O Sultão Maldito

Fascinating though heavy-going political thriller (quite unusual for a British production of its time) about little-known events – it's set in 1908 Turkey during the final years in the reign of Sultan Abdul Hamid II; the overall treatment (this is one of obscure Austrian director Grune's last films) is somewhat stilted but pictorially impressive nonetheless. Though the film is bogged down by the romantic contrivances, making it feel longish, there is still plenty of intrigue going on to hold one's interest – with even some effectively ironic cross-cutting between pompous parades and vicious assassinations several decades before THE GODFATHER (1972)'s celebrated climax!

Fritz Kortner turns in another powerful, albeit thoughtful and more controlled, performance (or, rather, two – as he also plays the titular character's actor double!); abetting him are Nils Asther (a fine performance of sleek villainy as Abdul's ambitious Chief Of Police – incidentally, he had himself just played a villainous ruler in Frank Capra's marvelous THE BITTER TEA OF GENERAL YEN [1933] with which this film shares some similarities) and statuesque Adrienne Ames (as a visiting Austrian singer who attracts the lustful eye of many a man, including the Sultan himself – I knew her best from the classic W.C. Fields comedy YOU'RE TELLING ME! [1934]). The supporting cast, then, includes the likes of Esme' Percy (as the Sultan's aide, a eununch!), Walter Rilla, Patric Knowles, George Zucco and Eric Portman.

Apparently, this was cut down from the original 111 minutes (the DVD version actually runs for 108) to a mere 79 minutes for American theatrical release. Finally, one must thank VCI for making such a rare item as ABDUL THE DAMNED (whose brief complimentary review in the Leslie Halliwell Film Guide I'd been reading for years) available – even if only as a bonus feature on their Deluxe Edition of CHU-CHIN-CHOW (1934). However, I was irked by the sloppy disc production involved: the worst offender is an annoyingly long pause prior to every chapter (something I've never encountered before and which also affects the shorter version of CHU-CHIN-CHOW, retitled ALI BABA NIGHTS, on the second DVD of this 3-Disc Set)! Besides, the actor bios are not given sufficient time to register and could only be read by pausing them; then, once they're over, the disc doesn't return one automatically to the main menu – I had to press the "Stop" and "Menu" buttons on my remote control in order to access the next item...wtf?!

This interesting historical drama is helped quite a bit by good performances from Fritz Kortner, in a dual role, and Nils Asther. It uses the historical situation near the end of the reign of Turkish Sultan Abdul Hamid II ("Abdul The Damned") as a basis for intrigue and melodrama. The setting itself is an interesting choice, as the nation of Turkey has a distinctive and important history that is too often little appreciated outside of its own borders.

The story has Kortner, as Abdul and as the Sultan's hapless double, along with Asther, as the suave but villainous chief of police, plotting to crush the reform-minded Young Turks, while Abdul also becomes increasingly infatuated with a visiting Austrian singer. Kortner gives an insightful portrayal of the tyrant, showing how his brutality comes from fear and inadequacy, rather than from strength. Asther seems to relish his role, and he has a number of good moments.

Although the historical setting and characters are often adapted for the sake of cinematic effect, it still communicates the basics of the actual historical situation in an interesting way that is worth seeing. Beyond that, it also offers a good, complex dramatic situation with two good leads, especially Kortner, who gives one of the better leading portrayals that you can find in the historical movies of the era.

Abdul Hamid was the sultan of Turkey at the turn of the century. A dozen sultans before him had been murdered for political reasons. He lives in such fear of assassination that his chief of the secret police, Nils Asther (in an unusually menacing role), "removes" anyone who could possibly be a threat. Along comes Adrienne Ames as the star of a touring British musical. The sultan takes one look at her and falls in love. She won't give him the time of day. The chief of police has her fiancé arrested on a pretext and threatened with execution to "encourage" her to enter the sultan's harem (which interestingly and politically correctly contain women from every possible race: Black, European, Jewish, etc.). She agrees. Most of the film is concerned with the political machinations of the sultan and the chief of police. It's a political thriller and from that POV was quite ahead of its time. But it's a fascinating film in its own right. Not only because of Fritz Kortner and Nil Asther, but because of the fine acting by Eric Portman, Patrick Knowles, Esme Percy as the chief eunuch, and a brief but forceful appearance by George Zucco as the Captain of the firing squad. Added to all of this is an excellent musical score (with a rare filmed glimpse of a 1930's English musical production), brilliant editing and cinematography that will remind you of the German Expressionism movement------much of the crew, director, cinematographer, etc. were German immigrants. The film has as German a feel as SUNRISE. If you get a chance to see it, do. It's a favorite of mine.

Jay Fenton