''The Brass Bottle'' is a 1964 American

fantasy Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction involving 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 literature and d ...

comedy film A comedy film is a category of film which emphasizes humor. These films are designed to make the audience laugh through amusement. Films in this style traditionally have a happy ending (black comedy being an exception). Comedy is one of the ol ...

about a modern man who accidentally acquires the friendship of a long-out-of-circulation

genie Jinn ( ar, , ') – also romanized as djinn or anglicized as genies (with the broader meaning of spirit or demon, depending on sources) – are invisible creatures in early pre-Islamic Arabian religious systems and later in Islamic myt ...

. It is based on the 1900 novel of the same title by

Thomas Anstey Guthrie Thomas Anstey Guthrie (8 August 1856 – 10 March 1934) was an English author (writing as F. Anstey), most noted for his comic novel '' Vice Versa'' about a boarding-school boy and his father exchanging identities. His reputation was confirmed ...

and later inspired the American fantasy

sitcom A sitcom, a portmanteau of situation comedy, or situational comedy, is a genre of comedy centered on a fixed set of characters who mostly carry over from episode to episode. Sitcoms can be contrasted with sketch comedy, where a troupe may use ...

I Dream of Jeannie ''I Dream of Jeannie'' is an American fantasy sitcom television series, created by Sidney Sheldon that starred Barbara Eden as a sultry, 2,000-year-old genie and Larry Hagman, as an astronaut with whom she falls in love and eventually marrie ...

''. The film stars

Tony Randall Anthony Leonard Randall (born Aryeh Leonard Rosenberg; February 26, 1920 – May 17, 2004) was an American actor. He is best known for portraying the role of Felix Unger in a television adaptation of the 1965 play ''The Odd Couple'' by Neil Sim ...

Burl Ives Burl Icle Ivanhoe Ives (June 14, 1909 – April 14, 1995) was an American musician, actor, and author with a career that spanned more than six decades. Ives began his career as an itinerant singer and guitarist, eventually launching his own rad ...

and

Barbara Eden Barbara Eden (born Barbara Jean Morehead; August 23, 1931) is an American actress, singer, and producer best known for her starring role as Jeannie in the sitcom '' I Dream of Jeannie'' (1965-1970). Other notable roles include Roslyn Pierce opp ...

Plot

Architect Harold Ventimore (Tony Randall) buys a large antique container that turns out to imprison a genie named Fakrash Alamash (Burl Ives), whom Harold inadvertently sets free. Fakrash is effusively grateful for his release, and persistently tries to do favors for Harold to show his gratitude. However he has been in the brass bottle for a long time, and Fakrash's unfamiliarity with the modern world causes all sorts of problems when he tries to please his rescuer. Harold ends up in a great deal of trouble, including with his girlfriend, Sylvia Kenton (Barbara Eden).

Cast

as Harold Ventimore *

as Fakrash *

as Sylvia Kenton * Kamala Devi as Tezra, a female genie *

Edward Andrews Edward Bryan Andrews Jr. (October 9, 1914 – March 8, 1985) was an American stage, film and television actor. Andrews was one of the most recognizable character actors on television and films from the 1950s into the 1980s. His stark white hair ...

as Professor Kenton *Lulu Porter as a belly dancer *

Richard Erdman Richard Erdman ( John Richard Erdmann; June 1, 1925 – March 16, 2019) was an American character actor and occasional film and television director. He appeared in more than 160 films and television productions between 1944 and 2017, mostly in ...

as Seymour Jenks *

Kathie Browne Kathie Browne (September 19, 1929 – April 8, 2003) was an American stage, film and television actress. Early life She was born Jacqueline Sue Browne on September 19, 1929 in Humansville, Missouri to Winn Roscoe Browne and Erma Mae Wood.Jacqu ...

as Hazel Jenks *

Ann Doran Ann Lee Doran (July 28, 1911 – September 19, 2000) was an American character actress, possibly best known as the mother of Jim Stark ( James Dean) in ''Rebel Without a Cause'' (1955). She was an early member of the Screen Actors Guild and ser ...

as Martha Kenton *

Philip Ober Philip Nott Ober (March 23, 1902 – September 13, 1982) was an American screen and stage actor. He later retired from acting to work as a diplomat. Ober is best remembered for his roles in the films ''From Here to Eternity'' (1953) and ''North ...

as William Beevor *

Parley Baer Parley Edward Baer (August 5, 1914 – November 22, 2002) was an American actor in radio and later in television and film. Despite dozens of appearances in television series and theatrical films, he remains best known as the original "Cheste ...

as Samuel Wackerbath *Howard Smith as Senator Grindle

Production

Background

novel A novel is a relatively long work of narrative fiction, typically written in prose and published as a book. The present English word for a long work of prose fiction derives from the for "new", "news", or "short story of something new", itsel ...

, on which the film is based, had been adapted for the screen twice before during the era of

silent film A silent film is a film with no synchronized recorded sound (or more generally, no audible dialogue). Though silent films convey narrative and emotion visually, various plot elements (such as a setting or era) or key lines of dialogue may, when ...

1914 This year saw the beginning of what became known as World War I, after Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, heir to the Austrian throne was Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, assassinated by Serbian nationalist Gavrilo Princip. It als ...

and 1923.

Casting

At this point in his career,

was one of Hollywood's leading supporting players, and this film represented a "rare opportunity" for him to get first billing.

Filming

''The Brass Bottle'' was made on a modest budget and shot primarily on the back lot of

Universal Studios Universal Pictures (legally Universal City Studios LLC, also known as Universal Studios, or simply Universal; common metonym: Uni, and formerly named Universal Film Manufacturing Company and Universal-International Pictures Inc.) is an Ameri ...

, with a few exterior sequences made with rear screen projection, "giving the feature film the look of a standard sitcom from the era."

Release and reception

''The Brass Bottle'' was released on May 20, 1964.

Home media

''The Brass Bottle'' was released on DVD for Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only) as part of the Universal Vault Series in January 2010.

Critical response

Contemporary

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' critic A. H. Weiler found the film "about as funny as your own funeral", and dismissed it as "one of the duller fantasies dreamed up by Hollywood's necromancers."

Retrospective

Tony Mastroianni says ''The Brass Bottle'' is 'not a bad little movie" for what it is: "well-made but rather unpretentious." Craig Butler calls ''The Brass Bottle'' a "silly and fairly predictable comedy, the kind that Hollywood was making in the early 1960s before it figured out that people were more and more getting this kind of fluff on television, where it was more at home." While not a great comedy, it is "pleasant, amiable and diverting".

Legacy

Eden's role was instrumental in getting her cast as the star of the TV series ''

'', even though she did not play a genie in this film. Hooch.net I Dream of Jeannie: Then, Now, and Fun Facts About the Show: "The TV Show Was Inspired By A Movie"
retrieved August 15, 2019

Remakes

This film was remade in

Tamil Tamil may refer to: * Tamils, an ethnic group native to India and some other parts of Asia **Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka also called ilankai tamils **Tamil Malaysians, Tamil people native to Malaysia * Tamil language, nativ ...

Javar Sitaraman Javar ( fa, جور, also Romanized as Jūr) is a village in Baraan-e Shomali Rural District, in the Central District of Isfahan County, Isfahan Province, Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Pers ...

as ''

Pattanathil Bhootham ''Pattanathil Bhootham'' () is a 1967 Indian Tamil-language fantasy comedy film, directed and co-edited by M. V. Raman, written by Javar Seetharaman and produced by T. Govindarajan. An adaptation of the American film '' The Brass Bottle'' (196 ...

'' (or ''Ghost in the City)'' in 1967.

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Brass Bottle, The 1964 films 1960s fantasy comedy films American fantasy comedy films 1960s English-language films Films about wish fulfillment Films based on British novels Films directed by Harry Keller Genies in film Universal Pictures films 1964 comedy films I Dream of Jeannie 1960s American films