L'arciere delle mille e una notte

Whilst watching this, I couldn't help wonder if Tab Hunter would have made a decent Lawrence of Arabia? He certainly has the looks in his white garb! Sadly though, as an actor his talents don't stretch a great deal further in this amiable fantasy adventure. He has to beat three suitors and a manipulative vizier to win the hand of the Princess "Jamila" (Rossana Podestá). Luckily, he has three genies to help him out as he seeks the golden arrow that will prove his identity as the heir to the kingdom and a worthy husband for the princess. The production is pretty basic, but this is still a colourful romp with plenty of action, bows and arrows, magic carpetry and Hunter has a distinct glint in his eye - especially when talking to people who are clearly going to be superimposed by the visual effects people later! At least they all went to Egypt to film the exteriors, and there is plenty of light-hearted action taking us to the inevitable - and really quite entertaining - battle at the end. I quite enjoyed this.

The only two names us film fans from the English speaking world will recognize is that of Tab Hunter and Rosanna Podesta in The Golden Arrow. This is another of a gazillion epics made in Italy in the late 50s and 60s to take advantage of those Ben-Hur, Quo Vadis, and Cleopatra sets that American companies built for those productions and left for the Italian cinema.

As for Hunter he was one of several B list actors who left for Europe to appear in these and in spaghetti westerns just coming into being at the time. After this one he never did another for which he was grateful no doubt,

It's the usual Arabian Nights type fare with Hunter as a bandit who's really a prince lest how else could he compete for the hand of princess Rosanna Podesta and defeat the evil vizier who's peddling her hand in marriage to an even eviler prince.

But before Hunter can do that he's got to go through a lot of adventures and collect his arsenal which consists of a magic carpet and magic Golden Arrow which always hits what it's aimed at. Like the Lone Ranger, Tab only shoots to wound or disabled. He's got a posse of three wizards who could have been played by the 3 Stooges. Now that might have been interesting.

For reasons only God could imagine they dubbed Hunter's voice with an actor who sounded an awful lot like Stephen Boyd. He might have made more sense than blond All American Tab Hunter in the part.

I was looking forward to this one, being a fan of Arabian Nights fantasies and in view of cult director Margheriti's participation (unusually billed under his real name here, instead of the familiar pseudonym Anthony M. Dawson!); distributed internationally by MGM, the film used to crop up from time to time on the TCM U.K. schedule – but it may have been the 1936 Warner Bros. effort bearing the same title, and which I acquired not too long ago via this very channel, all along!

Anyway, the movie is appropriately colourful and intermittently diverting; yet, given the utter lack of originality, the result is mainly dreary – not helped by lifeless treatment, ill-advised star casting (blond Tab Hunter as the proverbial 'prince who was a thief'!) and ropey special effects (the handiwork of the obligatory suppliers of resistible comedy relief, a buffoonish trio of wizards who literally come down to earth to aid the hero regain his throne)!! The current princess (Rossana Podesta', a regular of such costumed fare) is contended by a number of potentates, one of whom is in league with the – what else? – wicked Grand Vizier (for once, though, he does not covet either the girl or the throne himself, apparently content merely to pull the strings at court!). Eventually, she asks them to bring her the most precious gift – but, what they come up with (a crystal ball, a life- restoring potion and a magic carpet), has equal value in her eyes when she is stricken by a 'mysterious' illness and near death!

Hunter naturally has a coterie of bandit pals (who initially turn against him when he allows the kidnapped princess to flee rather than demand a ransom for her) – but their role is downplayed in favour of the afore-mentioned magicians. Incidentally, the script is indiscriminate in its borrowings: the titular weapon is first presented as having Excalibur-type powers i.e. only the right person can handle it; while, halfway through, we get thoroughly pointless sections that would have better served the peplum genre involving a cave guarded by flaming monsters and, subsequently, a Theban community – from what I could gather, under some sorcerer's spell – which the hero saves (by destroying a temple in the desert)! The climax, then, features the protagonist's 'supernatural' sidekicks dumping jars from the air on the assailing forces and Hunter adopting the golden arrow to slice up the villains' own flying rug!

It's pollyanna-ish reviewing to give anything over a five to a movie where the English speaking actors are dubbed into English. This movie isn't bad. It's just mediocre. It was a product of its time -- Italian productions sold to English speaking audiences for its T&A tease, both male and female (sword and sandal movies, anyone?).

Bandit chief Hassan (Tab Hunter) infiltrates Damascus with a daring plan. Impersonating a prince from the "Island of Flames," Hassan joins the nobles contending for the hand of beautiful Princess Jamila (Rossana Podesta) intending to kidnap her for ransom. The suitors' contest revolves around the legendary Black Bow, the weapon of the true savior and Sultan of Damascus. Whoever can bend the bow will wield the invincible power of the Golden Arrow, claim the hand of Jamila and become ruler. No one is more astonished than Hassan when he succeeds in bending the Black Bow, but the brash young thief ignores the call to heroism, kidnaps the princess and loses the Golden Arrow. With the aid of three magical spirits, Hassan must embark on a quest to recover it, contending with a series of supernatural challenges that refine his spirit and prepare him for battle against Baktiar, the evil vizier who controls Damascus.

Tab Hunter isn't the first person to come to mind when thinking of who would be suitable to star in a "scimitar and sandals" epic that soars across fantastic locations with sweeping spectacle and grand lushness, but he does well as the bandit chief who falls for the beautiful princess played by Rossana Padesta and hunts for the golden arrow. It's a thoroughly out-there Arabian fantasy with a flying carpet and other well done special effects. There's even a bit of humour with the sound of jet engines when the carpet flies up. The Golden Arrow doesn't always make sense, it can be incoherent and nonsensical but it's really entertaining with great filmmaking and camerawork. There's something magical about this film.