A THOUSAND AND ONE NIGHTS

New Zealand Listener, Volume 14, Issue 361, 24 May 1946, Page 29

A THOUSAND AND ONE NIGHTS

(Columbia)

CHEHEREZADE was clearly the originator of the radio serial; her sponsor allowed her story-tell-ing marathon to keep

going for 1001 nights and then renewed his contract. But if she had tried to tell this story he would have put her off the air, and out of existence, at once.

Modern audiences may be a little ‘less discriminating. Certainly there is an idea or two behind this film: notably the character of Abdullah the Touched One (Sid Silvers), who "claims he was born two thousand years too soon" and uses New York slang in old Baghdad; and the decision to turn the Genie of Aladdin’s Lamp into an amorous redhead (Evelyn Keyes), who is also extremely modern in her language though not necessarily in her outlook on life. These are quite bright devices to employ in what is at best a burlesque extravaganza utilising half the fancy costumes in Hollywood and most of the resources of the*technicolour plant. What is really lacking is the ability to carry the ideas out. Even a burlesque demands some sort of consistency; there should be sense behind the nonsense, a method in the madness. The Marx Brothers could have done it ideally. As it is, the magic gets in the way of the straight romance (between Cornel Wilde, the street singer, and Adele Jergens, the Sultan’s daughter) and the romance gets in the way of the comedy. All that you really have left is the "spectacle, and the nights seem never-ending.