The Golden Arrow

Heroic bandit Hassan (Tab Hunter), the rightful Prince of Damascus, falls in love with the Princess Jamila (Rossana Podestà) and, with the help of three genies, searches for the mysterious 'Golden Arrow' before returning (by magic carpet) to save the city from the evil Prince of Basra (Renato Baldini) and win Jamila's hand in marriage. Directed by Antonio Margheriti (the hand behind the 'Gamma One tetralogy' of colourful low-budget space operas), this moderately-budgeted sword and sorcery demi-epic is an odd mix of excellent and awful. The sets and backgrounds are often impressive (the opening scenes especially), as are the location shots in Egypt, the climactic battle scene (before the genies arrive and inject some slapstick into the fight), and the model city Hassan flies over. Some of the 'practical' effects (such as the burning men or the flying carpet that Jamila steps onto at the end) are quite convincing but the optical effects (mattes, superimpositions etc) are terrible (notably the scenes involving the magic arrow or the three genies). In a triumph of colour-blind casting, Hunter may be the least likely-looking 'Hassan' to ever don curly-toed shoes, but the double-dubbed American teen idol seems to be having fun in the improbable role, athletically avoiding the mostly incompetent palace guards and performing his own horseback scenes. The rest of the cast dutifully discharges what is expected from them in an English dubbed peplum although the 'comic relief' genie antics get tiresome quickly. A colourful silly time-passer for kid's not too spoiled by CGI and for aficionados of this sort of endearingly goofy shtick.

The only two names us film fans from the English speaking world will recognize is that of Tab Hunter and Rosanna Podesta in The Golden Arrow. This is another of a gazillion epics made in Italy in the late 50s and 60s to take advantage of those Ben-Hur, Quo Vadis, and Cleopatra sets that American companies built for those productions and left for the Italian cinema.

As for Hunter he was one of several B list actors who left for Europe to appear in these and in spaghetti westerns just coming into being at the time. After this one he never did another for which he was grateful no doubt,

It's the usual Arabian Nights type fare with Hunter as a bandit who's really a prince lest how else could he compete for the hand of princess Rosanna Podesta and defeat the evil vizier who's peddling her hand in marriage to an even eviler prince.

But before Hunter can do that he's got to go through a lot of adventures and collect his arsenal which consists of a magic carpet and magic Golden Arrow which always hits what it's aimed at. Like the Lone Ranger, Tab only shoots to wound or disabled. He's got a posse of three wizards who could have been played by the 3 Stooges. Now that might have been interesting.

For reasons only God could imagine they dubbed Hunter's voice with an actor who sounded an awful lot like Stephen Boyd. He might have made more sense than blond All American Tab Hunter in the part.

It's pollyanna-ish reviewing to give anything over a five to a movie where the English speaking actors are dubbed into English. This movie isn't bad. It's just mediocre. It was a product of its time -- Italian productions sold to English speaking audiences for its T&A tease, both male and female (sword and sandal movies, anyone?).

This film has the colors of a cartoon but much less excitement. The three genies are dull, everyone is dull.

The action and costumes and alligator dungeon might have some appeal, but strictly for children.

Even for kids, it is all quite saccharin.

The is much better out there.

Bandit chief Hassan (Tab Hunter) infiltrates Damascus with a daring plan. Impersonating a prince from the "Island of Flames," Hassan joins the nobles contending for the hand of beautiful Princess Jamila (Rossana Podesta) intending to kidnap her for ransom. The suitors' contest revolves around the legendary Black Bow, the weapon of the true savior and Sultan of Damascus. Whoever can bend the bow will wield the invincible power of the Golden Arrow, claim the hand of Jamila and become ruler. No one is more astonished than Hassan when he succeeds in bending the Black Bow, but the brash young thief ignores the call to heroism, kidnaps the princess and loses the Golden Arrow. With the aid of three magical spirits, Hassan must embark on a quest to recover it, contending with a series of supernatural challenges that refine his spirit and prepare him for battle against Baktiar, the evil vizier who controls Damascus.

Tab Hunter isn't the first person to come to mind when thinking of who would be suitable to star in a "scimitar and sandals" epic that soars across fantastic locations with sweeping spectacle and grand lushness, but he does well as the bandit chief who falls for the beautiful princess played by Rossana Padesta and hunts for the golden arrow. It's a thoroughly out-there Arabian fantasy with a flying carpet and other well done special effects. There's even a bit of humour with the sound of jet engines when the carpet flies up. The Golden Arrow doesn't always make sense, it can be incoherent and nonsensical but it's really entertaining with great filmmaking and camerawork. There's something magical about this film.