La spada di Damasco

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.

Arabian Nights adventure with luxurious costumes , brisk action , fencing and dealing with a tale about a magic sword. More fabulous than the tales of the Arabian Nights , more exciting tan the travels of Marco Polo , more spectacular tan the splendors of Kublai Khan . Harum (Rock Hudson) is a valiant hero of the people who comes to Bagdad to revenge the killing of his daddy and meets Krairuzan (Piper Laurie), a princess masked as a commoner, working against a scheme by a gang of evil bandits attempting to do away with her father, the Caliph . The disguised girl gives Harum a golden sword which, in his hands, makes him a brave heroe . Harum and is doing quite well until a duplicate sword is placed in his scabbard during one of his off-guard moments, and he winds up in chains . His Blade Of Gold... A Legend In Battle! Her Kiss Of Surrender... The Prize Of Victory!

Oriental adventure with all the usual ingredients , including glowing colour and distinctive photography in Cinemascope . Adventure and stirring movie set in Bagdad , including bandits , schemers , a cunning Calipha , gorgeous dancers , intriguing sheiks , and many other things . Another look at ¨The Golden Blade¨ today reveals it to be a bit short on action but here outstanding the sympathetic and funny Rosetta Jacobs , alias Piper Laurie . Hudson gives a passable acting as an invincible merchant who swears to avenge his daddy and is soon involved the twisted intrigue and mysterious plots . Hudson using the powerful sword in the name of justice managed to spring from this ridiculous camp Oriental Adventure outing to stardom .Rock as the fearless merchant Harun Al-Rashid avenges his daddy's murder in this adventure set in ancient Bagdad and Hudson work is well up to his ordinary high standards , being inspired from the Arabic fairy tales of One Thousand and One Nights . This is Hudson's second adventure in the East , the others were :The Desert Hawk , Bengal Brigade , Spiral road , Battle Hymm , and Thunder of God . Rock was Douglas Sirk's fetish actor including essential titles as Taza , Magnificent obsession , Written in the wind , among others . He is well supported by Piper Laurie who really was a pretty package and she is was worth the price of admission to see her . Support cast is very good such as : Gene Evans , George Macready , Kathleen Hughes , Steven Geray , Edgar Barrier and Richard Carlson as Narrator .

Colorfully produced by Leonard Goldstein and Universal International , being accompanied by brilliant and glimmer cinematography carried out by director of photography by Maury Gertsman who photographed numerous Universal productions .The motion picture was professionally made by a magnificent director , Nathan Juran, who sometimes used pseudonym "Nathan Hertz" who collaborated with Charles H. Schener in several films . Nathan directs it all in stylish Technicolor . Before entering the film industry as an art director in 1937 Nathan ¨Jerry¨Juran won an Academy Award for art direction on How Green Was My Valley (1941). World War II interrupted his film career, and he spent his war years with the OSS. Returning to Hollywood, he turned to directing films in the 1950s. He handled mostly low-budget westerns and sci-fi opuses, as ¨First man in the moon¨, ¨The brain from planet Arous¨, ¨The deadly Mantis¨ , ¨20 million miles to Earth¨ , ¨Jack the Giant Killer¨ , his most famous being The attack of the 50 foot woman (1958) . He was also responsible for the superb fantasy adventure The 7th voyage of Sinbad (1958). Juran directed some Westerns starred by Audie Murphy such as ¨Drums Across the River¨, ¨Tumbleweed¨ , ¨Gunsmoke¨ and ¨Law and Order¨ with Ronald Reagan . In the early 1960s, he journeyed to Europe, where he spent several years piloting adventure epics and spaghetti westerns such as ¨Land raiders¨. Juran made sensational Sci-fi and fantastic movies , such us : ¨First men oh the moon¨, ¨The 7th voyage of Simbad¨ , ¨20 million miles to earth¨, ¨Jack the Giant Killer¨ and several others .

Who could picture in their minds Rock Hudson swinging from drapes, jumping over balconies, or subduing the sultan's guards with his sword? But that's just what Universal gives us in "The Golden Blade." He's surely not on the scale of Errol Flynn, Ty Power, or Stu Granger, but Hudson does a nice swashbuckling turn here.

The Golden Blade is a light-hearted movie of fiction set in a mythical Baghdad. It has some skulduggery that is usual for these desert tales of the mid-20th century. Hudson's physical trysts combine with the energy and rebelliousness of a princess (Piper Laurie) who is always sneaking off to see the world outside the palace. And to do good turns with the people that endear them to her.

The plot isn't complicated and the script is just average. The color, cinematography and costumes add to the enjoyment of the movie. It's not serious filmmaking, but the cast seem as though they are enjoying their craft. Viewers should do likewise. Just sit back and enjoy the color, action, humor and romance of this light but entertaining film.

Arabian Nights adventures were staples on Italian TV in my childhood; this (acquired fairly recently on DVD as part of Universal's "Rock Hudson: Screen Legend" set) was one of them, though I'd practically forgotten all about it in the interim. Not that it's in any way a memorable entry in the genre, and certainly not original – since this is basically the Excalibur legend transposed to ancient Bagdad – but a pleasant diversion nonetheless.

Having watched two of the star's 'oaters' back-to-back (the other was SEA DEVILS [1953]), I can say that he was rather more at ease as an Englishman than an Arab (though he does well enough by the action required here, involving a handful of swordfights and even a jousting[!] contest – which he loses – for the hand of leading lady Piper Laurie). The latter – petite and vivacious – lends some freshness to the mostly familiar proceedings; a similar outing of hers I'd like to revisit someday is THE PRINCE WHO WAS A THIEF (1951) featuring Tony Curtis, another then-rising Universal star who dabbled in actioners (read: potboilers) of every kind during this period.

Anyway, the rest of the cast here is equally creditable: George Macready as the (typically conniving) Grand Vizier, who's eventually revealed to have also ordered the decimation of neighboring Basra (from where Hudson emanates); Samuel Fuller regular Gene Evans as Macready's incompetent son(!) – the old man wants him to marry princess Laurie in order to secure the throne for themselves, but he actually loves her subordinate; Steven Geray as the merchant who first comes into possession of The Golden Blade, and subsequently steers Hudson into fulfilling its destiny (that is, apart from supplying the film's comedy relief); and Edgar Barrier as the reigning Caliph (I've watched him recently in two other exotic ventures for the same studio, namely ARABIAN NIGHTS [1942] and COBRA WOMAN [1944]).

The climax of this compact swashbuckler – running a mere 80 minutes – incorporates a bit of magic (and campiness) as the blade becomes entrenched in the walls of the palace; consequently, a host of muscle-men, inventors and sorcerers are recruited so as to try and dislodge it…but only the dashing hero is able to, the direct result of which is to have the column in question crumble and bury the two villains underneath it! By the way, director Juran would later helm two other (and far more notable) mythical adventures – THE SEVENTH VOYAGE OF SINBAD (1958) and JACK THE GIANT KILLER (1962), both of which had the added appeal of stop-motion animated monsters.

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.