Arabian Nights

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 .

The half-dozen WWII era Technicolor extravaganzas starring Maria Montez, John Hall and a varied host of other terrific character actors were great entertainment for Saturday afternoon enjoyment! And they remain lots of fun today! Gorgeous restoration.

(Action/Adventure, 1 hr 26 min, Technicolor) Universal - U.S.A. DIRECTOR: John Rawlins CAST: 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".

At last, Universal is releasing the first Maria Montez & Jon Hall adventure classic in glorious Technicolor. I was surprised to see that this was not part of a Collection of 6 Montez films, but happy to get these 1940s classics any way Universal wants to release them. ARABIAN NIGHTS (1942) is great Saturday-matinee fun, but some of the others are even better: COBRA WOMAN (1944) is by far the best, with Montez playing dual roles. ALI BABA AND THE 40 THIEVES (1944) is also a wonderful action adventure, as are WHITE SAVAGE (1943), SUDAN (1945) & GYPSY WILDCAT (1944). I hope Universal will soon release all of these long-neglected classics. I have been waiting a long time. If you are looking for exotic, colorful, action adventure in beautiful Technicolor, you are in for a great treat. note: since this review was written in 2006, both Cobra Woman and Ali Baba And The Forty Thieves have been released on dvd.

Pictures deeply colorful and lively But audio not exciting and thrilling makes watching boring and sleepy. I was definitely expecting a thrilling audio sound or at least a 5 channel surround sound instead of mono.

Another Jon Hall/Maria Montez pairing. Nicely shot in Technicolor. Jon Hall looking very handsome and Maria Montez looking beautiful. Pair this film with Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves.

Excellent movie from the 40's these old movies are the best with great actors, like jon Hall, Sabu,Shemp,and of Course Maria Montez I think she is one of the most Classical Beauty's of a bygone era I love movies with her in them as well as Jon Hall,Turhan Bay check out Allie Baba and the Forty Theives another great one. Everyone should have this movie. What can I say Wonderful, Great, good plot ,great actors of a bygone era.

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.

Shemp Howard - the true definition of a working actor. A versatile but sadly under-rated star. Great to see in a great flick with the likes of Sabu and Jon Hall.

A very enjoyable movie.

Me encantó la película y la recomiendo. Lo que he lamentado fue no encontrarla en blu ray. Si la encuentro en blu ray, la volveré a comprar. Comprádla, os gustará

Toller Film mit der damals schönste Frau der Welt. Ich meine, ab 1930 bis nach dem Krieg 1950. Damals war sie die erste Schönheit, bis der nachfolgende Schönheiten. sie hatte auch was geheimnisvolles in ihrem Spiel. Auch war sie in all ihren Rollen, die erotische, (keine sex) Göttin von der Leinwand. Ihre Küsse waren bezaubernd. Alle Männer waren verrückt von ihr. Auch die Frauen wollten so exotisch und erotisch sein, den es war ein Magnet. Leider, die Nachkriegsära hat alles zunichte gemacht, den man wollte Brutalität und Gewalt, was Maria Montez verabscheute. Ihre Filme sind zum träumen wunderbar geeignet.

I bought the Region 1 NTSC US version that was issued in 2007. This has been really nicely restored. The picture shows no signs of damage or debris and the colours are beautiful (you can see this in the screenshots I uploaded). Naturally there is some film grain and thankfully there are no signs of excessive denoising or sharpening. The image is ideal. It's fully progressive NTSC, no telecining or interlacing. The mono soundtrack is also good. Both English and French subtitles are available. The theatrical trailer is presented as a bonus feature; it hasn't had the same restoration but it's good to have.