La spada di Damasco

When Universal Pictures made those Arabian Nights films with Jon Hall, Sabu, and Maria Montez in the Forties a lot of expensive period sets were built on that lot. The rule is get use of them, so even after Universal became Universal-International in the Fifties with a crop of new leading men like Jeff Chandler, Tony Curtis, and Rock Hudson they still kept cranking out those old tales set in the Caliphate of Old Bagdad.

This film is a reworking of the Christian Sword and the Stone legend into the Arabian Nights. Haroun of Basra played by Rock Hudson comes upon his dying father in an ambushed caravan and he's given a mission to find the murderer who is also trying to stir up trouble between Basra and Bagdad.

While on the mission he comes upon a magic sword in a marketplace and discovers he's invincible with it. He also comes upon the Caliph's daughter the blond Piper Laurie who likes to roam the streets of Bagdad incognito to sample public opinion and get a taste of adventure to the annoyance of her father Edgar Barrier.

But there's treason afoot in the palace with Grand Vizier George MacReady and son Gene Evans who want the throne for themselves. Evans wants to marry for it which bothers his mistress Kathleen Hughes a lot.

During the course of the film the magic sword is stolen from Hudson and later when Evans was trying to use it, he rammed it into the palace wall and no one can get it from the stone foundation. I'll give you one guess who can.

The Golden Blade is the average Universal Arabian Nights epic with a lot of gaudy color cinematography, with a bigger budget you'd think it was a DeMille film. No better or worse than some of what Universal was putting out in those years. I'm sure Piper Laurie felt the same as Maureen O'Hara did in these kind of films, Maureen in her memoirs realized how ridiculous a redhead was in the Middle East.

George Macready was one of the best movie villains ever in just about any kind of genre be it western, noir, sand and sandal, you name it. He does a wonderful job mouthing some lines that were quite frankly ridiculous with earnest conviction.

By the way if you were to make a golden blade it would not be much use to you if it weren't enchanted. As any geologist will tell you, gold is the softest and most malleable of metals, remember in the days of gold coin people would bite into it to see if it was genuine and if the coin had teeth marks, you knew it was good.

The Golden Blade is entertaining enough and not to be taken too seriously.

The Golden Blade is directed by Nathan Juran and written by John Rich. It stars Rock Hudson, Piper Laurie, Gene Evans & George Macready. Music is by Joseph Gershenson and Technicolor photography by Maury Gertsman.

By Allah! It would be magic, indeed, that this sword were mine at such a time as this.

Colourful, energetic and costumed with skill, The Golden Blade doesn't lack for effort in the low expectation realm of Arabian Nights adventures. Sadly it's actually TOO daft and goofy when it's not meant to be. True enough that it isn't a film to be taken seriously in the first place, and judging by the performances of Laurie and Hudson, the cast are playing it purely for the undemanding popcorn munching crowd. But once over you just get reminded that there are far better films of this type out there and that the interesting premise, a sort of Arabian/Arthurian blend, isn't fully realised. Not enough swishing and swashing of the titular title weapon also annoys greatly. 5/10

During those early fifties, Universal Studios tried to replace the adventure movies from the forties starring Maria Montez and Jon Hall. Those colorful and action packed enchanted movies taking place in the south seas, Arabic deserts...So there were those One Thousand and One Nights tales, such as this one and SON OF ALI BABA, VEILS OF BAGDAD, PRINCE WHO WAS A THIEF and many many more. Typical from this amazing studio. Generations of fans loved this kind of stuff and even still now old timers still crave for it. Lousy but fun and full of nostalgia. They don't make such films now. It's a lost period, but not for everyone.

This is a tale that comes straight from the "Arabian Nights" compendium. The son "Harum" (Rock Hudson) out to avenge his father murdered at the hands of the evil "Jafar" (George Macready). He must travel to Baghdad where he encounters a feisty young woman "Khairuzan" (Piper Laurie) who is secretly the daughter of the city's caliph - a man also in danger from the menacing ambitions of "Jafar". Luckily, she has a magical golden sword that she gives him to wield. He is invincible! Well he is until someone hits on the idea of swapping his sword for a less effective fake - and soon "Harum" is in a dungeon! Can he escape and save the Caliph and get the girl? Rock Hudson never really cut it for me. Easy enough on the eye, but his characterisations rarely differed from role to role and here he just doesn't really gel with the more charismatic Laurie at all. Plaudits do go to Macready, though - he hams up perfectly as the silken-clad, megalomanic, tyrant. There's plenty of lavish costumes, colour, sword-fighting and at times it's actually quite an entertaining adventure that I did quite enjoy.

Young Piper Laurie and handsome newcomer Rock Hudson were both featured to great advantage in this clearly-plotted and lively adventure-comedy. Imaginative veteran Nathan Juran directs very accurately and imaginatively, and the acting by George Macready as the ambitious villain, aided by Gene Evans (not quite up to a classical accent) and Kathleen Hughes and that of their opponents played by Edgar Barrier, the crafty Stephen Geray and others is above average for any genre. Adding to the fun is lovely Laurie impersonating a boy, a mysterious magic sword (which in lesser hands would have been a detriment) and its magical unwillingness to obey other than a virtuous owner. There is a prolonged sequence when various magicians attempt to remove the sword--which Macready needs to claim the throne--that has become embedded in a wall, and more physically colorful and beautifully-realized scenes than in any ten mean-streets melodramas of the post 1970s. If you do not fall in love with the spirited Khairozan, as Hudson does in the film, then you are probably dead. If you cannot delight in this youthful and stirring adventure of a bygone era, you had best give Grecianized Near-Easterns, our richest adventure genre in so many ways, a consistent miss.