In the Arabian city of Jabur, the Caliph Alquazar (Christopher Lee) rules over the city through fear and oppression with the help of dark arts that he's mastered. Despite his success in quelling rebellions, his Mirror of the Moon (Christopher Lee) tells Alquazar that without the Rose of Elin he can never be all powerful. Opportunity presents itself when Prince Hasan (Oliver Tobias) of Baghdad escapes from his imprisonment for violating the Alquazar's curfew and fights his way to the throne room where Alquazar learns he fancies his step-daughter and the Princess of Jubar, Zuleira (Emma Samms). Alquazar makes a deal that if Hasan can embark on a quest with his lackey Hasim (Milo O'Shea) and retrieve the Rose of Elin he will have Zuleira's hand in marriage. Meanwhile however, a young beggar child named Majeed (Puneet Sira) through magical workings finds himself guided by destiny's hand on Alquazar's journey.
Arabian Adventure is the fifth and final fantasy film Kevin Connor made for producer John Dark (following from The Land That Time Forgot, At the Earth's Core, The People That Time Forgot, and Warlords of Atlantis). Dark requested Warlords screenwriter, Brian Hayles, write an original Eastern fantasy film inspired by such classics as The Thief of Bagdad and was given the highest budget yet for a Connor/Dark production. Despite the enthusiasm among the cast, including Christopher Lee who returned to England for the first time in three years because he loved the script, the release of Arabian Adventure was quite muted as it disappointed at the box office and critical reception at the time tended to label the film as being "cheap" and "outdated". Arabian Adventure isn't without some charm, but it's also a very old fashioned film to the point it feels about 20 years older than it actually is.
Your enjoyment of this movie will depend heavilly on your forgiveness for familiarity and cheapness as you'll catch on pretty quickly just how confined and narrow this allegedly expansive Arabian city is because it's done entirely on sound stages. While admitedly the film's sets are bright, colorful, and well crafted, the film also feels much less expansive than comparable films like the Ray Harryhausen Sinbad films (even the not very impressive third one). In the way that Harryhausen's The 7th Voyage of Sinbad felt like a gamechanger for this kind of period adventure film, Arabian Adventure feels like it's taking a step backwards as its scope and scale doesn't feel all that grander than the Thief of Bagdad from nearly 40 years prior. While some effects look decent enought (like Alquazar's storm spell) other parts look a lot more cheap such as a Genie effect that's just a clumsily implmented superimposition. Even if this movie had been released before special effects benchmarks like Star Wars and Superman it would've felt too old fashioned, but the fact the marketing actually namedropped those films in the trailer adds a layer of hubris that's hillarious in hindight.
Despite this movie being very easy to make fun of, there are admittedly some things I enjoy about it. Despite playing kind of a bland character, Oliver Tobias does do some pretty impressive physical work (such as the opening act escape/swordfights). Puneet Sira is also decent as Majeed the secondary protagonist and he's sort of to this movie what Abu was to The Thief of Bagdad. But the best performance is definitely Christopher Lee who per usual is a charasmatic presence and is having fun channeling Conrad Veidt as the film's villain Caliph Alquazar. The movie also has beautiful costuming and attractively dressed (if confining) sets. There are things that really don't work (such as the flying carpet effects, especially distance shots) but there is kind of a cheesey charm to be had from a movie like this.
Arabian Adventure is exactly as old fashioned and familiar as its generic title suggests. In an era that saw many game changing advancements in how these kinds of movies were made and structured, this is a movie that felt like a "man out of time" (though admittedly no more so than any of the other Connor/Dark films). If you have an affinity for these kinds of bygone costume adventure pictures there's some enjoyment to be had, just so long as you're aware some cobwebs have been dusted off.
