La revanche d'Ali Baba

Before Roger Corman there were the B movie departments. At Warner Brothers they had Bryan Foy, at Paramount they had the Dollar Bills and at Columbia, which was a B movie Studio for 90% of their productions anyway, they had Sam Katzman.

This means, for this flick, occasional A movie intellectual support Paul Henreid, looking as depressed as he did in NOW VOYAGER or CASABLANCA, as an action hero, horror lead Lon Chaney Jr. in support for marquee value.... and the rest of the movie, for some reason, strikes me as having been cast out of a Brooklyn burlesque house: girls from the stage, extras from the audience. Director Will Jason came out of short subjects and directs the whole thing with not too serious an air. The set design looks like the designer went into the prop storehouse, had everyone grab everything they could carry and heaped it all together.

The net effect is ridiculous rather than funny, depressing rather than dramatic. Unless you want to see the hordes of the Middle East riding over landscape like American cowboys -- I've no idea who was directing the second unit, but it's clearly cowboys in those pointed helmets, wielding scimitars -- give this one a miss.

Everything is splendid in this sumptuous oriental adventure, built on all kinds of loose ends of Arabian nights with the action located in Persia in the 7th century. Paul Henreid is the hero, the general who gets defeated and dishonoured but who works his way back in glory, surrounded by three wonderful oriental ladies. There is a great musical score by John Leipold which underlines the extravagant phantasmagoria character, but the script is the best of all, brilliantly conceived with exquisite dialog all the way spiced with wonderful strokes of good and witty humour, and I don't think I have ever seen Paul Henreid this good. Lon Chaney Jr plays the joker Sinbad with Aladdin for a helpmate, it's all like a paraphrase of Michael Powell's "The Thief of Bagdad" two years earlier, and everything here reminds you of Michael Powell and his magic. It's the same vein, not equally sophisticated, but well enough to stand up for a good second. This film is a joy all through, and you will gladly return to it one day.

This very conventional oriental tale takes many characters from "the thousand and one nights " who ,with the exception of Ali Baba whose cave ,should we believe him,is used for the last time ,are not given a single chance to shine (to show their skills): Aladdin talks about his lamp,but this magical thing is no help for the oppressed; Simbad is not a sailor and has no monster to fight against;had Sheherazade been so devoid of imagination,she would not have hold her master's attention for thousand and one nights . Neela even hints at Delilah ,a biblical character ,who does not appear ,all the same.

This story is too derivative ,and there are many directors who did more exciting movies with "the thousand and one nights" inexhaustible material.

Both Universal and Columbia had Arabian Nights sets on their lots built for a couple of big budget epics they had done in the Forties, Universal for Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves and Columbia for A Thousand and One Arabian Nights. Because of those sets and the cost to construct them, the movie-going public was treated every year to at least one exotic Middle East tale of adventure.

The cycle at Columbia was starting to run down though with Thief of Damascus. Someone over at Columbia got the bright idea to take as many of the fabled characters from the Arabian Nights and put them into one film.

The plot such as it is involves Paul Henreid as the number one general of John Sutton as Khalid the Conqueror making a way too generous treaty with the sultan of Damascus. Since they don't call him the Conqueror for nothing, Sutton decides to take charge in the usual fashion.

Before the end of the film, Aladdin, Sinbad, Scherezade, and Ali Baba and those forty thieves make their appearance and bring about a general righting of wrongs.

This was supposed to be tongue in cheek, but sad to say the satire fell kind of flat. Besides Henreid and Sutton others who could barely keep a straight face are Elena Verdugo, Lon Chaney, Jr., Robert Clary, Philip Van Zandt, Helen Gilbert, and Jeff Donnell as a puffy cheeked Scherezade who looks like she has the mumps.

The idea was interesting, but it fell short of the mark.

If only for the cave with the sliding door, I remember this mildly entertaining fantasy adventure from my childhood. It all follows the usual path of a hero who falls in love with the princess to the chagrin of his boss who also has designs on her! In this case it's the princess "Zafir" (Helen Gilbert) who is the object of everyone's desir; "Amdar" (Paul Henreid) the man she loves and "Khalid" (John Sutton) the malevolent usurper who would have her father's kingdom and his daughter. Fortunately for them, and us, she has the assistance of the wily "Sheherazade" (Jeff Donnell) and there's the occupier of the magic cave, too. He is, of course, "Ali Baba" (Philip Van Zandt) and he might just be persuaded to help out. Oh, right, and there's also "Sinbad" (Lon Chaney Jr.) just to keep the "Arabian Nights" theme fully exploited throughout. With a public execution looming, it is going to fall to the heroic men to save the sultan and his daughter from the scimitar, but will they manage to overcome the city walls and the overwhelming number of royal guards in time? Nothing remotely original, no, but I did quite enjoy this theatrically delivered costume romp, especially the lively effort from Donnell who clearly thinks she's more than a match for any man (character or actor). There's plenty of action to stop the romance getting too cheesy and though Henreid is as wooden as a cedar tree, his talents mix well with the rest of the mediocrity on offer here to present us with a perfectly watchable adventure film.