Ali Babá e os 40 Ladrões

Sumptuous British Gainsborough Pictures production with a huge budget for its day ($500K) plays a lot like a cross between THE THIEF OF BAGHDAD and KISMET all bumbling through meters of silk and pearls on their way to a Gilbert and Sullivan convention.

Anna Mae Wong is just so beautiful and this very funny - delicious- farce is a pleasure to watch. Often referred to as an antique musical in that creaky British manner of 30s films - it is actually a lot better than that and viewers will find the whole concoction quite intoxicating. I am sure it did influence Hollywood and had Selznick known it was possible to make such a lavish fantasy musical I am sure he would have made in color too. Instead he made THE GARDEN OF ALLAH which this gives more than a veiled nod towards. Of course if Howard Hughes press-ganged RKO onto it we would have got ...huh? we did? oh yes...THE SON OF SINBAD. Chu Chin is good Chow. Enjoy!