Arabian Nights (Universal Cinema Classics)

(Action/Adventure, 1 hr 26 min, Technicolor) Universal - U.S.A.DIRECTOR: John RawlinsCAST: Edgar Barrier, Leif Erickson, Billy Gilbert, Thomas Gomez, Jon Hall, John Qualen, Sabu, Shemp Howard, Maria Montez (As: Sherezade)COMMENTS: The legal heir to the throne of the Caliph, played by Jon Hall, is attacked and almost murdered by his evil brother, played by Leif Erickson, who seizes the throne.A dancing girl (Maria Montez) finds the wounded heir and nurses him back to health. They fall in love, and he sets off on a series of adventures accompanied by a trusted friend (Sabu), an aging Aladdin in search of his mislaid lamp (John Qualen), and a bragging, shiftless Sinbad in his declining years (Shemp Howard).It's all adolescent adventure but great fun and the production is lavish in all areas, particularly the costumes, sets, and wonderful, lush color which the public was impressed with. The film earned Oscar nominations for Best Cinematography, Best Interior Decoration, Best Sound, and Best Score.To Maria, it was her first important role, as the beautiful dancer Scherezade, considering that she had to deal with an absurd dialogue. And this was the movie that gave her the nickname of "The Queen of Technicolor".

Universal's Arabian Nights starring Jon Hall.Maria Montez is the first big Walter Wanger production that brought beautiful color onto the movie screen. Say your a young boy of 12 to 15 going to your local theatre for a saturday matinee afternoon back in 1942 and you see shorts and cartioons and then in a second a beautiful color picture flashes on the screen and you are transformed back to the days of the exotic Arabian Nights and that is very easy then because of all the problems we have in the middle east now,well we don't know that stuff then and now you can relive that era.It's fun it has comedy,adventure,intrigue and beauty . Who doesn't like to look at Maria Montez who was close to 30 when she made this movie after being on the Universal lot since 1939 waiting for her big break. You can catch Maris as a model in the movie The Invisible Woman 1940. Sabu also is in this movie bring that youthful look as he has graduated from the Alexander Kords big budget movies like The Thief of Bagdad and Drums and The Jungle Book.And Jon Hall who also started out at Universal in serials but got famous from the movie The Hurricane. Well they are all here in one big on and this is the first of 6 beautiful color movies released by Universal.If you want adventure purchase this movie now .

Great some old movies are available on tape like this one, is a great old film for old movie buffs. Better than DVD and the "old" color and they work!

Just a quick comment on this film. Love these over the top films. Loved the one Arabian guy, Sinbad, who had all these stories to tell his pals, with a Brooklyn accent. And Maria Montez's over the top acting.Two brothers fight for the throne. One, sympathetic. The other, power mad. Both want the love of Maria's character who on the outside seems to want only power and a rise in status from dancing girl, but in reality is a softie who only has eyes for the former Caliph, who is pretending he's not one.Fight scenes, complete with fire and guns, camels and horses.I still can't figure why everyone is wearing large blankets and lots of scarves, etc. in a desert.Cool background comments on the film from a film commentator -- name escapes me at the moment.Recommended.

Good

Entertainment

The movie is fun and very corny but great to look at. The commentary is chock full of information about the Hollywood of the time. The actors, the writers, the studio system, etc. a great buy!

Universal's first 3-strip Technicolor feature is stunning to behold with Knab, Utah standing in for the Arabian desert. Technicolor is the highlight of this fun film. Inspired by the success of Alexander Korda's THE THIEF OF BAGDAD (1940), this was the start of a very popular series of fantasy adventure films from Universal with the beautiful Maria Montez and Jon Hall. The film is a lot of fun, but it pales when compared to THE THIEF OF BAGDAD, which not only had Technicolor, but one of the greatest musical scores (Miklos Rosza) ever created for a film as well incredible sets and art direction. The earlier film is the true classic of fantasy films, but the ARABIAN NIGHTS is a lot of fun in its own way -- just not a classic.

Nothing wrong with it , my fault for buying a piece of nostalgia , no where near as good as i thought i remembered , but it was cheap and nothing wrong with the product .

A very enjoyable movie.

Splendid view

perfect seller, phenomenal lightning dispatch, magic coms & great item.Slainte !

Excellent adventure film