The Adventures of Hajji Baba

More fabulous than the tales of the Arabian Nights .. more exciting than the travels of Marco Polo .. more spectacular than the splendors of Kubla Khan ! It deals with a rogue young called Haji . Who's Hajji ¿ Hajii ; John Derek was the most romantic barber and masseur who ever lived , the joy-boy of every harem from Ispahan to Istanbul . Along the way Hajji falls in love for a gorgeous princess : Elaine Stewart and both of them are captured by a tribe of brave Amazon women commanded by a tough leader : Amanda Blake .

Orient adventure movie with thrills , emotion , fights , dazzling spectacle of swordplay, and colorful scenarios . Although the story has been told earlier , tight filmmaking and sympathetic performances win out . Stars John Derek who gives a likable acting as the stalwart hero attempting to save a princess . Derek was an actor and director of considerable success , however, being most known for his marriages to famous stars as Linda Evans , Ursula Andress and Bo Derek . His partenaire is the beauty Elaine Stewart , a young actress who had limited hits . Being accompanied by a good cast such as Thomas Gómez, Paul Picerni, Claude Akins, Laurette Luez , Rosemarie Stack who married actor Robert Stack and Amanda Blake of "Gunsmoke" series .

Here outstanding the brilliant and glimmer cinematography in Universal Studios style by Harold Lipstein, photographed with the revolutionary new anamorphic lens in Cinemascope, Color by De Luxe . And hear Nat King Cole sing the nation's newest son hit "Hajji Baba" , along with the evocative soundtrack by the classic composer Dimitri Tiomkin . The motion picture produced by Walter Wanger in medium budget was professionally directed by Don Weiss. This filmmaker was a fine craftsman usually working for television , shooting episodes of known series as Bareta , Mannix, The Virginian, Batman , Kolchak, Planet of Apes , Wide Country , Twilight Zone Alfred Hitchcock Presents, Checkmate, Aquanauts , The Detectives, The Thin Man, Wagon Train, Burke's Law, Perry Mason, Ironside , Hawaii 5.0 , The Immortal, Rodeo and several others . And occasionally for the big screen as Gene Krupa story , Billie , Pajana Party , Half a Hero, A Slight case of Larceny, The Ghost and the invisible bikini and this Adventures of Hajii Baba . Rating : 6/10 , attractive and decent oriental aventure but no extraordinary .

John Derek was ahead of his time in the movement to uplift the status of women. This movie is really about women claiming their power and not being relegated to a status unequal with men. In his own life, he was so appreciative of the feminine ideal and he served the women he loved quite devotedly. I believe that he was more invested in life than in movies. I believe that he was as handsome as any of the great swashbucklers, and as good a performer. It is such a grace that he played Joshua in the Ten Commandments. Joshua is a true hero of the Bible - of the Hebrew and Christian traditions, both. He was an artist of high integrity and profound passion. This movie shows him in one of his best moments, career-wise, and in our insatiable appetite for entertainment, let us not overlook his travail in this life.

Miss Kitty from Gunsmoke as the savage leader of a band of scantily clad, horse back riding amazon warriors.

One very mean princess.

A trick horse.

Arab barbers.

Harem girls.

Camels, donkeys and lots of horses.

Desert sands, rugged mountains, oasis.

Colorful wardrobes of many brilliant colors.

All of this set to the wonderful and haunting lyrics of Nat King Cole.

Anyone who has been married to both Ursula Andress and Bo Derek, must have something… Now in a white or orange turban and playing a brave young barber called Hajji Baba, in Isphahan, Persia, John Derek is still attractive to women and especially to Princess Fawzia (Elaine Stewart).

In the Fifties, Derek was the dashingly good-looking young hero of adventure films, rated by his teenage female fans as a 10 on the scale of male beauty…

In "The Adventures of Hajji Baba," Derek helps an insolent princess – disguised as a boy – on her way to marry a distant powerful prince (Paul Picerni) against the wishes of her father… Once they arrive to meet him, in the desert, they soon discover he is a rogue, whose plans for marriage are purely for one ambitious purpose… Hajji Baba then rebels against the prince, rescuing and winning the heart of the beautiful princess by believing in himself…

The glamorous Elaine Stewart looked cool, lush and marvelous as the spoiled selfish cruel princess who walks through the entire motion picture expressing her bad temper, and silencing everyone by threat…

By the early Seventies and despite public interest in her, Stewart's career did not fulfill its potential… Her phase was over, but she had certainly proved that she could be a star and, 35 years later, fans of Fifties' movies are still enamored of her

Sure, many of the performers read their lines as if they had just learned them five minutes before. The plot had already been used to death by 1954, and it was quite juvenile to begin with. But:

It had a catchy Nat Cole song which had been a hit when this movie was released In its own way, it is a protofeminist film Female desert brigands attacked on horseback, many of then standing on their horses, wearing only bra type tops Preternaturally attractive leads; exotic looking feature players (esp. Blake and Stack) Some great lines (e.g. Female outlaw leader to captured woman dancer: can you ride and use a sword? Dancer: I have other ways of conquering men) Nice color Quick and simple entertainment.

What is impressive about this not-very-expensive looking film is that all stunts were done by real people. Much more fun than computer generated effects.