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Wow! Such a good movie.

Waste of time

Best movie ever!

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

After the success of "Sinbad the Sailor" Maureen O'Hara was ready to play another princess of Arabia in 49 and along came this story of Bagdad that suited her perfectly. She plays Princess Marjan of the Beduins but there is nothing tribal about her. The first time we see her she is dressed like an English Victorian lady riding in the desert with an overdressed Vincent Price as Pacha Ali Nadim, who is of course the EVIL character that slaps all his subordinates on a regular basis and protects the Black raiders, a bandit club that is as endemic to these movies as the absurd amounts of early polyester silks and gilt-costume jewelry on the women, always covered by perfectly transparent veils.Princess Marjan has been studying in London, though we are never told what. When she arrives at the caravansary, the man in charge assumes she is English, but she tells him she is an Arabian Princess, you can't blame the man, her flowing mane of red hair is not particularly an Arabian trait and neither is her ivory skin. She proceeds to go on a shopping spree for native garb, which is Hollywood interpretations of what they thought Arabian women should wear, and translates as a Maureen, because there is no other way to describe the costume: weird shoulder treatments, occasionally with flounces, sometimes attached to an impossibly small vest, heavily embroidered, sometimes to a camisole that at the waist flairs into a half- train or baggy pants, sometimes both. The total effect is sometimes late Renaissance as interpreted by cookie boxes that have a medallion with a 'lady' from 'Verona' or 'Florence' but are more readily found in real life at wedding receptions in Newark. Princess Marjan is trying to put her tribe back on its feet after her father's assassination, she is trying to talk to the Emir, persuade the Pasha, and seduce a handsome Prince who one minute is a camel driver and the next a rich merchant from Cairo spewing precious stones at her dinner table on a horrid night that the Pasha imposes himself on her to have dinner at the one and only Western cuisine restaurant in Bagdad, "I Franghi" (or something like that). The restaurant has entertainment also, which consists of dancing girls. This gives Princess Marjan the brilliant idea of adding extra income to her enterprise by singing in this place which is a concoction of all the 'elegant French restaurants" outside of Paris by way of Wyoming. No sooner was this flash of genius stricken than she glides from the table like a panther in love and sashays around the place singing ballads. This is the best moment of the film, and it could go on Broadway anytime as a revival with a few extra tunes. She has an amazingly good Broadway voice and when she stops you want to hear another one. You will, but it will take a while. The plot thickens with so many useless details I can not record them accurately, except that at one point Princess Marjan appears dressed in gypsy garb with her friends at the enemy camp and the movie hits another high point. This Princess can look like a sassy gypsy, tell a fortune with grace flashing that ultra-Colgate smile that probably introduced toothpaste to the Bedouins right there, poison a soup, flirt at a battalion of women-hungry Arabs and she still goes away unscathed and virginal, ready for her close-up with her hero-prince and a happy ending. Now that's ENTERTAINMENT. This movie can also team up with either "Sinbad the Sailor" (1947) or "Flame of Araby" (1951) for an excellent double feature that will leave you floating in your own magic carpet of Arabian Technicolor dreams.

Arabian princess (redhead Maureen O'Hara indeed!) wants to avenge her father's death. He was killed by the Black Robes whose leader is unknown. She asks the Pasha (Vincent Price) for help and offers in turn to sing for him. I didn't like the singing as much as he did, apparently, but my favorite moment of the movie is when she fails to lure the main suspect Hassan (Swiss born Paul Hubschmid of "The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms" fame) into a trap. Vincent Price looks at her and says: "You're angry and annoyed. This gives rise to a very interesting question. Is it due to your unsatisfied desire for revenge on a blood-enemy, or only injured vanity because a man's instinct for danger blinded him to your undeniable charms?" Price could deliver mocking lines like that deliciously, it is always a pleasure to watch him. Anyhow, Paul Hubschmid stands tall (one head taller than everyone else except Price, that is) and claims his innocence. A trial in front of the tribes' leaders shall decide about that...An Oriental fantasy film in glorious Technicolor that celebrates every blue, red and green the camera can get hold of. "Bagdad" doesn't look real for a second with those carnival costumes and false beards, but it was fun all the way to me - 80 minutes is just the right length for a not-so-serious adventure.

"Bagdadª is a terrible adventure film. Actually it doesn't catch your attention at all. The point is that not even kids who usually enjoy this sort of colorful desert action pieces, could be satisfied with this one. In fact you don't even care about how things will come out (tough you can guess easily).You also wonder how a respected actress like Maureen O'Hara could ever enter this thing; in fact if she wasn't in this film there would be definitely nothing to see (my 3 points rank are just for her undeniable beauty). Vincent Price enjoys himself as the villain but he doesn't add much to his brilliant gallery here.Just if you want to see gorgeous Maureen singing and dancing the arab way.

The costumes, locations, and action make up for the thin plot in this story of a princess in search of her father's murderer. True, there are holes in the story, Maureen O'Hara as a red-haired Turkish princess takes a stretch of imagination, but the look of the film is wonderful. Vincent Price, as always, makes a menacing villian. One wishes there was more romance, however. A good time, nonetheless.