Omar Khayyam (1957)

During the 11th century, Persian poet Omar Khayyam's lover marries the Shah but the Shah, whose life is threatened by a sect of assassins, appoints Omar royal advisor.

Director:

William Dieterle

Writer:

Barré Lyndon

Stars:

Cornel Wilde, Michael Rennie, Debra Paget

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
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

Storyline

Omar Khayyam was among the greatest of Persian poets. He was also a brilliant mathematician. Though his quatrains were written in the 11th century, they are still popular the world over. The details of his life are unknown, so this movie invents a biography for him and includes in it his real achievements - the invention of a new calendar and the penning of those epigrammatic poems. This film has him losing the love of his life to his ruler, and foiling an assassin sect's plot to kill that ruler, the empire's shah.

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Plot Keywords:

character name as title | omar khayyam character | khayyam | persian | poet | 

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Taglines:

Riding high with spectacular action and excitement !

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Genres:

Adventure | Biography | Romance

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

23 August 1957 (Finland)

Also Known As:

The Loves of Omar Khayyam

Filming Locations:

Indio, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$3,000,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Paramount Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

101 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Recording)

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Although by critiques' standards, it may be a bit "cheesy" but it has some good political and ideological points. Omar Khayyam and Hassn Sabba in real life in 11 century were childhood friends in Persia. When they grew up, Khayyam went after science and literature and became, a poet, philosopher, mathematician, and made the first solar calendar for human kind. And Sabbah went after politics and established the school of "assassination" and terrorism. The work of both still exist strongly and as Khayyam puts it "it will exist as long as his calendar exists."

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Goofs

As Omar leaves the council of the Grand Master.

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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 ...
[...]

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Connections

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

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Soundtracks

Take My Heart
Music by Victor Young
Lyrics by Mack David

User Reviews

Decent watch.

Other reviewers said it best; this is your typical 1950s period pic actioner with lots of adventure and some sword play. I never pictured Omar Khayyam as much of an infiltrator, but the movie, being a movie from the 50s, takes liberty with Khayyam's life, and spices things up for the audience. Think about it. If you were a young man needing to take his girl on a date in 1957, would you want to see some existential docu-drama about the Persian poet's life and works? No, more like you'd want to see something that had action, romance, adventure, and heroics over bad guys to cap off the evening.

Well, this movie delivers. It's not an outstanding movie, but it's a good simple basic film that, to be honest, was a little ahead of its time in terms of addressing the turmoil in the middle east. Allusions to caliphates, the "one true religion", secret hideouts in the mountains certainly ring bells with events since our own September 11th, 2001. But, fortunately our hero, Omar Khayyam played by Cornel Wilde, uses his learned ways and scholarly teachings to fight a familiar foe we know today, whose roots are seated in past pride.

The story is right out of Hollwood 101, and everyone here is from central casting. The performances are a little wooden, and SFX are easily spotted but do their job, and overall the production values are fairly solid. Omar Khayyam doesn't give us too much of his poetry as he's too busy saving the kingdom of those he serves, but we are treated to a few lines of his poetic brilliance before the movie ends.

It's worth seeing once, and perhaps again on a rainy weekend afternoon. It's that kind of a movie. Watch it, enjoy it for what it is, but don't take it too seriously.

Overall a decent watch.

Enjoy.