One Nights . He is well supported by Piper Laurie who really was a pretty package and she was worth the price of admission to see her , thanks to her gym skills and slithering throughout a maze of iron bars . Support cast is very good such as : Everett Sloane , Peggie Castle , Jeff Corey , Betty Garde , Marvin Miller and uncredited King Donovan , Susan Cabot and Larry Storch .

Universal International Pictures made a lot of Oriental adventures , being the main film ¨The Thief of Bagdad¨ by Raoul Walsh that created the Arabian subgenre , following Arabian nights 1942 by John Rawlins , Ali Baba and the forty thieves 1949 by Arthur Lubin , The Desert hawk 1950 by Frederick De Cordoba , The Golden Blade 1953 by Nathan Juran . And produced by other Production Companies as Kismet 1949 by William Dieterle , A thousand and one nights 1945 by Alfred E Green , Sinbad the sailor 1947 by Richard Wallace , The Magic Carpet 1951 by Lew Landers and some financed by Ray Harryhausen as 7th voyage of Sinbad by Nathan Juran and Captain Sinbad 1963 by Byron Haskin . Former camerman Rudolph Mate directs it all in stylish Technicolor .Polish-born (Cracovia) and passed away Beverly Hills (1964) Mate was an assistant cameraman for Alexander Korda and later worked throughout Europe with noted cameraman Karl Freund , director Carl Theodor Dreyer and Erich Pommer . Dreyer was so impressed with his work that they hired him as cinematographer on The Passion of Joan of Arc . Mate is considered to be one of the best cameramen of cinema story . Mate was soon working on some of Europe's most prestigious films, cementing his reputation as one of the continent's premier cinematographers. Hollywood came calling in 1935, and Mate shot films there for the next 12 years before turning to directing in 1947 . Unfortunately, while many of his directorial efforts were visually impressive ,especially his sci-fi ¨When the worlds collide¨ (1951) , his labour as cameraman was excellent . He realized a variety films of all kind of genres as Adventures : ¨The Black Shield of Falworth¨ , ¨Seven Seas to Calais¨ , Western about themes of card players on riverboat as ¨The Mississipi gambler¨(1963) and ¨The rawhide years¨(1956) and about conflicts between Indians and cavalry as ¨In the siege at Red River¨(1954) and Noir films : ¨Union Station¨ , ¨Second chance¨ . He also directed Epic films as ¨The Barbarians¨ and ¨The 300 Spartans¨ . The films themselves were for the most part undistinguished, with his best work probably being the film-noir classic ¨DOA¨ (1950). ¨Rating : Passable and acceptable , 6 . Well worth watching .