Bagdad

As other posters note, the plot of Bagdad is incoherent, though its momentum and the good-bad IDs are always clear. It's one of those odd paste-jewelry gems of the mid-century Hollywood studios. Overall the prevailing aesthetic is camp, especially given the outrageousness of Maureen O'Hara as a red-haired, green-eyed, candle-cheeked Bedouin princess and the languid Swede Paul Hibschmud / Christian in the Valentino slot.

But if Bagdad is campy junk, it's not exactly cheap junk. The color is touching, as are the efficiently managed sets. If you look closely at the California desert shots, you'll see many a rock outcropping used in Western chases with cowboys.

Bagdad is not a Western, though, but an "Eastern." As another poster noted, Maria Montez was the icon of this minor movement in Hollywood genre films. As with other such potboilers, one of the pleasures is the precise performance of the character actors, e. g. John Sutton as the villain and whoever plays the sentimental role of the old retainer to the princess's father.

Plenty of credit to O'Hara and Price for carrying the film. The scenario has so many lurches and fillers that you see something in these actors beyond mere talent, though both have plenty. Beyond talent, they're both troopers who never flinch when the script double-clutches--they brave every scene through, holding up the pretense, and O'Hara's song-and-dance performances give some scenes a surprising robustness.

Given the plot's weaknesses, I doubt if this movie is worth sitting down for 90 minutes at one stretch. But I taped it off a cable channel and watched about 10 minutes at a time. Virtually every 10-minute episode featured a song or dance, a scene of intrigue, and luminous backdrops with well-staged action. Obviously a viewer must have a predisposition to pure escapism. What else is Hollywood for? Recommended on those terms.

This time it is not an Universal Studios colorful exotic adventure from the late forties starring Maria Montez and Jon Hall, but Maureen O'Hara and Vincent Price as an exquisite traitor; how could it be else? But seeing Maureen O'Hara - the Scarlet O'Hara of Hollywood - in an Arab prince's daughter, well, it adds to the charm of this totally unbelievable and incredible tale...The flaming Irish red headed star can not look like an Arab woman in anyway, unlike Maria Montez or Yvonne De Carlo - but with lost of make up for those two.... So, for once I think there was a midcast in this agreeable little feature, which the topic is so predictable. But beware, despite the title, it is not a One Thousand and One Nights story, but a more or less modern adventure feature. Maureen O'Hara will also play with Charles Lamont in FLAME OF ARABY. Same kind of film too.

The costumes, locations, and action make up for the thin plot in this story of a princess in search of her father's murderer. True, there are holes in the story, Maureen O'Hara as a red-haired Turkish princess takes a stretch of imagination, but the look of the film is wonderful. Vincent Price, as always, makes a menacing villian. One wishes there was more romance, however. A good time, nonetheless.

7 years after striking box-office gold with ARABIAN NIGHTS (1942), Universal were still milking the same exotic formula with moderate success; in fact, after the star of that film's female attraction (Maria Montez) started to wane, they called on fiery, red-headed Irish beauty Maureen O'Hara – who had already appeared in RKO's SINBAD THE SAILOR (1947; co-starring Douglas Fairbanks Jr.) – to fill in her shoes in BAGDAD and, later on, FLAME OF ARABY (1951; co-starring Jeff Chandler) which I have yet to catch up with. The threadbare plot line of English-educated Arab princess O'Hara seeking revenge on the leader of the "Black Robes" – for causing her father's death after letting him down in battle against a confusing number of rival Arab tribes! – is nothing to write home about but, thankfully, this is made up for by an agreeably camp attitude that permeates the whole film and makes the viewing more enjoyable than it ought to be. O'Hara makes for a fetching heroine in her Technicolored exotic attire (including one in which she seems to have a drape attached to her head gear!) and, despite her royal heritage, she even gets to belt out 3 operatic songs in a tavern and impersonate a gypsy dancer out in the desert!; villainous Turkish Pasha Vincent Price keeps slapping everybody around and, bafflingly, has his right eyelid almost completely closed the whole time!; Paul Christian (aka Paul Hubschmid of Fritz Lang's famed "Indian Epic" diptych), sporting a distracting Austrian accent, is another Arab 'misfit' prince with a chameleon-like personality that sees him being, alternately, a guest and a fugitive in Price's palace; John Sutton – whom I will soon get the chance to see in similar surroundings in the notoriously cheap Sam Katzman production of THIEF OF DAMASCUS (1952) – plays yet another Arab chieftain whom greed and ambition has not only turned into Price's partner-in-crime but also the leader of the Black Robes; renowned character actor Jeff Corey is O'Hara's ill-tempered associate, etc. Unfortunately, the video quality of the copy I landed is far from optimal (hazy and slightly washed-out) but still serviceable under the circumstances given that, due to the current international political and financial climate, the emergence of such films on legitimate DVD editions is growing remoter with each passing day! Having said that, I look forward to getting my hands on more lightweight, nostalgic stuff in the same vein in the future.

An Arab sheik's daughter (Maureen O'Hara) avenges his death, blamed on Hassan (Paul Christian) and his Black Riders.

Maureen O'Hara in Technicolor, great sets and some intrigue, Bagdad is watchable, however there's not much action and the focus is on mental games, hence it's talky. A lot of things happen but it doesn't really drive the pace. O'Hara makes for a fetching heroine, Vincent Price is at his usual slimy best who likes slapping people and hates Bedouins and Paul Christian (aka Paul Hubschmid), is a Arab 'misfit' prince with a chameleon-like personality who must use all his talents to remain alive. It's not bad, has watchable qualities, very much wonderful look at with its colour and designs, but also has it's setbacks.