Shéhérazade

797....Charlemagne and Haroun Al Rachid are the most powerful sovereigns of the world ;both strengthen their authority through Christianity and Islam respectively.

Haroun Al Rachid's reign was flourishing ,he protected the arts and the famous "One Thousand and one nights " bears witness of the brilliant literature of the era.

Charlemagne formed political contacts with his oriental equivalent who sent him an embassy and presents including a clepsydra;The Western Europe master wanted the Muslim caliph to protect the Christian monasteries and to let the pilgrims go and pray on Christ's tomb.

That's when our story begins:three gallant knights,Renaud (Gerard Barray ) ,Didier (Giuliano Gemma) and Thierry (Gil Vidal) arrive in Bagdad to ask for religious tolerance ;the caliph will later agree,and it's the only historical fact in a two-hour movie.

On Their way to Bagdad,they come to a damsel in distress 's rescue (Karina)and take her to the caliph who must choose his wife .Karina is Schéhérazade (check the title) ,but not the beautiful lady whose tales used to keep the sultan awake for one and thousand nights ;it was the movie which was supposed to thrust straight-faced Karina into the mainstream ,and it does ,in a way,for after watching this far- fetched tale,you will not need any aspirin ,as it is often the case with her then-partner Jean-Luc's works.

The first part is relatively coherent ,with two or three good moments :the three tests ,the beautiful woman handed over to a bunch of ugly dirty beggars ,and the village where nobody wants to cure the valiant knight and repeats "Bagdad".

The second part is a horse of a different color: a sprawling development,with a harem where absolutely anyone can just walk in (it is reportedly said that Haround had 200 wives!) ,a hateful Egyptian(?) rival (Marilu Tolo),and her accomplice who wants to be top dog.The escape across the desert Under a blistering sun shows the influence of HGClouzot's "Manon" ;the director even has Barray scream 'now she's mine,you Haroun,can't you hear me? aping Michel Auclair.

History is really given a rough ride,but it is entertaining on a rainy day ;today,the movie has Fallen into oblivion,being ignored by everybody.

NB :Pierre Gaspard -Huit took Barray again,in "Le Capitaine Fracasse" ,in which he played the villain opposite Jean Marais.

I was very pleased to watch this and very surprised that this movie was forgotten.

This is a very well made movie with great costumes, sets and scenery. It has good visual effects even in battle scenes specially for the 60s. It also has very good acting and awesome dialogues. The story is a bit banal but its an Arabian tale type of movie which is quite rare in general and even more for french movies.

Don't believe the score it got here, French people mostly always down rate their movies. You can nearly always ad two points to a movie rated by French people. This movie is worth at least an 8 and its a must seen.

Most Arab main characters aren't Arabs but its not so bad, they end up being quite credible specially since its in the 9th century in Iraq. I guess you can think they were more like Persians or something. Anyways this movie isn't about historical accuracy at all.

This is a very unique movie, the kind you will probably only see once.

Eastmancolor fantasy that brings me back to my childhood, when I loved to see the Oriental movies because of the magical happenings and wonders around abound . Oriental adventure with all the usual ingredients , including glowing colour , glamorous settings , spectacular dances and distinctive photography . Adventure and stirring movie magnificently set , including bandits , a nasty ruler , gorgeous dancers , intriguing sheiks , and many other things . Set circa year 809 , concerning a powerful Sultan , marvelous maidens , gorgeous princess , brave Crusaders , several happy-go lucky thieves and anythings else . It deals with some Crusaders (Giuliano Gemma , Gil Vidal) led Renaud de Villecroix (Gérard Barray) who are assigned by Christian Emperor Carlomagno to get a free passage to the Holy Land to let European pilgrims to visit those remote as well as religious lands and there create an Oriental Ambassy . Meanwhile , the gorgeous Sheherazade (Anna Karina who dances at a breathtaking show) is promised to a powerful Sultan Haroun-al-Raschid (Antonio Vilar) . When Renaud de Villecrois saves Shéhérazade from certain death, she falls madly in love with her hero , then things go wrong .

A delightful Naive Adventure , as the film is fairly entertaining and, as can be expected from a grade-A European production of the sixties , handsomely mounted but it mainly survives nowadays on its high quotient of nostalgia . Scherezade is a rousing , moving , stirring tale , above average , and adding action as well as thrills with a great sense of wonder , including attractive scenarios . It is an amusing Arabian movie , plenty of action , thrills , colorful cinematography , wonderful camera work , luxurious costumes , catching score ; all meld together under Pierre Gaspard-Huit 's nice direction . Although the story has been told before , tight filmmaking and nice acting win out . Combination of overwhelming desert and palace battles , sword-play and full of villainy , romance , and heroism . The picture is fast-moving , exciting and thrilling right up with climatic final confrontation between good guys and bad guys . Lavish spectacle and good casting overcomes the somewhat sluggish storytelling that combines a number of familiar Arabian fare and One thousand and one nights tale . Main cast is franky excellent such as Anna Karina as Shéhérazade , Gérard Barray as Renaud de Villecroix and Antonio Vilar as Haroun-al-Raschid . They are supported by a very good plethora of Spanish , French , Italian secondaries as Fernando Rey ,Jorge Mistral , Giuliano Gemma , Marilù Tolo , Fausto Tozzi , Gil Vidal , José Manuel Martín , Jose Calvo , Maria Granada , among others . This Eastmancolor adventure fantasy is well adorned by beautiful cinematography by Christian Matras . Striking and evocative musical score by André Hossein . This European spectacle was glamorously directed by Pierre Gaspard-Huit (Captain Fracassa, Les lavandières du Portugal, Gibraltar , Amoríos , Sophie et le crime , Little B.B.) .

In any case, this satisfactory viewing has brought back fond childhood memories of similar costume pictures and has certainly whetted my appetite for more ; as it belongs to Arabian sub-genre whose main representation was the bunch of Universal films from those old days such as : Arabian Nights (1942), apart from Ali Baba and the forty thieves itself, any of the following: Bagdad (1949), Sudan (1945) , The desert hawk (1950), Flame of Araby (1951), The prince who was a thief (1951) , Son of Ali Baba (1952), El capitán King (1953) , Bengal Brigade (1954) and several others

The only thing I remember about this movie was the figure cutout of the ideal (?)female figure with tiny bells which the women were made to walk through without triggering a tinkling of the bells! Even the theater had a lifesized display of it in the lobby. What do I know---I was 7 or 8 at the time my father took me to see it so that's what stuck in my mind. If only for that, I'd like to see it again. And not for Ana Karina BUT for Marilu Tolo!