Interesteg What makes it different from others?

EssenceStory Well Deserved Praise

Teddie Blake The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

Griff Lees Very good movie overall, highly recommended. Most of the negative reviews don't have any merit and are all pollitically based. Give this movie a chance at least, and it might give you a different perspective.

morrison-dylan-fan Since having recently seen Vincent Price's fun Fantasy Adventure flick Bagdad,I've been in the mood of seeing a similar film.Taking a look at a fellow IMDbers posts,I noticed them praise an Adventure Fantasy title starring Phil Silvers,which led to me getting ready to stay up for 1000 and 1 nights.The plot:Running away with Abdullah after his friend has been caught pick pocketing, Aladdin decides to enter a passing litter that Princess Armina is being taken around the city in.After hearing about Armina's mythical beauty for years,Aladdin finds Armina to be more beautiful than he has ever imagined.Ignoring Abdullah advice,Aladdin decides after successfully escaping,that he will visit Armina later that night in her castle.Getting captured, Aladdin and Abdullah are set to be killed,until Armina uses her charismatic skills to steal the jail key and free Aladdin & Abdullah.Hiding in a cave,the pals run into a sorcerer called Kofir,who gets Aladdin and Abdullah to go deep into the cave,in order to retrieve a lamp.Whilst wondering about why Kofi wants an old,rusting lamp,Aladdin rubs the object,which leads to a gene called Babs coming out of the lamp.Being told that every wish of his will be granted,Aladdin sets his sights on meeting Armina once again.View on the film:Whilst his role in the film is surprisingly not that prominent, Phil Silvers gives a wonderful performance as Abdullah,thanks to Silvers pushing the Fantasy elements aside to scatter Screwball Comedy moments across the screen,and also cleverly using Abdullah's pick pocketing skills for some quick-witted slap-stick Comedy set pieces. Supplying the movie with some likable songs, Cornel Wilde gives a very good performance as Aladdin,with Wilde balancing Aladdin's heart on his sleeve smile,with a charismatic swagger over seeing Princess Armina (played by a cute Adele Jergens) once again.Showing the guys that she can't be pushed around,the elegant Evelyn Keyes gives a great performance as Babs the genie,as Keyes rips apart Aladdin's dizzy love with hilariously sharp one-liners.Covering the title in rich silk,director Alfred E. Green and cinematographer Ray Rennahan glide the film along a warm mystical atmosphere,by crossing the traditional Fantasy elements of genies and princesses with a modern Comedy take.Green joyfully takes the title from swooning song homages to the genie in distress outwitting all of the men.For their take on an Arabian Nights tale,the screenplay by Wilfred H. Petitt/Richard English and Jack Henley attempts to cross Screwball Comedy over with Fantasy Adventure.For the magical Screwball Comedy moments the writers keep the film speeding along via clever 4th wall breaking gags that go from a desperation for the gun to be invented,to a proto-"TV" stone,which are all kept rooted by the sweet-natured friendship between Aladdin & Abdullah.Although the writers display a clear amount of energy in the comedic moments,the title is sadly never able to give the Fantasy Adventure sections the same sense of excitement,due to Aladdin & Princess Armina's dry relationship not being allowed to progress into a blossoming fairy tale.

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.

ccmiller1492 Hollywood had a long love affair with bogus Arabian Nights tales but few of these products have stood the test of time. The most memorable were the Jon Hall, Maria Montez films which have long since become camp. This one is filled with dubbed songs, anachronistic slang, and slapstick. It's a truly bounteous crop of Mesopotamian corn, and pretty near intolerable today. It was nominated for its imaginative special effects which are almost unnoticeable in this day and age, consisting mainly of trick photography. The only outstanding, positive feature which survives is its beautiful color and clarity. Sad to say, of the many films made in this genre, few of them come up to Alexander Korda's original "Thief of Baghdad". Almost any other Arabian Nights film is superior to this one, though. It's a loser.

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.