Arabian Nights

Plot synopsis:
The story starts at a harem in Persia, where the elderly overseer bids his young charges to read the story of Haroun al-Rashid (Hall) and his wife Sherazade (Montez), unfolding the film's plot in the process.
Sherazade, a dancer in a wandering circus owned by Ahmad (Billy Gilbert) - whose troupe also includes Sinbad the Sailor and Aladdin, who have seemingly fallen on hard times -, had captured the attention of Kamar (Erickson), the brother of caliph Haroun al-Rashid. In his infatuation with her, and because of a prophecy which names her as the future queen, Kamar had attempted to seize the throne, but was captured and sentenced to slow death by exposure. As Haroun visits his brother, for whom he feels pity, Kamar's men storm the palace and free their leader; outnumbered, Haroun is forced to flee. He manages to get near the plaza where Sherazade's circus is performing and is spotted by the young acrobat Ali Ben Ali (Sabu), who finds out his identity and decides to hide him in the circus, confiding only in Sherazade (though he does not tell her about the fugitive's true identity). Upon awakening from the wounds he had received in his flight, Haroun beholds Sherazade and instantly falls in love with her.
Meanwhile, Kamar, thinking that Haroun is dead, assumes the throne of Baghdad, but to his chagrin Sherazade is not to be found, and he orders the captain of his guard (Turhan Bey) to find her. But then the scheming Grand Vizier Nadan (Edgar Barrier) approaches the captain with the order to make Sherazade 'disappear', and upon finding them the captain decides to sell the troupe into slavery. But due to a witness the captain is exposed, and in order to preserve his plans, Nadan first gets him to confess and then murders him.
Haroun, Sherazade, and the acrobats manage to escape the slave pens and flee to the border, where they are found by Kamar's army and taken to a tent city in the desert. Kamar proposes to Sherazade, but she has in the meantime fallen in love with Haroun. Also, Nadan recognizes the caliph and his affection for Sherazade, and he uses this knowledge to blackmail Sherazade into helping him in his scheme: in exchange for Haroun's freedom, she is to poison Kamar during the wedding ceremony, upon which Nadan would assume rulership for himself. In secret, however, he plans to have Haroun killed once he has crossed the border.
Upon learning of this insidious scheme, Ali confides in his fellow performers, and they rush to free Haroun; then Haroun decides to free Sherazade with the help of the acrobats, while Ali is to summon the troops still loyal to him. Haroun and the others are quickly captured, and Sherazade and the retainers learn of his true identity. Kamar engages his brother in a sword fight, while Ahmad and the acrobats set the tents on fire; the arrival of Ali and the caliph's army triggers a massive battle with Kamar's men.
Finally, as Kamar prepares to deliver the deathstroke to Haroun, Nadan shows his true allegiance by assassinating Kamar personally. But as he prepares to finish Haroun, Ahmad and Ali interfere, forcing him to flee. But a spear thrown into his back stops him, and he dies in a burning tent; Haroun, Sherazade, their friends and the loyal subjects celebrate victory.

Tags: romantic

Review:
Arabian Nights is one of the best early Technicolor efforts out of Hollywood and it really shows.
For the men, there's the gorgeous Maria Montez (OK, so the boys will enjoy her too.) For the ladies, the costuming will simply amaze you.
Seeing it on video has allowed me to revisit that past time when as a child the world was uncertain and it was possible to escape into a costume-splendoured fantasy where the hero gets the girl, saves the kingdom and justice is served.
Since I've recently written an article on MARIA MONTEZ, let me quote directly from it to describe this Maria Montez/Jon Hall/Sabu outing:"The fact that she couldn't sing or dance seemed to be no obstacle to Maria since she was brimming with confidence--although aside from voice dubbing, it was later revealed that a dance double was used to perform parts of her routine.With Walter Wanger in charge of its lavish production, she was given "Arabian Nights" ('42), a classic fantasy tale that--fortunately--no one was expected to take seriously.
As if to make sure of that, the trio of stars were supported by one of The Three Stooges (Shemp Howard) as Sinbad.
Another supporting player in the cast was Turhan Bey who would eventually be promoted to co-starring roles with Montez.
The boyish Sabu, no longer under contract to Alexander Korda, proved to be one of the most charming ingredients of the film and played a huge role in the story which had Montez captured by an evil caliph and rescued by Sabu who rides through the desert sands to rescue her.With Montez in filmy silks, gaudy baubles and turbaned headdress looking like a fairy-tale princess and muscular Jon Hall sharing the romantic interludes, audience response was enthusiastic.
The lavish production values, exotic settings and personable trio made the tale satisfying for patrons seeking easy-on-the-eye entertainment.
Lee Mortimer of the N.Y. Daily Mirror noted: 'After her performance in this opus, Maria Montez climbs several steps in everybody's estimation.'And apparently, the public agreed because it was a huge hit."For pure escapism, you couldn't beat these Maria Montez-Jon Hall films with the accent on adventure and romance in exotic settings and all designed to showcase her Latin beauty.
More discriminating viewers noted that the acting was on a grade school level despite the big budget of most of the technicolor films she appeared in.By the way, the article will appear in an upcoming issue of CLASSIC IMAGES..
ARABIAN NIGHTS (John Rawlins, 1942) ***.
I had long wanted to revisit this one since my one and only viewing of it had occurred long ago (back in the mid-1980s) and given that I am partial to Arabian Nights extravaganzas.
Frankly, I was very disappointed that Universal decided to issue this one on DVD by itself a couple of years ago instead of releasing a Franchise Collection comprising several of its equally colorful follow-ups from the same studio; in the end, I didn't pick the disc up but, in view of the problematic copy I eventually ended up with, it would perhaps had been wiser if I did!
Anyway, this movie has a lot to answer for: it was the ideal form of cinematic escapism for WWII picturegoers and reaped big box office returns for Universal which ensured that they went back to the desert of Arabia for many more times thereafter in the next decade or so.
Despite the generic title, the film isn't actually a filmic depiction of one of the classic stories but rather Universal's own concoction with every known ingredient thrown into the mix for added value: so it is that historical figures (Haroun-Al-Raschid) rub shoulders with mythical ones (Sinbad, Aladdin, Scheherazade) and are subverted or sanitized into the process.
Dashing hero Jon Hall plays Haroun-Al-Raschid as a deposed Caliph seeking to regain his throne usurped by his villainous and seemingly love-crazed brother (Leif Ericson); the object of his unrequited affections is Scheherazade  which is actually misspelled in the credits!
 played by the iconic "Queen of Technicolor" Maria Montez.
Sinbad and Aladdin, then, are incongruously but humorously portrayed as amiable buffoons by familiar character actors John Qualen and Shemp Howard respectively; the latter is always on the point of spinning one of his seafaring yarns yet again before being shut up by his ill-tempered circus employer Billy Gilbert!
The third lead role is taken by exotic Indian star Sabu who had already visited this territory in the quintessential Arabian Nights tale (and definitive film), the magnificent Alexander Korda production of THE THIEF OF BAGDAD (1940); what the film under review lacks in comparison to the latter is the omission of wizardry and special effects.As I said, this formula proved so successful that Universal reunited variations of the star combo several times afterwards  WHITE SAVAGE (1943), ALI BABA AND THE FORTY THIEVES (1944), COBRA WOMAN (1944; see above), GYPSY WILDCAT (1944), SUDAN (1945; also helmed by Rawlins) and TANGIER (1946).
Another measure of its being welcome at the time of release is the fact that ARABIAN NIGHTS was nominated for 4 Academy Awards in these categories: art direction-set decoration, cinematography (this was Universal's first three-strip Technicolor production and, over 60 years later, the colors still leap off the screen), music (Frank Skinner's score is appropriately rousing) and sound recording.
This ancient fantasy of two brothers who are caliphs-in-waiting is a dazzling, colorful film presented in lush Technicolor.
Maria Montez is the beautiful and exotic Sherazade who desires the trappings of wealth and power as she aspires to marry a caliph.
Jon Hall is a virile and likable hero and Leif Erickson and Edgar Barrier are also good in supporting roles but it is Sabu who leaves the best impression in this picture.
Nature's beauty of deep blue skies, thick white clouds and golden desert sand dunes are well-served in this yarn of palace intrigue and murder as the brothers battle for the kingdom's throne.
Chase scenes, sword fights and comedy are sprinkled throughout the story but it is the vibrant color interiors and exteriors that arrest all attention in this film..
Provided you really don't know or want to know the real tale of Scheherazade, then you'll no doubt enjoy this film.
The actual book, "The Arabian Nights" (also known as "The Book of One Thousand and One Nights"), was supposedly written by Princess Scheherazade and consists of many short stories she supposedly invented each night in order to save her life from her crazy husband.
In this movie there is no reference to this and apart from some of the names of characters from the book (such as Sinbad and Ali Baba), there isn't much similarity between them.
As for me, I enjoyed the silly escapism and learned to ignore all the mistakes in the film and the rather limp love affair between Maria Montez and Jon Hall .
It was nearly non-stop action and fun--complete with perhaps a bit too much slapstick provided by the very large stomach of Billy Gilbert.
However, I did enjoy the references to Sinbad and Ali Baba--especially because over and over, Ali (John Qualen) would grab every lamp he found and rubbed it furiously hoping for a genie.
Also, it was nice to see Shemp Howard in one of his many appearances before going on to replace his brother, Curley, as a Stooge.If you liked this silly adventure film, try watching Hall and Montez in COBRA WOMAN or Sabu in THE THIEF OF BAGHDAD--both of which are better than ARABIAN NIGHTS..
This action-packed adventure film is worth a watch, but it is not exactly a memorable film, and the story line suffers - secondary to all of the action taking place.
(The basic summary is about a man who ends up getting revenge and banding together with some close friends, including a slave girl who is his love interest.) It is a fun film, and the picture (shot in Technicolour) is beautiful.
(Excellent landscapes, colourful costumes, and much more come to life in the vibrant colour that this film was shot in.) If you want to watch something fun that doesn't require much thinking, then this movie won't let you down.5/10.
This film began a cycle for Universal Pictures of making all kinds of fantasy
The studio got its money's worth.Arabian Nights was the first screen teaming of Jon Hall and Maria Montez as
she plays the enchanting Scheherazade and he Haroun Al-Raschid the legendary medieval Caliph of Bagdad.
palace coup involving half brother Leif Erickson and the Wazir Edgar Barrier.Hall seeks refuge in Billy Gilbert's troop of strolling Moslem players which
include Montez and acrobat Sabu.
Shemp Howard as Sinbad who spins tall tales for the crowd's amusement.
you can see quite a bit of comic relief.It still a sumptuous looking film for the eye and the action keeps moving.
Arabian Nights got four Oscar nominations for sound, music score, color
cinematography and art&set design.If your taste runs to fantasy of this kind Arabian Nights is your movie..
Maria Montez and Sabu in splendid technicolor.
I do not understand why the video movie pack shows John Hall when really movie 80% begin to Maria Montez and 20% to Sabu.
Very silly but VERY colorful escapism.
Something about a handsome man (Jon Hall) and his brother both in love with beautiful Scheherazade (Maria Montez).
This was made to entertain audiences and giving them colorful mindless escapism...and it does that!
The picture never stops moving, there's plenty of action and a loud pounding score driving things along.
Hall and Montez are incredibly beautiful to look at but neither of them were good actors.
But worst of all is Shemp Howard (late one of the Three Stooges!) playing Sinbad!!!!
With mediocre acting, sets that appeared to be made out of cardboard and very corny dialogue, I don't see how anyone could recommend this movie.
While some of the characters had the same names as some of those from the book or other movies, their resemblance to anyone in the original story is virtually non-existent.
There were a couple plot parallels that helped the story, but even those could not save this movie.
Save your money and get the book or at least another retelling, called Arabian Nights, with Mili Avital, John Leguizamo and Jason Scott Lee..
What her roles (all of them variations of Scheherazade) required were ingredients she had a surplus of: statuesque bearing, regal demeanor, fiery beauty and, best of all, an unassailable confidence in herself When one weighed all the things she couldn't do against the thing she did so well, the balance came out in her favorHer film, "Arabian Nights," is a well presented oriental adventure which has nothing to do with its source material but entertained multitudes in search of relief from total war and was followed by several vaguely similar slices of hokum with the same stars....
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.
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.
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.
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.
"Arabian Nights" served that purpose.
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.
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.
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.
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..
The breath-taking color photography wins massive acclaim here in the first of the Maria Montez/Jon Hall/Sabu pairings where mostly American actors (and certainly none of Arabic background) put on traditional Islam attire and play dress-up in this cartoonish adventure.
Made with the mentality of teenaged boys, this silly but often entertaining adventure, is certainly outlandish, but if you go in expecting realism, you will be sorely disappointed.
It deals with two brothers who hate each other (Hall and Leif Erickson) fighting over the role of Caliph which Hall achieved through being the legitimate heir and Erickson has tried to claim through the assistance of loyal followers willing to resort to the most evil efforts in order to dethrone Hall.
Of course, this never comes, and when Hall visits his brother, he shows a kindness which Erickson literally spits back into his face.Both Hall and Erickson are enamored of the beautiful dancer Montez who only wants to marry the true heir.
When Erickson escapes, Hall is suddenly injured through a sudden thrust of an arrow, and Montez's acrobatic pal Sabu takes off his ring in an attempt to save his life.
Not revealing his real identity, the recovering Hall must now reclaim his throne, and this leads to a battle between brothers to the death.
In the meantime, there's a ton of juvenile style comedy, especially in the casting of Billy Gilbert as the head of Sabu's acrobatic troop.
You know the only weapon Gilbert will most likely use is his big belly which as you guess gives an added sound effect every time he thrusts it out to "boink" somebody off of him.
Then there's Shemp Howard as an aging Sinbad and John Qualen as an aging Aladdin, still searching for his lost lamp.
One funny moment has Qualen rubbing a lamp he's found and the apparent emergence of a genie.Still, the scene-stealer of this colorful caper is the always magnetic Sabu whose youthful personality and beautiful body are exposed while Hall seems to look on in envy.
Sabu and Montez were created for movies like this, and even when they become too silly to believe, they retain a youthful innocence that makes them absolutely charming and a lot of fun to watch.
ARABIAN NIGHTS is a rather routine Hollywood adaptation of the Middle Eastern source material, made with a juvenile audience in mind.
I guess the film-makers were attempting to distract contemporary audiences from all of the bad stuff going on around the world at the time, hence them making this very 'safe' piece of entertainment.Sadly, ARABIAN NIGHTS is simply too routine to be very entertaining.
The film also seems to be a bit miscast in terms of the lead actors.
Jon Hall is a dullish hero and Maria Montez, while acceptable, suffers from playing a one-dimensional Scheherazade.
The romance stuff is sappy and boring.To my disappointment, there isn't any of the magical/effects type stuff to enjoy here, and nor is there much in the way of action.
What we do get are some fun supporting turns from the likes of genre mainstay Sabu (underutilised, unfortunately), Shemp Howard randomly playing a comedic Sinbad, Turhan Bey, Laurel & Hardy comedy actor Billy Gilbert, and Leif Erickson.