Ali Baba Goes to Town (1937)

User Rating:

7.8/10   

Director:

David Butler

Writers:

C. Graham Baker (story)
Gene Fowler (story)

Release Date:

29 October 1937 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Fantasy | Musical

Plot:

A movie company is doing the Arabian Nights when a hobo enters their camp, falls asleep and dreams he's back in Baghdad as advisor to the Sultan...

Plot Keywords:

Dream | Sultan | Taxes | New Deal | Spoof

Awards:

Nominated for Oscar.

Cast

Eddie Cantor	...	Ali Baba / Aloysius 'Al' Babson
Tony Martin	...	Yusuf / Announcer at Premiere
Roland Young	...	Sultan Abdullah
June Lang	...	Princess Miriam
Gypsy Rose Lee	...	Sultana (as Louise Hovick)
Raymond Scott	...	Orchestra Leader (as Raymond Scott and His Quintet)
John Carradine	...	Ishak / Broderick
Virginia Field	...	Dinah / Dina
Alan Dinehart	...	Director Boland
Douglass Dumbrille	...	Prince Musah
Maurice Cass	...	Omar, The Rug Maker
Warren Hymer	...	Tramp
Stanley Fields	...	Tramp
Paul Hurst	...	Captain
Sam Hayes	...	Radio Announcer / Assistant Director

Runtime:

80 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Finland:S

Company:

Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation

Trivia:

Two special-effects grips were killed when a machine that was being used to make the "flying carpet" look like it was flying jumped off its tracks and fell on them.

Quotes:

Sultan: I hope you'll enjoy what we've got - if you don't mind taking pot luck?
Ali Baba: Can I get a hot dog and a bottle of pop?
Sultan: Hot dog? Pop?
Ali Baba: That's the great national diet in America. I've just come from there.
Sultan: America? Where is that?
Ali Baba: A great open space between New York and Hollywood.

Movie Connections:

Version of Alibaba Aur 40 Chor (1980)

Soundtrack:

Makin' Whoopee

Eddie brings Americana to Iraq 65 years too early

It's always a treat to see another Eddie Cantor film, rarely shown on TV and slow to be transferred to the latest video technology. Eddie dreams he has traveled to Bagdad, where he becomes Ali Baba, becoming involved in palace politics and initiating an Americanization program. He introduces swing music and finally convinces the reluctant sultan to replace his hereditary position with an elected president, with the understanding that the sultan will have no meaningful opposition. Eddie arranges for rally signs displaying various New Deal slogans and also nicknames the sultan(Abdullah) "Honest Abe". But, the people overwhelmingly elect Eddie, even though he isn't running. They dig his swing music played by a Harlem band, his humor and his enthusiasm for reforms benefiting them. The Sultan wins only 2 districts: garbled versions of Maine and Vermont, which were the only 2 states FDR didn't carry in the 1936 elections. Eddie is now in big trouble with the sultan, who is determined to make good on his threat to boil Eddie in oil. Eddie has to get away from here fast, but how? He finds a magic flying carpet, but the magic word to make it fly isn't known. Eddie guesses "inflation", since FDR thinks that should make the economy fly. It works, but without a steering wheel, Eddie is at the mercy of its whims as to where it takes him. His troubles aren't over yet....I'm sure, the screen writers would be shocked if they knew that Iraq would be forcibly subjected to an Americanization campaign only 65 years later.

The musical highlight is the "Swing is Here to Stay" scene: an all African American effort, if we include Eddie in black face as an AA. The supposed band consists of AAs dressed as various native African tribals playing mostly obvious fake ornate or primitive musical instruments while dancing around. Meanwhile, Eddie struts and dances and sings in front, eventually being replaced by Jeni Le Gon, as a wild native dancer, then by the Peters Sisters, primarily a singing trio, with some footwork included. The Peters Sisters pretty well filled up the screen, being on the heavy side, but I enjoyed their act the most. They repeated their performance near the end of the film. It's too bad this seems to be the highlight of their very limited film career, although they continued to perform for several more decades. They may also be seen-heard on DVD in "Hi Di Ho" and heard on the CD "The Jazz Train", although I have not seen or heard these.