''The Adventures of Hajji Baba'' is a 1954 American
CinemaScope 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
Don Weis
Don Weis (May 13, 1922 – July 26, 2000) was an American film and television director.
Biography
Weis was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin to Emma (née Wiener; 1889–1971) and Meyer Weis (1886-1942). He graduated from the University of Southern ...
and starring
John Derek and
Elaine Stewart
Elaine Stewart (born Elsy Henrietta Maria Steinberg; May 31, 1930 – June 27, 2011) was an American actress and model.
Life
Stewart was born in Montclair, New Jersey, the daughter of Hedwig (Haenssler) and Ulrich E. Steinberg. She was one of ...
. Made in Southern California, it was released on October 1, 1954. In the credits it states that the film is suggested by ''The Adventures of Hajji Baba of Ispahan'' by
James Justinian Morier
James Justinian Morier (15 August 1782 – 19 March 1849) was a British diplomat and author noted for his novels about the Qajar dynasty in Iran, most famously for the ''Hajji Baba'' series. These were filmed in 1954.
Early life
Morier was bo ...
(3 vols., London, 1824).
Plot
In
Ispahan
Isfahan ( fa, اصفهان, Esfahân ), from its Achaemenid empire, ancient designation ''Aspadana'' and, later, ''Spahan'' in Sassanian Empire, middle Persian, rendered in English as ''Ispahan'', is a major city in the Greater Isfahan Regio ...
,
Persia
Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...
, a barber named Hajji Baba (
John Derek) is leaving his father's shop to find a great fortune. At the same time, the Princess Fawzia (
Elaine Stewart
Elaine Stewart (born Elsy Henrietta Maria Steinberg; May 31, 1930 – June 27, 2011) was an American actress and model.
Life
Stewart was born in Montclair, New Jersey, the daughter of Hedwig (Haenssler) and Ulrich E. Steinberg. She was one of ...
) is trying to talk her father into giving her in marriage to Nur-El-Din (
Paul Picerni
Horacio Paul Picerni (December 1, 1922 – January 12, 2011) was an American actor in film and television, perhaps best known today in the role of Federal Agent Lee Hobson, second-in-command to Robert Stack's Eliot Ness, in the ABC hit televisio ...
) a prince known far and wide. Her father intends for Fawzia to marry a friend and ally, and makes plans to send her to him. But a courier brings word from Nur-El-Din that an escort awaits Fawzia on the outskirts of the city and she escapes the palace disguised as a boy. Hajji encounters the escort-warrior at the rendez-vous spot, is attacked and beats up the escort with his barber's tools. The princess arrives and mistakes Hajji as the escort until he mistakes the emerald ring sent by Nur-El-Din to Fawzia as the prize to be delivered. In her efforts to escape him, her turban becomes unbound and Hajji realizes that the girl herself is the treasure Nur-El-Din awaits. Hajji promises to escort her and they spend the night with the caravan of Osman Aga (
Thomas Gomez
Thomas Gomez (July 10, 1905 – June 18, 1971) was an American actor.
Life and career
Born Sabino Tomás Gómez, Jr., in New York City, Gomez began his acting career in theater in 1923, studying under actor Walter Hampden in a production of Cy ...
), who invites them to stay for the dancing girls, among them, the incomparable Ayesha (
Rosemarie Bowe
Rosemarie Bowe Stack (born Rose Marie Bowe; September 17, 1932 – January 20, 2019) was an American model, best known for her appearances in several films in the 1950s.
Born in Butte, Montana, Bowe was primarily raised in Tacoma, Washington. ...
). The pair are overtaken by the
Caliph
A caliphate or khilāfah ( ar, خِلَافَة, ) is an institution or public office under the leadership of an Islamic steward with the title of caliph (; ar, خَلِيفَة , ), a person considered a political-religious successor to th ...
's (
Donald Randolph
Donald Randolph (January 5, 1906 – March 16, 1993) was a film, television, and radio actor. The actor, who appeared in Alfred Hitchcock's '' Topaz'' (1969), acted in dozens of radio dramas, television programs and over thirty films.
Randolph ...
) guards sent to bring Fawzia back, but the guards are driven off by an invading army of Turcoman women, a band of fierce and beautiful women who prey on passing merchants.
Cast
*
John Derek as Hajji Baba
*
Elaine Stewart
Elaine Stewart (born Elsy Henrietta Maria Steinberg; May 31, 1930 – June 27, 2011) was an American actress and model.
Life
Stewart was born in Montclair, New Jersey, the daughter of Hedwig (Haenssler) and Ulrich E. Steinberg. She was one of ...
as Princess Fawzia
*
Rosemarie Bowe
Rosemarie Bowe Stack (born Rose Marie Bowe; September 17, 1932 – January 20, 2019) was an American model, best known for her appearances in several films in the 1950s.
Born in Butte, Montana, Bowe was primarily raised in Tacoma, Washington. ...
as Ayesha
*
Amanda Blake as Banah, The Turkamen Leader
*
Paul Picerni
Horacio Paul Picerni (December 1, 1922 – January 12, 2011) was an American actor in film and television, perhaps best known today in the role of Federal Agent Lee Hobson, second-in-command to Robert Stack's Eliot Ness, in the ABC hit televisio ...
as Nur-El-Din
*
Donald Randolph
Donald Randolph (January 5, 1906 – March 16, 1993) was a film, television, and radio actor. The actor, who appeared in Alfred Hitchcock's '' Topaz'' (1969), acted in dozens of radio dramas, television programs and over thirty films.
Randolph ...
as The Caliph
*
Thomas Gomez
Thomas Gomez (July 10, 1905 – June 18, 1971) was an American actor.
Life and career
Born Sabino Tomás Gómez, Jr., in New York City, Gomez began his acting career in theater in 1923, studying under actor Walter Hampden in a production of Cy ...
as Osman Aga
*
Pat Sheehan as Handmaiden
* Madelyn Darrow as Handmaiden (credited as Madeline Witlinger)
* Beverly Thompson as Handmaiden
* Marilyn Dean as Handmaiden
*
Joanne Arnold
Joanne Arnold (born 1 April 1931) is an American actress and model. She was ''Playboy'' magazine's Playmate of the Month for the May 1954 issue. She also appeared on the covers of the March 1954 and August 1955 issues.
Filmography
* '' Invasi ...
as Susu
*
Pat Lawler
The following women have appeared in the American or international edition of ''Playboy'' magazine as Playmate of the Month. Those who were also named Playmate of the Year are highlighted in green. A common misconception is that Marilyn Monroe wa ...
as Slave Girl
*
Laurette Luez
Laurette Luez (born Loretta Mary Luiz; August 19, 1928 – September 12, 1999) was an American supporting actress and successful commercial model who appeared in films and on television during a 20-year career. She was a widely known Hollywood ce ...
as Meriam
Production
The film is based on ''The Adventures of Hajji Baba of Ispahan'' by
James Justinian Morier
James Justinian Morier (15 August 1782 – 19 March 1849) was a British diplomat and author noted for his novels about the Qajar dynasty in Iran, most famously for the ''Hajji Baba'' series. These were filmed in 1954.
Early life
Morier was bo ...
published in 1824. It was popular and remained in print for over a century.
In the early 1950s Walter Wanger produced four films with Allied Artists. They were happy with the results and signed a new contract with the producer, the first of which was to be ''Hajji Baba''. It was a return to the type of film Wagner had previously made such as ''
Arabian Nights'' (1942).
Allied Artists had been shut down for three months but re-opened again with a slate of ten films starting with ''Hajji Baba''.
Elaine Stewart
Elaine Stewart (born Elsy Henrietta Maria Steinberg; May 31, 1930 – June 27, 2011) was an American actress and model.
Life
Stewart was born in Montclair, New Jersey, the daughter of Hedwig (Haenssler) and Ulrich E. Steinberg. She was one of ...
and
Don Weis
Don Weis (May 13, 1922 – July 26, 2000) was an American film and television director.
Biography
Weis was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin to Emma (née Wiener; 1889–1971) and Meyer Weis (1886-1942). He graduated from the University of Southern ...
were borrowed from MGM. Filming started 12 April 1954.
Linda Christian
Linda Christian (born Blanca Rosa Henrietta Stella Welter Vorhauer; November 13, 1923 – July 22, 2011) was a Mexican film actress, who appeared in Mexican and Hollywood films. Her career reached its peak in the 1940s and 1950s. She played Mara ...
was meant to play a role but dropped out and was replaced by Amanda Blake.
With the creation of
CinemaScope, 20th Century Fox wooed film producers by agreeing to license their wide screen scope lenses to various non-Fox studios. ''The Adventures of Hajji Baba'' was the first of three CinemaScope films made by
Allied Artists Pictures. In addition to supplying the widescreen camera lenses, Fox agreed to finance 50% of the films with Allied Artists receiving the domestic gross of the film and Fox receiving the overseas grosses of the film.
[FOX JOINS ALLIED TO MAKE 2 FILMS New York Times 15 Apr 1954: 35.]
Reception
The film was a hit and made a profit of $673,593.
Availability
The film is occasionally shown on
Turner Classic Movies
Turner Classic Movies (TCM) is an American movie channel, movie-oriented pay television, pay-TV television network, network owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. Launched in 1994, Turner Classic Movies is headquartered at Turner's Techwood broadcasti ...
and FXM. It had a small release on VHS.
It is available on Blu-ray from Twilight Time.
Soundtrack
* Hajji Baba (Persian Lament)
** Sung by
Nat 'King' Cole
Nathaniel Adams Coles (March 17, 1919 – February 15, 1965), known professionally as Nat King Cole, was an American singer, jazz pianist, and actor. Cole's music career began after he dropped out of school at the age of 15, and continued f ...
** Music by
Dimitri Tiomkin
Dimitri Zinovievich Tiomkin (, ; May 10, 1894 – November 11, 1979) was a Russian-born American film composer and conductor. Classically trained in St. Petersburg, Russia before the Bolshevik Revolution, he moved to Berlin and then New York City ...
** Lyrics by
Ned Washington
Ned Washington (born Edward Michael Washington, August 15, 1901 – December 20, 1976) was an American lyricist born in Scranton, Pennsylvania.
Life and career
Washington was nominated for eleven Academy Awards from 1940 to 1962. He won the Bes ...
** Arranged by
Nelson Riddle
Nelson Smock Riddle Jr. (June 1, 1921 – October 6, 1985) was an American arranger, composer, bandleader and orchestrator whose career stretched from the late 1940s to the mid-1980s. He worked with many world-famous vocalists at Capitol Records ...
References
External links
*
*
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Adventues Of Hajji Baba
1954 films
1954 adventure films
20th Century Fox films
CinemaScope films
Films scored by Dimitri Tiomkin
Films based on British novels
Films directed by Don Weis
Films shot in Lone Pine, California
Films set in Iran
Films set in the 18th century
Films produced by Walter Wanger
American adventure films
1950s English-language films
1950s American films