Arabian Nights

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source: Arabian Nights

With the U.S.A. having just entered WWII, the people were desperately searching for something to take their minds off of the horrors of war. "Arabian Nights" served that purpose. It was successful enough to spawn a number of similar films throughout the 1940s. Most were shot in the spectacular three-strip Technicolor process and had similar plots and casts.. Make no mistake about it, "Arabian Nights" is nothing more than a "B" adventure film dressed up in Technicolor with daring heroes, beautiful women and slap stick comedy. The film could have done with out the ridiculous prologue (and epilogue) where a comedic looking sheik or something reads the story to a bunch of giggling members of a harem. The plot is simple. Caliph Haroun-Al Raschid (Jon Hall) has put down a revolt by his brother Kamar (Leif Ericson) and has him being tortured in the public square. Just as he is about to show his brother mercy, the brother's supporters attack and free him. Al-Raschid and his followers flee and he is wounded near a troupe of entertainers. He is found by Ali Ben Ali (Sabu) who protects his true identity. With Al-Raschid believed dead, Kamar assumes the throne. Within the entertainment group is the beautiful dancer Sherazade (Maria Montez) whom Ahmad loves and with whom Al-Raschid also falls in love. Sherazade on the other hand seeks power by becoming the wife of the Caliph. Al-Raschid is forced to conceal his identity until he can overthrow his brother. That's basically it. With Billy Gilbert (Ahmad), Shemp Howard (Sinbad) and John Qualen (Aladdin) around to provide the slapstick type humor, the story becomes a little more than a Three Stooges comedy. The real villain of the piece is Edgar Barrier as Nadan the scheming "trusted" assistant to Kamar. He is ready to double cross anyone to achieve his goal of becoming Caliph himself. Turhan Bey plays a Captain of the guard who is equally treacherous. A thin Thomas Gomez stands out as the evil slave trader Hakim who tries to sell off the lovely Sherazade as a slave. Sabu made a career out of this sort of role as the friend of the hero who manages to slip in and out of trouble in a likable manner. Hall, Montez and Bey would go on to make similar such sand and sandal adventure films in the future.

Technicolor made Maria Montez a star. To get round the fact she couldn't act Universal surrounded her with a cast of succulent hams (including the original Thief of Baghdad himself, John Qualen as Aladdin and Shemp Howard as Sinbad) in an otherwise skimpy production lent grandeur by Technicolor and striking sets in the Germanic style by the veteran team of Otterson & Golitzen.

...with an unpretentious appeal to the child in many of us. In ancient times, the caliph of Baghdad, Haroun-Al-Raschid (Jon Hall), has his throne taken from him by his treacherous brother Kamar (Leif Erickson). The caliph is a fugitive marked for death, but he's rescued by acrobatic performer Ali Ben Ali (Sabu) who introduces the former leader to beautiful dancing girl Sherazade (Maria Montez). All three team up to win back the caliph's throne. This goofy distraction was a big hit with wartime audiences looking to escape the horrors and worries of the time. And this is certainly "leave your brain at the door" entertainment, has little in common with the source stories, and is targeted at the least discerning of viewers. It fails to live up to the overheated camp heights of the noted Montez-Hall team-up Cobra Woman, though, and that lack of kitsch makes this a more tedious slog. Maria Montez may have been, to put it kindly, limited as an actress. But she had an exotic appeal that made her perfect for these kinds of cheesy sand-and-sex costume adventures churned out by Universal during the war. Billy Gilbert's performance, in which he seems to scream most of his dialogue, also becomes nails-on-a-chalkboard irritating. As ridiculous as the movie is, it earned 4 Oscar nominations, for Best Score, Best Cinematography, Best Sound, and Best Art Direction.

NOTES: Nominated for the following prestigious Hollywood awards: Krasner, Skall and Greene for Color Cinematography, losing to Leon Shamroy's The Black Swan; Golitzen, Otterson, Gausman and Webb for Color Sets, losing to My Gal Sal; Bernard Brown for Sound Recording, losing to Yankee Doodle Dandy; Frank Skinner for Scoring of a Drama or Comedy, losing to Now, Voyager. Universal's first three-strip Technicolor feature, and the studio's top domestic box-office attraction of 1942-43. As for the writing credits, producer Walter Wanger stated at the time of the film's New York release that the story was written by Michael Hogan, True Boardman and Eddie Hartmann from a general outline by Alexander Golitzen. Its only similarity to Burton's classic is the title as Mr. Wanger found the original "dull and dirty". VIEWER'S GUIDE: Adults. The story is certainly silly enough for kids, but they're likely to take it seriously. COMMENT: "The woman whose beauty shames the glory of the sunset" (to quote some of the rich dialogue in this delightfully escapist yet ultra-lavish and regally elegant slice of eye-dazzling fantasy), namely Maria Montez, here makes her Technicolor debut. Shortly to be crowned "Queen of Technicolor", Montez presents an exotically fiery, tantalizingly tempestuous personality, extravagantly costumed, exquisitely groomed. That she can't act for toffee and that her accent is often almost impenetrable simply adds to her more-than-mortal allure. Interestingly, as her box-office appeal was as yet unknown, she is not allowed to dominate the Nights as she did her subsequent films, like White Savage, Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves, Cobra Woman, Gypsy Wildcat, Sudan and Pirates of Monterey. Here, there's still plenty for Jon Hall and his seemingly acrobatic sidekick Sabu to get their hands on. Turhan Bey, later to take precedence over Jon Hall as the romantic lead, is also in the cast; Leif (pronounced "Life") Erikson and Edgar Barrier enact the villains; whilst some additional comedy relief (the whole film is just one vast howl) is skilfully provided by our favorite (if impermanent) Stooge, Shemp Howard, plus John Qualen and Sneezy Gilbert. The trailer for this one is also a real hoot, the best of the lot. "Bagdad, city of temptations, where ruler and rogue, slaver and sinner fight for the forbidden Sherazad. A story rich and exotic as the East itself!" And that's just for openers. Mind you, the trailer for Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves runs this one pretty close. How about: "See Bagdad enslaved by Hunnish hordes!" or, as the off-screen commentator breathlessly informs us, "see Romance in the shadow of the torture rack!" Cut to hero Jon Hall as he remarks (with a perfectly straight face) to heroine Maria Montez, "I'm curious why a girl so young, so lovely, should marry the ruthless Khan?" OTHER VIEWS: Lush color, attractive sets and costumes and plenty of action, somewhat offset by corny dialogue and juvenile plotting. - G.A.

This takes place in ancient Arabia. Something about a handsome man (Jon Hall) and his brother both in love with beautiful Scheherazade (Maria Montez). One is rich and powerful and the other one is poor but really loves her. Who will she choose? The plot isn't really important here. This was made to entertain audiences and giving them colorful mindless escapism...and it does that! It's shot in absolutely beautiful Techicolor--every single frame looks gorgeous. The picture never stops moving, there's plenty of action and a loud pounding score driving things along. As for the acting it's not that great. Hall and Montez are incredibly beautiful to look at but neither of them were good actors. Sabu pops up here and there helping things along. He can't act either but he's so full of energy and youth he's hard not to like. But worst of all is Shemp Howard (late one of the Three Stooges!) playing Sinbad!!!! To say he's miscast is an understatement. Still this is colorful and fast-moving--lots of fun! I give it an 8.