Son of Ali Baba *** (1952, Tony Curtis, Piper Laurie, Susan Cabot, Victor Jory, Hugh O’Brian, William Reynolds, Morris Ankrum) – Classic Movie Review 4541

Director Kurt Neumann’s 1952 cutely escapist adventure stars the young and handsome pair Tony Curtis and Piper Laurie (re-teamed after their 1951 The Prince Who Was a Thief was a hit), who whizz us off to old Bagdad for a colourful Arabian night.

Curtis, in the title role of Kashma Baba, comes to the rescue when the evil Caliph (Victor Jory) tries to take Ali Baba’s treasure by manipulating escaped slave Kiki aka Princess Azura of Fez (Laurie). Pleasing though thier performances are, the pleasant leads are outshone by the effortlessly amusing Victor Jory and Morris Ankrum as Ali Baba.

It is a visually brilliant and attractive looking film, thanks to the use of the stock Universal Studios sets, Maury Gertsman’s Technicolor colour cinematography and bright costumes from out of the studio closet.

The story and screenplay are by Gerald Drayson Adams. Costume design is by Rosemary Odell and the art direction is by Bernard Herzbrun and Emrich Nicholson. The score is by Herman Stein.

Describing it as ‘another sand-and-tits movie’, Curtis recalled that it was: ‘The movie in which I had to stand at the top of a hill and tell Piper Laurie: “Yonder lies the castle of my father, the caliph.” It came out: “Yondah lies the castle of my faddah” and I never heard the last of it. Whose fault was it that they constructed the line that way, to start a sentence with Yonder”? They wrote, and I got stuck with it. To me that mockery was a lot like the words kike, nigger and fag. It signified a put-down.’

Curtis’s strong language is intended to show that he found people laughing at him anti-Semitic. However Curtis misremembered the quote and the line may actually be “This is the palace of my father, and yonder lies the Valley of the Sun.’

The film stars Tony Curtis, Piper Laurie, Susan Cabot, Victor Jory, Hugh O’Brian, William Reynolds and Morris Ankrum.

Also in the cast are Philip Van Zandt, Leon Belasco, Palmer Lee, Barbara Knudson, Alice Kelley, Gerald Mohr, Katherine Warren and Robert Barrat.

© Derek Winnert 2016 Classic Movie Review 4541

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