Arabian Adventure

This was a really nice rediscovery on UK DVD for me; I remember I've watched 'Arabian Adventure' on TV in the 1980s but not since then. I mean, you get flying carpets, jinns, belly-dancers, a beautiful princess to save and Christopher Lee as an evil wizard turning people into toads ("You call yourself my servant?") - what more could you ask for? 'Arabian Adventure' knows the genre standards and delivers. Lest I forget, fire-breathing metal monsters and Peter Cushing with a silly beard are in it as well. One has to admit that the limited budget shows in the set decoration, as the palace looks more like cardboard than marble, and then some effects like the superimposed jinn are rather TV quality than big screen. But fairy tales from 1001 Nights don't need realism that much, I found I could successfully switch into fantasy mode and simply enjoy it. It's an old-fashioned production like they did in the 1940s and 50s, maintaining the same naive charm and that's fine for such kind of things.

A beautiful movie, simple story that was well written and directed , of course it will not won an oscar , but after 39 years from it produced and with those old special effects back then, I guarante to all , you will not regret, you will enjoy as I really enjoyed watching it with my kids, it's simple ,charm, magic and funny, that the kind of movies we are missing in these days, it's really worth your time .

I saw this many years ago when it was first released, and though I thought the SFX were dated even for its time, I still enjoyed the film as a whole. The score was above average for a film like this, and the acting was respectably comic for the genre; kids'-adventure.

Some familiar faces make their appearance; Ratzenbergger (Cliff from "Cheers"), legend Christopher Lee, Mickey Rooney, Emma Sams and more, adding an amusing and delightful bit of levity to the film.

All in all it's an okay film for kids, but today's young ones may get somewhat impatient with some dated effects--notably some of the process shots and miniature work.

Still, if I had a copy on DVD I'd most certainly add it to my collection. It's worth taking a look at with your kids on a rainy afternoon or lazy Sunday.

Enjoy :-)

Arabian Adventure is directed by Kevin Connor and written by Brian Hayles. It stars Christopher Lee, Milo O'Shea, Oliver Tobias, Emma Samms and Puneet Sira. Music is by Ken Thorne and cinematography by Alan Hume.

A prince is sent by an evil sorcerer (Lee) on a quest for a magical rose. Should he succeed, he hopes that as a reward he will win the hand of the princess.

Sometimes to moderately enjoy a film of this type, you just got to take yourself back to a time when simple children's adventure movies were made with simple film making techniques. This obviously doesn't hold up well these days, where even given the year it was made it was way behind advancements that were being made in special effects. Thus it's highly unlikely that the prepubescents of today would have the patience or care for such a production. Yet it doesn't lack for charm.

Is charm enough? Well it's not a great or very good film, it's heavy on chatter, the effects are indeed a little crude, acting and accents are borderline dire, and it seems to take an age to get going, yet it's not insulting like many far bigger budget pictures have been: even nowadays! It's best just to roll with it, enjoy the whimsy and the many small roles by the likes of Peter Cushing, Mickey Rooney, Capucine and, erm, John Ratzenberger.

Forgettable once it's over, but harmless with it. 5/10

This last film of the Kevin Connor/John Dark series of fantasy adventures, which I recall fondly from my childhood, sees Christopher Lee as "Alquazar", an evil sorcerer who manages to trick the lovestruck Oliver Tobias ("Prince Hasan") into setting off on a perilous journey for the all-powerful "Rose of Elil" which will earn him the hand of the beautiful Emma Sands ("Princess Zuilera"). Along the way he has a many adventures on his magic carpet; picks up the obligatory street-rat "Majeed" (Puneet Sira) and encounters magic and evil as he tries to fulfil his quest. It's a traditional Arabian Nights type story with sumptuous costumes and sets, and Lee is great as the baddie. A marvellously obsequious Milo O'Shea, Peter Cushing, Capucine and an all-too-brief series of scenes with Mickey Rooney make this more of an adventure story than a romantic one; and I quite enjoyed it.