The kids ought to love this good-natured, fast-paced fantasy adventure from the Arabian Nights. The color photography is splendid, but then everything else is as well -- wardrobe, makeup, production design, special effects, and the magical mystery score by Miklos Rozsa.
It's got just about everything in it that we associate with Arabian legends -- the genie in the bottle, the flying carpet, the jewel in the idol's eye, the luscious and exotic princess (June Duprez), the handsome blind hero whose sight is returned (John Justice), the black-clad bearded villain (Conrad Veidt), the giant spider, the laughing little thief (Sabu). The plot is just coherent enough to bring these elements together.
I was thrilled as a kid when I saw it in a theater, and my kid was equally enthralled when he was of that age.
Not that adults won't enjoy it too, just that it presents them with a more demanding epoché than most movies they're likely to get a kick out of. For grown men, at any rate, the foxy princess of June Duprez is a feast for the eyes. Speaking of eyes, her irises are a deep brown and they look slightly outward of her saggital plane, and her canthi tilt upward and outward at an alarming angle. She looks part predatory cat, maybe a margay, except that the rest of her features are so chubbily sensual. Her voice sounds like that of Jane Randolph, the girl friend in "The Cat People," only with an English accent. Any normal man would want to pinch and bite her.
It has no pretense at meaning anything. It's only goal is to entertain and that it does. You'll probably get a kick out of it.
It's got just about everything in it that we associate with Arabian legends -- the genie in the bottle, the flying carpet, the jewel in the idol's eye, the luscious and exotic princess (June Duprez), the handsome blind hero whose sight is returned (John Justice), the black-clad bearded villain (Conrad Veidt), the giant spider, the laughing little thief (Sabu). The plot is just coherent enough to bring these elements together.
I was thrilled as a kid when I saw it in a theater, and my kid was equally enthralled when he was of that age.
Not that adults won't enjoy it too, just that it presents them with a more demanding epoché than most movies they're likely to get a kick out of. For grown men, at any rate, the foxy princess of June Duprez is a feast for the eyes. Speaking of eyes, her irises are a deep brown and they look slightly outward of her saggital plane, and her canthi tilt upward and outward at an alarming angle. She looks part predatory cat, maybe a margay, except that the rest of her features are so chubbily sensual. Her voice sounds like that of Jane Randolph, the girl friend in "The Cat People," only with an English accent. Any normal man would want to pinch and bite her.
It has no pretense at meaning anything. It's only goal is to entertain and that it does. You'll probably get a kick out of it.