Las mil y una noches

I remember seeing this film when it appeared in 1942, during WWII, a time of tension and uncertainity. It was great escape. The villains were villainous, the heroes heroic. The drama was dramatic and the storyline warm and fuzzy. Seeing it on video has allowed me to revisit that past time when as a child the world was uncertain and it was possible to escape into a costume-splendoured fantasy where the hero gets the girl, saves the kingdom and justice is served. There's nothing ever wrong with that.

This action-packed adventure film is worth a watch, but it is not exactly a memorable film, and the story line suffers - secondary to all of the action taking place. (The basic summary is about a man who ends up getting revenge and banding together with some close friends, including a slave girl who is his love interest.) It is a fun film, and the picture (shot in Technicolour) is beautiful. (Excellent landscapes, colourful costumes, and much more come to life in the vibrant colour that this film was shot in.) If you want to watch something fun that doesn't require much thinking, then this movie won't let you down.

5/10

Provided you really don't know or want to know the real tale of Scheherazade, then you'll no doubt enjoy this film. The actual book, "The Arabian Nights" (also known as "The Book of One Thousand and One Nights"), was supposedly written by Princess Scheherazade and consists of many short stories she supposedly invented each night in order to save her life from her crazy husband. In this movie there is no reference to this and apart from some of the names of characters from the book (such as Sinbad and Ali Baba), there isn't much similarity between them. Additionally, if you think too much and question the silliness of it all, you'll probably hate the film since it is purely an escapist style film--not too much unlike a movie serial condensed into 90 minutes. As for me, I enjoyed the silly escapism and learned to ignore all the mistakes in the film and the rather limp love affair between Maria Montez and Jon Hall . It was nearly non-stop action and fun--complete with perhaps a bit too much slapstick provided by the very large stomach of Billy Gilbert. However, I did enjoy the references to Sinbad and Ali Baba--especially because over and over, Ali (John Qualen) would grab every lamp he found and rubbed it furiously hoping for a genie. Also, it was nice to see Shemp Howard in one of his many appearances before going on to replace his brother, Curley, as a Stooge.

If you liked this silly adventure film, try watching Hall and Montez in COBRA WOMAN or Sabu in THE THIEF OF BAGHDAD--both of which are better than ARABIAN NIGHTS.

This film began a cycle for Universal Pictures of making all kinds of fantasy adventures set in the Moslem world. Quite frankly with there being a war on I'm surprised they splurged for color and for the lush sets that they did. But they got use out of them as for the next several years these sets got used and used again in many film. The studio got its money's worth.

Arabian Nights was the first screen teaming of Jon Hall and Maria Montez as she plays the enchanting Scheherazade and he Haroun Al-Raschid the legendary medieval Caliph of Bagdad. Hall is in a bind, he's the victim of a palace coup involving half brother Leif Erickson and the Wazir Edgar Barrier.

Hall seeks refuge in Billy Gilbert's troop of strolling Moslem players which include Montez and acrobat Sabu. Also among the troop are John Qualen as Aladdin who would like to find that magic lamp he lost years ago and Shemp Howard as Sinbad who spins tall tales for the crowd's amusement. As you can see quite a bit of comic relief.

It still a sumptuous looking film for the eye and the action keeps moving. Arabian Nights got four Oscar nominations for sound, music score, color cinematography and art&set design.

If your taste runs to fantasy of this kind Arabian Nights is your movie.

Arabian Nights is one of the best early Technicolor efforts out of Hollywood and it really shows. It is great fun with a little something for everyone. The DVD is an excellent transfer and the color is beautiful on my new plasma HD TV. For the kids, its a simple action film with good good caliphs and bad caliphs. For the men, there's the gorgeous Maria Montez (OK, so the boys will enjoy her too.) For the ladies, the costuming will simply amaze you. This film can be watched by everyone except small children (a couple of killings - non graphic and 1 torture scene - also non graphic). Highly recommend for families with children 8 and over yrs old. Us older folks will enjoy it too. You can watch this many times. It won't get old.