zardoz-13 Bespectacled comedian Phil Silvers and flirtatious genie Evelyn Keyes steal the show in the Alfred E. Green romantic, tongue-in-cheek,Arabian fantasy "A Thousand and One Nights," a gorgeous Technicolored Columbia Pictures release that teems with anachronisms galore. Basically, the Phil Silvers character wears the right clothes but his dialogue bristles with 1940s slang, such as the use of the word groovy. Green, who helmed "The Green Goddess" as well as the Barbara Stanwyck classic "Baby Face," keeps the action breezing along and the atmosphere light-hearted. The leading man, Aladdin of Cathay (youthful, Hungarian-born Cornel Wilde of "High Sierra"), spots a caravan entering the city with an elegant litter and steals within the contraption to feast his eyes upon the lovely daughter of the Kamar Al-Kir, Princess Armina (Adele Jergens of "Armored Car Robbery"), and he falls in love with her. Not surprisingly, she shares his affections. Later, Aladdin and his wise-cracking, pick-pocket thief sidekick, Abdullah (Phil Silvers of "All Through the Night"), are dispatched to find a lantern in a cave by a sorcerer who tries to cheat them out of it. Aladdin discovers that when he rubs the lantern, a genie named Babs (Evelyn Keyes of GONE WITH THE WIND) appears to grant him a wish. The circumstances under which Aladdin makes this discovery is when he refuses to give the sorcerer the lantern after he has trapped them in a cave. Early, our heroes had to elude Meanwhile, the villainous twin brother of the Sultan, Prince Hadji (Denis Hoey of "Uncertain Glory"), persuades the Grand Wazir AbuHassan (Philip Van Zandt of "House of Frankenstein") to join him and remain mum about his masquerade. They imprison the real Sultan in another of his palaces far away.but the evil twin brother overlooks a wound that brother acquired later that he did not know about. When they catch Aladdin flirting with Princess Armina, they imprison him, but Abdullah and he manage to escape through the intervention of the hand-maiden of the princess who slips them the keys to their cell while the guards are playing gin rummy. Aladdin persuades Babs to transform him into a noble man because Arminia is not allowed to marry below her station in life. Mind you, all this time Babs has a terrific crush on Aladdin and does everything that she can to dissuade him from marrying the princess. Eventually, Babs pulls a prank that robs Aladdin of her and he loses everything and is exposed. The fake Sultan orders both of them hanged, but Arminia promises to marry the Grand Wizir in exchange for him turning them loose. This prompts Aladdin to warble a misogynist song in the equivalent of an Arabian saloon while Abdullah contrives his own song where he describes all the women that he loves, including gay women. Clearly, gay in this instance did not refer to lesbians or the repressive Production Code Adminstration would have forced Columbia to remove it from the screenplay. Aladdin gets to swash and buckle in the last half-hour with the fake Sultan as they have a sword fight. For the record, Wilde was a member of the 1936 U.S. Olympic fencing team so he knew how to handle foils. The ending is a slick trick and the writing is above-average, except in one instance where are hero is sent on a wild goose chase to get the lantern after it is thrown out the window.Scenarists Richard English, Jack Henley and Wilfred H. Petitt penned the lively screenplay that stipulates that anybody who uses the genie must retain the lantern if they want to maintain the changes in their respective lifestyle. If you lose the lantern, you loose everything that you received from the genie. Further, only the individual who rubs the lamp can see the genie. The genie, who likes to be called Babs, not only creates an army for the impostor but also makes him a man high enough in status so that he is allowed to see her. Lots of fun, especially Rex Ingram as a giant who menaces the heroes during their initial search for the lantern.

yousei-usagi I don't know how to vote on it yet, so I picked the middle. All I was going to say is that it would be nice if they would caption it so we deaf and hearing-impaired people could enjoy too, it because it looks like a fun movie.I am happy with the fact that most of the movies now on TCM have been captioned for our enjoyment. I can read lips somewhat but when the camera is turned away I lose the rest of the sentence. Also, captioning is much easier on the eyes and keeps that break in dialog from happening.I would like to say that before "talkies" I bet more deaf people attended theaters. I still like to go even though I can't tell what is going on most of the time. I would love it if all movie theaters were subtitled for us. They would make even more money than they do now on premiers at the box office for new movies.

bkoganbing Harry Cohn must have gotten a little jealous at all the money Universal was raking in with those Maria Montez/Jon Hall Arabian Nights films that they were grinding out. Cohn decided Columbia deserved a bit of that market itself.What Cohn was smart in doing was playing this one tongue firmly in cheek for his sand and sandal epic. Cornel Wilde, fresh from his Oscar nominated role as Fredric Chopin at Cohn's studio, cuts a romantic and dashing figure, playing Aladdin of Cathay for laughs in a way that more serious swashbuckling rivals like Tyrone Power and Errol Flynn would never have done. Wilde's in love with the forbidden blonde Arabian princess Adele Jergens, but it is forbidden for him to rise above his station. Cornel's going to need some supernatural help and he finds it in the person of the genie with a lamp, in this case not Barbara Eden, but the one who must have been her inspiration, Evelyn Keyes.Though she's crushing out on Wilde big time, Keyes does help him in his romantic quest and coincidentally works against plot by the dastardly twin brother of the sultan to usurp the throne. That would be Dennis Hoey who is clearly enjoying hamming up, both roles. Phil Silvers is around as well as the jive talking Abdullah who rumor hath it was born some 600 years ahead of his time. Part homage to The Thief of Bagdad and part Road to Morocco as well, A Thousand and One Nights is enjoyable enough because it doesn't take itself too seriously even as satire.But what about hard working Evelyn, what's her reward. Think The Palm Beach Story and remember she does have a magic lamp.

Neil Doyle Escapist fare was always welcome during the troubled '40s-era, especially just after World War II when movie fans were clamoring for entertainment to take their minds off their woes. So Columbia jumped onto the bandwagon with a fluffy Arabian Nights sort of adventure starring their hot new box-office star, CORNEL WILDE as Aladdin in A THOUSAND AND ONE NIGHTS, teaming him with up and coming EVELYN KEYES and wise-cracking PHIL SILVERS for comedy relief.And with eye-popping Technicolor added to the mix, it's a pleasure to report that it succeeds as escapist fare on its own terms--with Silvers largely stealing the show with his array of anachronistic gags that help whenever the action gets dull.But that's not too often. CORNEL WILDE was an ideal choice to play the adventure hero Columbia assigned him to after his success as the pallid Chopin in A SONG TO REMEMBER. He's at home among the plush fairy-tale settings and shares some charming on screen chemistry with co-star EVELYN KEYES, but only has one chance (at the finale) to indulge in a swashbuckling duel with Hoey. Wilde turned down a chance for the Olympic championships in dueling to start his film career instead.DENNIS HOEY plays the Sultan and his villainous twin brother with energetic relish. Wilde's romantic interest is ADELE JERGENS as the Sultan's beauteous daughter. The story, of course, is a tongue-in-cheek variation on Aladdin's use of the magic lamp with the help of Genie (Keyes) instead of the genie we all saw in THE THIEF OF BAGHDAD (Rex Ingram), who makes an appearance in the film as a token gesture.It's all complete nonsense, with typical humor from Silvers ("I wish I had a gun. What am I sayin'? Guns haven't even been invented yet!"). He's turned into a crooning Sinatra after Genie Keyes decides to do him a final favor with a rub of the lamp. She gets her wish too--a clone of Cornel Wilde so that she doesn't end up alone.Pure escapist fun, totally unsophisticated and clearly aimed at a youthful audience of the '40s crowd. Whether you like it or not, depends on your sense of humor and nostalgia for this sort of thing.