''Arabian Adventure'' is a 1979 British
fantasy
Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction involving Magic (supernatural), magical elements, typically set in a fictional universe and sometimes inspired by mythology and folklore. Its roots are in oral traditions, which then became fantasy ...
adventure film
An adventure film is a form of adventure fiction, and is a genre of film. Subgenres of adventure films include swashbuckler films, pirate films, and survival films. Adventure films may also be combined with other film genres such as action, an ...
directed by
Kevin Connor and starring
Christopher Lee
Sir Christopher Frank Carandini Lee (27 May 1922 – 7 June 2015) was an English actor and singer. In a long career spanning more than 60 years, Lee often portrayed villains, and appeared as Count Dracula in seven Hammer Horror films, ultimat ...
and
Oliver Tobias
Oliver Tobias Freitag (born 6 August 1947), known professionally as Oliver Tobias, is a Swiss-born UK-based film, stage, and television actor and director.
Biography
Born in Zürich, Switzerland, he is the son of the Austrian-Swiss actor Rober ...
. The film was shot at
Pinewood Studios
Pinewood Studios is a British film and television studio located in the village of Iver Heath, England. It is approximately west of central London.
The studio has been the base for many productions over the years from large-scale films to te ...
,
Buckinghamshire
Buckinghamshire (), abbreviated Bucks, is a ceremonial county in South East England that borders Greater London to the south-east, Berkshire to the south, Oxfordshire to the west, Northamptonshire to the north, Bedfordshire to the north-ea ...
,
U.K.
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...
Premise
An evil caliph (
Christopher Lee
Sir Christopher Frank Carandini Lee (27 May 1922 – 7 June 2015) was an English actor and singer. In a long career spanning more than 60 years, Lee often portrayed villains, and appeared as Count Dracula in seven Hammer Horror films, ultimat ...
) offers his daughter's hand in marriage to a prince if he can complete a perilous quest for a magical rose. Helped by a young boy and a magic carpet, Prince Hasan (
Oliver Tobias
Oliver Tobias Freitag (born 6 August 1947), known professionally as Oliver Tobias, is a Swiss-born UK-based film, stage, and television actor and director.
Biography
Born in Zürich, Switzerland, he is the son of the Austrian-Swiss actor Rober ...
), has to overcome genies, fire breathing monsters and treacherous swamps to reach his prize and claim the hand of Princess Fuleira (
Emma Samms
Emma Elizabeth Wylie Samuelson MBE known professionally as Emma Samms, (born 28 August 1960) is an English actress and TV host, known for her role as Holly Sutton on the American daytime soap opera ''General Hospital'' and as the second actress ...
).
Cast
*
Christopher Lee
Sir Christopher Frank Carandini Lee (27 May 1922 – 7 June 2015) was an English actor and singer. In a long career spanning more than 60 years, Lee often portrayed villains, and appeared as Count Dracula in seven Hammer Horror films, ultimat ...
as Voulim Rahbar
*
Milo O'Shea
Milo Donal O'Shea (2 June 1926 – 2 April 2013) was an Irish people, Irish actor. He was twice nominated for the Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play for his performances in ''Staircase (play), Staircase'' (1968) and ''Mass Appeal (play), Mass A ...
as Khasim
*
Oliver Tobias
Oliver Tobias Freitag (born 6 August 1947), known professionally as Oliver Tobias, is a Swiss-born UK-based film, stage, and television actor and director.
Biography
Born in Zürich, Switzerland, he is the son of the Austrian-Swiss actor Rober ...
as Prince Hasan
*
Emma Samms
Emma Elizabeth Wylie Samuelson MBE known professionally as Emma Samms, (born 28 August 1960) is an English actress and TV host, known for her role as Holly Sutton on the American daytime soap opera ''General Hospital'' and as the second actress ...
as Princess Zuleira
*
Puneet Sira
Puneet Sira is a British and Bollywood feature film director and producer who formed The Foundry which is actively developing and producing films.
His tenure at BBC Films launched his career as director, writer and producer. Since then, he's be ...
as Majeed
*
Peter Cushing
Peter Wilton Cushing (26 May 1913 – 11 August 1994) was an English actor. His acting career spanned over six decades and included appearances in more than 100 films, as well as many television, stage, and radio roles. He achieved recognition ...
as Wazir Al Wuzara
*
Capucine
Capucine (, born Germaine Hélène Irène Lefebvre , 6 January 1928 – 17 March 1990) was a French fashion model and actress known for her comedic roles in ''The Pink Panther'' (1963) and ''What's New Pussycat?'' (1965). She appeared in 36 film ...
as Vahishta
*
Mickey Rooney
Mickey Rooney (born Joseph Yule Jr.; other pseudonym Mickey Maguire; September 23, 1920 – April 6, 2014) was an American actor. In a career spanning nine decades, he appeared in more than 300 films and was among the last surviving stars of the ...
as Daad El Shur
*
John Wyman as Bahloul
*
John Ratzenberger
John Dezso Ratzenberger (born April 6, 1947)[About John](_blank)
from Ratzenberger's official website is an Americ ...
as Achmed
*
Shane Rimmer
Shane Rimmer (born Shane Lance Deacon; May 28, 1929 – March 29, 2019) was a Canadian actor and screenwriter who spent the majority of his career in the United Kingdom. The self-proclaimed "Rent-A-Yank" of the British entertainment industry, he ...
as Abu
*Hal Galili as Asaf
*
Art Malik
Athar ul-Haque Malik (born 13 November 1952), known professionally as Art Malik, is a Pakistani-born British actor who achieved international fame in the 1980s through his starring and subsidiary roles in assorted British and Merchant Ivory tel ...
as Mamhoud
*
Milton Reid
Milton may refer to:
Names
* Milton (surname), a surname (and list of people with that surname)
** John Milton (1608–1674), English poet
* Milton (given name)
** Milton Friedman (1912–2006), Nobel Prize, Nobel laureate in Economics, author ...
as Jinnee
*
Elisabeth Welch
Elisabeth Margaret Welch (February 27, 1904July 15, 2003) was an American singer, actress, and entertainer, whose career spanned seven decades. Her best-known songs were " Stormy Weather", " Love for Sale" and "Far Away in Shanty Town". She was ...
as Beggarwoman
*
Suzanne Danielle
Suzanne Danielle (nee Morris; born 14 January 1957) is an English former film and television actress.
Career
Danielle trained as a dancer at the Bush Davies School of Theatre Arts in her home town of Romford in Essex, and also attended Bedford ...
as Eastern Dancer
*
Roy Stewart
Roy Stewart (15 May 1925 – 27 October 2008) was a Jamaican-born British actor. He began his career as a stuntman and went on to work in film and television.
In 1954 he founded Roy Stewart's Gym in Powis Square, North Kensington, and ran th ...
as Nubian
Production
The film was the last of several fantasy movies Connor and Dark made together including ''
The Land That Time Forgot'', ''
At the Earth's Core'' and ''
Warlords of Atlantis
''Warlords of Atlantis'' (aka ''Warlords of the Deep'', though see below for further variant titles) is a 1978 British adventure science fiction film directed by Kevin Connor and starring Doug McClure, Peter Gilmore, Shane Rimmer, and Lea Brodie ...
''. Although it had the biggest budget it was far less successful at the box office.
[Ed. Allan Bryce, ''Amicus: The Studio That Dripped Blood'', Stray Cat Publishing, 2000 p 153] The movie was a throwback to Arabian nights films like ''
The Thief of Bagdad''.
Brian Hayles wrote ''Warlords'' and John Dark and Connor asked him to write an original Eastern fantasy.
"These Eastern tales abound with lovely excursions into pure fantasy", said John Dark. "It was a very beautiful period and a very beautiful territory. We hope to recreate, in our story, the exciting architecture and costumes, as well as some exciting special effects, like an army of flying carpets. It's an amalgam of a lot of stories, a lot of lore, magic mirrors, wicked spells,
benign and evil jinnees and one or two very special ideas of our own."
In April 1978
EMI Films
EMI Films was a British film studio and distributor. A subsidiary of the EMI conglomerate, the corporate name was not used throughout the entire period of EMI's involvement in the film industry, from 1969 to 1986, but the company's brief conne ...
announced they would make the film as part of a series of films they wanted to produce with the newly formed
Orion Pictures
Orion Pictures (legal name Orion Releasing, LLC) is an American film production and distribution company owned by Amazon through its Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) subsidiary. In its original operating period, the company produced and released films ...
. It did end up being one of Orion's first films, along with the
Academy Award
The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...
-winning ''
A Little Romance
''A Little Romance'' is a 1979 American romantic comedy film directed by George Roy Hill and starring Laurence Olivier, Thelonious Bernard, and Diane Lane in her film debut. The screenplay was written by Allan Burns and George Roy Hill, based on ...
'', ''
Over the Edge'', ''
Promises in the Dark'', ''
Heart Beat'', ''
The Wanderers'' and the box office hit ''
10''.
Filming took place in September 1978.
Christopher Lee returned to Britain for the first time in three years to take the lead role. "I couldn't resist it" said Lee. "It's a very fine screenplay by Brian, falling into the true fairy tale genre of romance and beauty combined with the kind of wickedness and violence which has sent delicious shivers down the spines of children of all nations since time immemorial."
Hayles died during filming, on October 30, 1978 shortly after having delivered his first draft of a third original film for Dark and Connor, about pirate ghosts.
References
External links
*
*
*
*
Arabian Adventure' at Letterbox DVD
at Cinema Retro
{{Kevin Connor
1979 films
1970s fantasy adventure films
British fantasy adventure films
Films shot at Pinewood Studios
Genies in film
Films directed by Kevin Connor
EMI Films films
British Lion Films films
Films scored by Ken Thorne
1970s English-language films
1970s British films