As Maravilhas de Aladim

This has to be one of the finest comedies to feature Donald O'Connor that didn't feature him dancing or with a talking mule. When you look at it, he really isn't the smooth teen idol type that was portrayed in the classic animated feature that came out several years later, O'Connor played Aladdin more like an ordinary guy who gets involved in very unusual situations. Too bad this is rarely shown on television anymore, it is definitely a treat.

I had the remarkable experience of seeing this in a theatre. A local dollar movie got a copy of it about the time Disney's Aladdin came out and sh0wed it for matinees one weekend. Strangely, they didn't also get the LENS they needed for the widescreen presentation so it was all crunched horizontally and everybody was half as wide or twice as tall as normal. Add that to the fact that the movie itself is kind of dopey and absurd, with lots of good actors wasting their efforts, and the INSANE use of Vittorio De Sica playing the genie as a guy standing around in a choir robe, in footage shot elsewhere probably in about half an hour, and just matted into a cloud in the corner of the screen, and I'd classify this as one of the most frightening Mario Bava movie I've ever seen.

I had first seen The Wnders of Aladdin when i was young, and had loved it. Now, 60 years later, I watched it again and enjoyed it as much.

This movie has a high '60s camp factor. The Arabian Nights theme of movies certainly opens itself up to it, with its navel-jewel-wearing harem girls and all. You can tell the dubbing's not up to par (and it seems like Donald O'Connor was the only one speaking English on the set). But it does entertain as much as any goofy Italian movie can.

Years ago when the first Ninja Turtles movie made its way to VHS, my five-year-old neighbor girl (who liked coming by to play with my toddler), knocked on my door, pressed her copy of the movie into my hands and said, "You've *got* to watch this. It's the *best* movie ever made." When I first saw "The Wonders of Aladdin," I thought it was the best movie ever made. I was eight. My favorite thing in the world at that time was listening to the Broadway cast album of "Kismet" (the movie of which I didn't see for many years) and reading 1001 nights tales in picture books. When I saw "The Wonders of Aladdin" on television with my family, I remember being absolutely enthralled. (I remember my mother being surprised that Vittorio de Sica was in it.) I loved every plot twist. The genie appearing in a matte shot, smaller and smaller with each appearance, made perfect sense to me. I rooted for Donald O'Connor. I was thrilled when he won the princess (who I'd thought was Annette Funicello).

When I saw it again, about age 12, I was appalled. What a cheesy picture, I thought. The wink-wink-nudge-nudge joke of O'Connor (but not the audience) accidentally seeing the princess (not Funicello after all) nude seemed embarrassing. The "special effects" were just cheap.

When I caught the movie again at college age--after several years of reading about films and seeing films of all eras--I was ready to forgive "The Wonders of Aladdin" its failings and enjoy it again.

If you like 1001 nights type stories and you appreciate films of different eras, "The Wonders of Aladdin" is an enjoyable B-movie fantasy.