Arabian Nights

John Rawlins (1942)

86min

PG Certificate

Wednesday 11am - 12:45pm Film4

HD SUB

Review

Our Score

by Adrian Turner

This piece of Hollywood exotica, made to cash in on the success of The Thief of Bagdad, stars Jon Hall as the Caliph, Sabu as his best buddy and Maria Montez as his suitor. The actors have their tongues firmly in their cheeks and the whole show is on the brink of send-up, which is exactly where it should be. Producer Walter Wanger was one of Tinseltown's more enterprising independents, though he was later brought to his knees by the crippling costs of Cleopatra.

Summary

The story of two half-brothers - one the heroic caliph, the other an evil usurper - as they do battle for the right to rule their kingdom, and win the hand of beautiful dancer Sherazade. Adaptation of the classic adventure tales, starring Jon Hall, Maria Montez, Sabu and Leif Erickson.