Le Fils d'Ali-Baba

Am a huge fan of classic film and 'Son of Ali Baba' interested me. Mainly to see a very young Piper Laurie and Tony Curtis in another early role after the superior (though that wasn't perfect either) 'The Prince Who Was a Thief', and how they would fare individually and as a partnership. Also because the story on paper seemed intriguing if silly.

Saw 'Son of Ali Baba' with the mind-set of not expecting a masterpiece and some escapist entertainment without expecting too much or everything to be of superb quality. 'Son of Ali Baba' is variable in achieving this goal. It may not blow the mind and it may not be one of Curtis's best films or contain one of his best performances. Enough is done right however and it entertains throughout its slightly too brief length.

The story sure is pure nonsense and the silliness occasionally goes overboard, complete with some over-familiarity. The costumes are somewhat unlikely and don't look as appealing, in colour and style, as the rest of the production values.

Curtis is athletic and can be likeable enough if a bit stiff, while the script can fall into overly-camp and awkwardness, the pace sometimes has lapses in momentum and the film generally lacks magic.

Lovely Piper Laurie is hammy at times but has charm factor and is equally spirited. Some of their chemistry is warm and playful. Victor Jory sinks his teeth to the hilt as the villain. The direction has an efficiency that suits the adventurous element of the story perfectly.

It is very difficult to dislike the story completely. For all its ridiculousness and predictability, it can go at a breezy pace, with a clear idea at what it was trying to be and appeal to without trying to do more. The characters are archetypes but reasonably likeable ones. The action-oriented parts, especially towards the end, excite and the music is rousing. 'Son of Ali Baba', costumes aside, is shot with vibrant colour and the setting exotic-looking if perhaps not evocative.

In conclusion, not bad but not much special even when taking it for what it is. Likeable enough cast and fun and colourful in spots, but can be too much on the camp side and lacks magic. 5/10 Bethany Cox

Yet another colorful Arabian Nights romp, a follow-up to the same studio (Universal) and stars' (Tony Curtis, Piper Laurie) THE PRINCE WHO WAS A THIEF (1951); though I also own the latter, I decided to check this one out on the strength of Columbia's Cornel Wilde vehicle THE BANDIT OF SHERWOOD FOREST (1946) which dealt with the offspring of another legendary figure, Robin Hood. Anyway, the film turned out to be nowhere near as good as the latter (not that I expected it to be: read my comments about that one elsewhere) and, from what I can recollect of THIEF, the earlier title – or, for that matter, the similar Universal/Laurie effort with Rock Hudson i.e. THE GOLDEN BLADE (1953) which I watched around this same time last year – was more readily enjoyable. Incidentally, Curtis' famous mispronounced line "Yonda lies the castle of my fodda" (Bronx accent intact) – attributed to THE BLACK SHIELD OF FALWORTH (1954), perhaps his best outing in this juvenile vein – actually derives from the film under review! The result is too often silly (with Laurie a royal disguised as a waif, while Curtis has every female pining for him) and rather tedious for this type of undemanding fare. The supporting cast, at least, is decent: Victor Jory as the evil Caliph, Hugh O'Brian as his equally despicable son, Morris Ankrum as the now elderly Ali Baba and Gerald Mohr as an official of Bagdad's military academy (in which Curtis and O'Brian are rival cadets!) and even a youthful Harry Guardino as a fellow trainee. Likewise, the elaborate sets, costumes and occasional action bout do a lot in belying the minuscule budget probably afforded this strictly assembly-line product (which runs a mere 72 minutes).

Looking back on his career Tony Curtis in his memoirs ruefully acknowledged the ribbing he took for that never to be forgotten line from his Arabian epic, "Yonda lies da castle of my fadduh" who by the title we know is Ali Baba leader of that gang of outlaws, the Jesse James of his day. Apparently this early in his career the speech coachs hadn't got the Bronx out of his speech pattern.

Ali Baba is played by Morris Ankrum who for services rendered to the shah of Persia kept all his ill gained loot and has himself a nice palace and his gang made out good with plots of land. The envious Caliph of Bagdad Victor Jory and his son Hugh O'Brian wants that wealth and will stop at nothing to get it.

As for Tony Curtis, dad's sent him to the Bagdad equivalent of West Point, but Tony's learning to carouse as well as fight. But those skills are needed both to win the hand of the fair blond Arab princess Piper Laurie looking as ridiculous as redheaded Maureen O'Hara did in these kinds of films. Why he was so hung up on the blond is beyond me since there was also Susan Cabot whose skill with weapons matches any of the men and she's crushing out on the Bronx Arab big time.

In his memoirs Curtis got defensive about the ribbing he took for this film and similar early work. He asked why the public accepts British actors saying all kinds of dialog as all kinds of nationalities while they jump on him for the speech patterns he grew up with.

Fortunately Tony Curtis was destined for better parts and better films. Still Son Of Ali Baba is amusing in a camp sort of way.

Thanks to the now inexplicable popularity of the very silly and irritating fluff entitled "The Prince who was a Thief" the Bronx A-rab young Tony Curtis and his appropriately hammy romantic sidekick Piper Laurie get to strike again. Laurie couldn't even pronounce "Marrakesh" correctly (Moroccish? as in Morocco) in the earlier film - so much for the authenticity of these romps. This time around we have a better plot and lots of better actors stealing the show, particularly a very young and tall William Reynolds as the loyal sidekick of our hero, and the always impressive and striking Hugh O'Brian (whose name is wrongly spelled O'Brien in the credits) as quite the hunky villain. Either of these two outshines Curtis every minute either of them is in the same scene. Susan Cabot, in a supporting role as a fierce female archer and friend of the hero puts Piper Laurie quite in the shade. The costumes and color are outstanding and if you like Reynolds and/or O'Brian or Cabot you might enjoy this.

Ali Baba films in its day were always enjoyable, with a good adventure built in. The son of Ali Baba is not in the same mould, even with the lead played by Tony Curtis. Nevertheless it's still a sword buckling event and nice to view in 2020, thinking of Those were the Days . . .