L'étranger au paradis

Given the times we're in and the changing public tastes in music, I'm not sure how well a revival of Kismet as a Broadway show would do today. Certainly the music of Alexander Borodin remains timeless, but a show with an Arabian Nights setting, I'm not sure would go over so well right now.

The Broadway show with Alfred Drake, Doretta Morrow, Richard Kiley, and Joan Diener ran for 583 performances in the 1953-54 season and won a Tony Award. As none of those worthy performers were movie names, Arthur Freed recast the film with MGM players Howard Keel, Ann Blyth, Vic Damone, and Dolores Gray and I've sure got no complaints about any one of them.

But Kismet has an older an more varied history. It was first presented on Broadway as a straight dramatic play in 1911, written by Edward Knoblauch and providing a career role as Hajj the beggar king for Otis Skinner. He must have done the role a gazillion times on Broadway and in touring companies.

Skinner even did two films, a silent and early sound version that I believe are both lost. It then got a film version with Ronald Colman as Hajj and it co-starred Marlene Dietrich, James Craig and Joy Page. Colman spoke the lines in the inimitable Colman fashion, but the music score that Harold Arlen and E.Y. Harburg wrote was singularly bland.

Nothing bland about the themes of Alexander Borodin which Robert Wright and Chet Forrest arranged and wrote lyrics for to provide a far better musical score. Two songs, Strangers In Paradise and Baubles Bangles And Beads were chart toppers in the first half of the Fifties. I well remember as a child hearing both played on the radio a lot.

The plot of the story centers around the nimble tongued Keel as Hajj who gets himself involved in palace politics with the Wazir/Prime Minister of the old Caliphate of Bagdad played by Sebastian Cabot and his wife Dolores Gray who's taken a real fancy to Keel. At the same time the Caliph on one of his nocturnal wanderings of legend has fallen for Keel's daughter Ann Blyth. The Caliph is played by Vic Damone. Both plot elements come together for an inevitable conclusion which I think you can figure out.

Vincente Minnelli did a great directing this old chestnut, impeccably cast with great musical performers. Songwriting because of who inspired it, doesn't get any better than this.

While not up there with the classic film musicals, Kismet is one of the underrated ones. The complaints that some have for the film are understandable, the script apart from some deliciously witty moments(mainly from Keel and Gray) is somewhat weak and is swamped by everything else, Vincente Minelli's direction at times is cold and hasty- which comes through loud and clear in Gesticulate, very indifferently directed and the weakest song in the film too- and while youthful and suave Vic Damone is rather bland as an actor. There is much to recommend though. The production values are the very meaning of lavish and look gorgeous, the locations and photography are very exotic and who cannot love Delores Gray's outfits. The choreography is spirited and seductive as well as clever and generally tasteful(Not Since Ninevah stands out), and the story is charming enough, a little silly but hardly a bore. There are no complaints to be had with the songs and score, the score is lush and the songs, based on the music of Borodin with clever lyrics, apart from Gesticulate are wonderful. Stranger in Paradise, And This is My Beloved, The Olive Tree and Baubles, Bangles and Beads are the highlights, though Night of My Nights is also lovely. It is a shame about the absence of Was I Wazir? though, though you can sort of understand why it was omitted. The cast are good, Dolores Gray steals the show as a deliciously sultry Lalume, Rahadlakum is a show-stopper. Howard Keel clearly is having the time of his life in his role as Hajj, if at times playing it a little too on the broad side, his beautiful rich voice still sounds great and is one of those voices that is difficult to be tired of. Ann Blyth is too old but is still utterly beguiling and sings beautifully, especially in Baubles, Bangles and Beads and And This is My Beloved. Sebastian Cabot is wonderfully wicked with a touch of buffoonery, though I've always preferred his more distinguished style of acting. All in all, not perfect by any stretch of the imagination but well worth seeing, especially for the production values, the songs, Keel and Gray. 7/10 Bethany Cox

It's hard for me to believe that I saw many of these old M.G.M. musicals when they first came out when I was a teenager. I first saw Kismet with my cousin and sister in Jackson, Mississippi, and we loved it! I don't like repeating myself, but just because a Broadway star is in a hit musical on Broadway doesn't necessarily mean that they are good movie material. They just don't have the following in the movies to support a movie such as movies like Kismet, Hello Dolly, Gypsy, and Kiss Me, Kate which is considered a better movie than it was a Broadway show.

Kismet is glorious entertainment. Howard Keel is perfect as Hajj the Beggar and even though Ann Blyth was too old to be his daughter, you forgive that problem in casting. She never sang better and Vic Damone was great as the Prince. Thankfully, the songs "He's in Love" and "Was I Wazir" was cut from the film, but sadly, even though it was recorded and filmed "Rhymes Have I" was deleted from the movie. This should not have been. Maybe, some day, someone will restore this number in future Videos of Kismet.

You could not have cast anyone better than Delores Gray as Lalume, and the addition of her song "Bored" [not in the original play on Broadway] shows you don't have to be naked and obscene on the screen to get sex across to the audience as she sings her song and nearly seduces Howard Keel right on the spot, and could that woman sing!

The wonderful thing about this movie is that a Broadway orchestra can't bring out the wonderful music as it is really meant to be heard like a movie orchestra can. For the first time you hear all the music in its richest melodies and Howard Keel, Ann Blyth, Vic Damone, and Delores Gray are thousands time better in their performances than the broadway cast could ever be. "And This is My Beloved" is a much better version in the movie than the Broadway rendition which was much too operatic.

I remember that my cousin Margaret looked at me after Howard Keel sang "The Olive Tree" and she said that if her father ever looked at her the way Howard Keel looked at Ann Blyth, she'd run like hell. Let's face it! Any Blyth was old enough to be his lover and not his daughter, but you forgive the producers for the miscast, because as a whole the film is not miscast, but perfect!

It's just a shame that these films can't be seen on the large theater screens today with stereophonic sound the way they "should" be seen. Maybe, someday, someone will get the hint!

Kismet was and is glorious, and I wouldn't have missed it for the world!

Kismet isn't a complete waste of time but director Minelli was itching to do Lust for Life and had little enthusiasm for this assignment, which engaged his abilities, but not his sympathies. Unfortunately, it shows. Like Brigadoon and a few other musicals, this was one case where the Freed factory failed despite some gorgeous singing by the principals (Vic Damone is no actor but he ravishes "Stranger in Paradise"). Some numbers are shorn from the score, which doesn't hurt much but some are added, which does. There's a stale, formulaic quality to this movie and Kismet is a hothouse flower that doesn't thrive under M-G-M's "crunch-it-out" treatment. More imagination and taste were needed. There are several good recordings of the score and I'd suggest that, if you like the music (what's not to like?), you experience Kismet aurally.

I saw this movie version and have always loved it. I also saw the stage version, but who could be better than Howard Keel. I felt like a "Stranger In Paradise." I have always been a movie musical buff and a big fan of Mr. Keel. When I first saw the movie as a child, I felt transported back to that time period (even if it was a Hollywood movie). The beautiful music and romance contained within makes you feel wonderful. And you can imagine all the romance, adventure and "Baubles, Bangles and Beads" you could ever wish for and all in the time and space of this lovely movie with beautiful music. Thank you Howard Keel, Ann Blyth, Vic Damone and company for one of my favorite movie memories.