1001 Arabian Nights

The Near-Sighted Mr. Magoo (amiably voiced by Jim Backus) gets his own starring vehicle in this not-bad animated comedy-fantasy from UPA. Lamp-seller in Budapest demands that his loaf-off nephew Aladdin get married; the boy becomes smitten with the Sultan's daughter, but she's in danger of being snatched by the Sultan's assistant, the Wicked Wazir, who worships a magical flame. With so much going on, the more familiar elements of this story (the magic lamp, the genie, the flying carpet) almost get lost in the stampede of quips, jokes, puns, satire and slapstick. The animation is best in the montages, most often resembling the Fractured Fairy Tales for television. George Duning's perky score keeps things lively, though too much time is spent on rambling set-pieces. The attention to story detail is good and funny bit characters do emerge. ** from ****

BY THE TIME of its release, the 'Star' of this feature length animated movie 1001 ARABIAN NIGHTS (UPA/Columbia Pictures, 1959) MR. MAGOO, had been around for about 10 years or so. Having been highly successful in his own series of short subjects, it was decided by the production company, United Productions of America (UPA for short), to try testing the waters of Feature Animation with their nearsighted star.

THIS WAS A BOLD move on their part; as animation beyond one or two reels, with a very few exceptions, had been the exclusive domain of Mr. Walt Disney & Company. Whereas cartoon shorts were always in demand by exhibitors, they were rather inexpensive and often free as thrown in as a bonus along with the booking and rental of particular pictures.

WITH FEATURE ANIMATION production, it is expected that it should be the attraction. Living up to such responsibility is an awesome task and it does appear that 1001 ARABIAN NIGHTS was at best, only partially successful.

CONCERNING OUR VIEW of this movie, we can draw our impressions from seeing its original release. As a 13 year old in the 8th Grade at St. Theodore School, the screening was at the old and now defunct Ogden Theatre at 63rd Street and Marshfield, right here in Chicago. Of course we've seen it since and even had a video copy.

THE FORMAT CALLED for taking the nearsighted & stubborn Rutgers University Grad, Quincy Magoo and transport him back to Arabia of over 1,000 years ago. His name was 'Arabianized' to Abdul Azziz Magoo; which seemed to be fair and fitting. There were a few other problems with the production that may well have worked against any critical acclaim as well as Box Office $ucce$$.

THE STORY, WHICH was familiar enough with the public, featured a romantic subplot and many musical numbers. The animation and artwork was strictly in accordance with that made so famous by UPA in their shorts. This is not to imply that it was TV-type limited animation, for it was not. We are not comparing it to the TV MAGOO Shorts. UPA's DICK TRACY SHOW or CLUTCH CARGO (the very pits of the animated cartoon).

ALTHOUGH THIS PRODUCTION may well have fallen a trifle short of expectations, it did spawn that WHAT'S NEW MAGOO TV Series and Special TV Movies such as UNCLE SAM MAGOO, MAGOO'S Christmas CAROL & Others.

BURIED DEEPLY IN the credits is the name of Bill Scott; listed as Dialect Director. This veteran of UPA would partner up with Jay Ward and produce ROCKY & BULLWINKLE, GEORGE OF THE JUNGLE, HOPPITY HOOPER and DUDLEY DO-RIGHT; as well as the highly successful Silent Movie send-up, FRACTURED FLICKERS.

INCICENTALLY, IT WAS Mr. Scott who provided voices for Dudley Do Right, Mr. Peabody and for Bullwinkle, himself!

1001 ARABIAN NIGHTS (1959) was the first feature-length cartoon produced by maverick cartoon studio UPA and was also the first non-Disney American animated feature since the Fleischer Bros.' MR. BUG GOES TO TOWN (aka HOPPITY GOES TO TOWN, 1941). It stars UPA's most famous cartoon character, the near-sighted Mr. Magoo, but places him in the Aladdin story from "Arabian Nights" and makes him the uncle of Aladdin. Here, an evil Wazir, who has been pilfering the Sultan's treasury and wants to marry the Sultan's daughter, Yasminda, pretends to be Magoo's long-lost brother so he can insinuate himself with Aladdin and enlist his help in finding the magic lamp with the genie. Eventually, Aladdin gains the power of the lamp, becomes smitten with Yasminda himself, and proposes marriage to her, putting himself in direct conflict with the Wazir. Some well-known actors of the time do the character voices, including Dwayne Hickman ("Dobie Gillis") as Aladdin, Kathryn Grant (THE SEVENTH VOYAGE OF SINBAD) as Yasminda, Herschel Bernardi ("Peter Gunn") as the Genie, and Hans Conried (THE 5000 FINGERS OF DR. T) as the Wazir, not to mention Magoo's regular voice-actor, Jim Backus ("Gilligan's Island"), making this the very first animated feature to rely on celebrity voices. Alan Reed, the future Fred Flintstone, does the voice of the Sultan, while Hanna-Barbera cartoon regular Daws Butler fills in several subsidiary voices.

Despite the film's historical significance, it won't usurp any memories of other, better Aladdin cartoon adaptations. In fact, it may be the most difficult one to sit through. It's never funny and it pads out the storyline with all sorts of unnecessary bits of business, including long stretches in the Wazir's dungeon hideaway and his antics with an assortment of hideous pets, including a spider, a bat, a lizard, a bunch of rats and a crocodile. Magoo's frequent near-sighted mistakes can be amusing in a seven-minute cartoon—and truth to tell, they're amusing at times here as well—but when the storyline kicks in and we want the action to proceed, they tend to get in the way, especially the bit with the ball of magic yarn that he keeps mistaking for a cat. Had this been a half-hour TV special, I wouldn't have minded so much. Aladdin and Yasminda are as bland and dull as any youthful romantic couple in a feature-length cartoon can be and their voice actors don't bring much to the characters. The always reliable Hans Conried puts a great deal of effort into making his villain character funny and interesting, but the writing is never as good as his delivery.

The limited animation on display is typical of UPA's stock in trade and was based on the notion that creative use of linework, color, perspective and suggested backgrounds could allow lower-budgeted cartoons to achieve artistic results and critical acclaim on a par with Disney. This strategy worked well with such short pieces as "Gerald McBoing Boing," "The Unicorn in the Garden," and "The Tell-Tale Heart," but when you've got an animated feature set in ancient Arabia and you want to compete with Disney's spectacular SLEEPING BEAUTY the same year, you need to put a little more detail and craftsmanship into the work. Here, the "limited animation," which extends to the art direction and design, simply looks "cheap." Even Hanna-Barbera, which had already shifted over to television animation by this time to make the likes of "Huckleberry Hound," could have done a better job than this.

After watching this, I dug out VHS copies of other Aladdin animated features I own, including a French version from 1970 directed by Jean Image and a Japanese version from 1982 that used celebrity voices on its English dub track, including Christopher Atkins, Kristy McNichol, John Carradine and June Lockhart. Both versions have glaring flaws, but they're much more interesting than the Magoo film, with the French one boasting a more compelling storyline and a more endearing Aladdin, while the Japanese one sticks to a more serious tone and offers finely detailed artwork and production design. Disney's 1992 musical version is, of course, the most lavish of animated versions of Aladdin, but it strays way too far from the original source material by allowing Robin Williams' vaudeville turn as a manic popcult-infused genie to dominate the proceedings.

Interestingly, Magoo's voice actor, Jim Backus, once did the voice of the genie in the lamp—in a Bugs Bunny parody of Aladdin entitled "A Lad in His Lamp" (1948). That, too, was a much better film than the Magoo version.

"1001 Arabian Nights" marks the first foray into feature-length films for both Mister Magoo and UPA. The result is somewhat lackluster, as Magoo is given a supporting role in his own big debut. The movie is a retelling of the classic Arabian Nights tale of Aladdin and his magic lamp, complete with beautiful princess, evil sorcerer, genie, and flying carpet. Magoo is added as Aladdin's uncle, a father figure urging his nephew to get married. The familiar plot doesn't need Magoo to help it along, although he bumbles into a few key scenes. The film is hardly a showcase for Magoo, yet it's not a very compelling animated fantasy, either.

The movie seems to lack inspiration, and never really justifies its existence. Why was this movie made? Was it primarily a vehicle for UPA's biggest star, Mister Magoo? Or was it a vision of a fairy tale classic that was begging to be brought to the screen? In the end, it doesn't seem like either. The story is weak and padded with tepid gags. The songs, such as they are, are weak. UPA's signature stylized aesthetic doesn't quite shine through, and the limited animation does the film no favors. Magoo winds up playing second-fiddle to the generic romantic leads (a scenario which calls to mind the treatment of the Marx Bros. in their movies at MGM), not to mention the hammy villain. "1001 Arabian Nights" falls short as a feature-length Magoo adventure, but the Arabian Nights tale is a little too dull to stand on its own without him. (So what was driving this movie to get made?)

UPA decided to keep the "attractive" human leads (Aladdin and the princess) less stylized and cartoony than the characters around them (possibly to ground the romantic drama at the heart of the plot). But the more "natural" character designs feel out of place in the stylized cartoony world, and the animated characters seem almost as wooden as their voice acting. (Live-action stars Dwayne Hickman and Kathryn Grant were brought in to voice the characters.) Aladdin is particularly bland; at least Princess Yasminda is given some exotic flair.

The movie is not bad, though. Just a bit underwhelming. It's diverting enough as an animated fairy tale, innocuous enough for the whole family to enjoy. There are flashes of UPA's signature visual flair, mostly in the opening credits and in the backgrounds. Fans of Disney's "Aladdin" (1992) will find it interesting to note the parallels between the two films, which are quite similar in plot. (Maybe Disney animators had been inspired by this film on some level, or maybe each film is just a faithful depiction of the original story.)

The most interesting character in the film is Hans Conried's Wicked Wazir, a colorful comedic villain whose schemes are somehow always foiled by Magoo (oblivious as always). Conried almost single-handedly breathes life into the film with his performance (think his Captain Hook in Disney's "Peter Pan", but kookier). No one does comic exasperation like Hans Conried. Along with Jim Backus as Magoo, the voice cast also features veteran vocal performers Alan Reed (Fred Flintstone) as the sultan and the prolific Daws Butler (Yogi Bear, "Fractured Fairy Tales", etc.) as the rugmaker and the royal accountant.

Although UPA was largely known for their theatrical short films, they did briefly delve into the feature market with their own take on the One Thousand and One Nights stories. The end result was a weird adaptation of the Aladdin folk tale with the studio's star character Mr. Magoo as Aladdin's uncle, Abdul Azziz Magoo. Back when this film came out, it flopped commercially and UPA ended up being sold out to other ventures. Looking at the film today, as weird as its mere existence seems, it has just enough charm to maintain some likability.

Now with the main Aladdin story in tact, Magoo is established in wanting his titular nephew to find someone to wed. If Magoo's nearsighted schtick gets old after a while, at least Jim Backus carries his naive mannerisms delicately and humorously. That said, the Aladdin narrative itself isn't all that interesting as Aladdin and the royal Princess Yasminda are kinda flat and dull, although one cute romantic sequence does shine thanks mostly to the artistry and music alone. However, on top of Magoo's sentimental charm garnering a decent amount of laughs, the villainous Wicked Wazir nearly steals the show thanks to his hysterical greedy demeanor andHans Conreid's delectable performance. The character just boasts radiant sliminess in nearly every scene, complete with dynamic gestures, his adorable collection of vermin and reptiles, and his impatient sardonic behavior. Even if Mr. Magoo himself isn't everyone's cup of tea, this whole movie is easily worth at least one watch just for the Wicked Wazir alone.

Beyond all of that, the art and animation direction is quite stylized and colorful for a UPA production. While the studio utilized limited animation to create their own distinct artistic aesthetic to the masses, director Jack Kinney and the crew managed to recreate a graphitized Arabian world within the film's story. A lot of the characters are appealing on the eyes while also feeling like they came straight out of a children's book, and it's easy to see how Magoo blends within this fairly cartoony looking feature seamlessly enough. In addition, the middle eastern soundtrack courtesy of George Duning compliments the lighthearted comical tone throughout, along with some nice jazz touches for good measure. I will admit that the least memorable aspects of the feature are the very few songs that pop up, though that could be because the film didn't exactly commit to being a full on musical, which I think could have benefited it just a little bit.

While far from a fully well crafted feature, UPA's 1001 Arabian Nights remains modestly delightful from near start to finish. It's really a shame that this film didn't exactly take off in spite of Mr. Magoo's popularity at the time, though it's hard to say what the future of UPA would have been had this film been a hit. If you're able to at least tolerate Magoo's antics to a reasonable degree, then this feature will offer a little more than just that: witty dialogue, cute character designs, spot on voice acting and gorgeous production design. As far as old school family affairs go, this one hit the spot just enough.