Another passerby Fantasy #8
Who is he?
- He's a criminal, princess. But a brave criminal.
I was looking for a 1979 fantasy movie. At the end of that decade, fairy tales were not uncommon, but to choose a more or less watchable was difficult. But I finally found the Arab Adventures. The synopsis seemed intriguing, and the presence in the cast of Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing did its job.
The city of Jadur is ruled by the cruel sorcerer Alcazar. In order to increase his power, the sorcerer needs a magical flower - the rose of Eli. He sends Prince Hassan, who arrived in Jadur, along with one of his henchmen. They are also joined by the boy Majid along with the witch sapphire.
The movie didn't really appeal to me. I’m not a big expert in Eastern fairy tales, and I don’t really like such films, so it’s quite expected. I chose "Arab Adventures" for my fantasy list in the hope that I would see something similar to the tales of Aladdin. The similarity is there, although minimal. However, this story was much simpler and boring.
Without a long prelude, viewers immediately show the bundle. With the characters, in order not to stretch the timekeeping, we get acquainted during the course of the film. There are two heroes. A prince and a street boy with a monkey. At first, their stories are presented as two different storylines, and later they merge into one. Interesting move, and very original for those years.
Individually, these storylines can still exist, but as soon as they merge together, small inconsistencies in the plot begin to appear, various blunders, and it is simply ridiculous to observe the illogicality of the actions of the main characters. At the end of the day, the film slips into banality. Couldn't you have come up with a less boring ending?
Despite the year the film was released, there are special effects in the film, and in considerable quantities. The quality is doubtful, but for the late 70s it is quite watchable. Some scenes even look good. Something between the early Japanese Godzilla films and the adventures of Sinbad. Plus the carpets of planes and genies, clearly a reference to Aladdin.
I’ve long wanted to see Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing outside of the horror film formats they once starred in. Despite the change in genre, they still play either villains or plain old men. So it happened here. Well, Christopher Lee is no stranger to playing negative characters, so here he looked pretty organic. As always, a harsh facial expression, a kitten's gaze, a loud voice. Peter Cushing also played a similar role in the full-length “Tales from the Crypt”. Almost identical image. As for the other characters and actors who play them, I can only mention Punit Sira. As a child, he gave a fairly good level of acting. The others didn’t impress me much.
The genre of fantasy "Arab adventures" certainly belong. More than any other movie I’ve seen. This is certainly not a typical fantasy in the form in which we are used to seeing it now, but also not a banal fairy tale. Rather, something in between, more towards myths and legends.
Apparently, the director did not really hope that anything worthwhile would come out of it either. That's why I invited great actors. I was hoping that legendary actors Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing would pull it off if the plot was mediocre. But that didn’t happen.
In general, the film is watchable, but with the mark “on the amateur”.
4 out of 10