Son of Sinbad (1955)

User Rating:

5.6/10   

Director:

Ted Tetzlaff

Writers:

Jack Pollexfen (writer)
Aubrey Wisberg (writer)

Release Date:

2 June 1955 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Adventure | Fantasy

Tagline:

HOLD ON TO YOUR TURBANS! Here comes Adventure's boldest son!

Plot:

Legendary pirate and adventurer Sinbad is in single-minded pursuit of two things: beautiful women and a substance called Greek Fire--an early version of gunpowder.

Plot Keywords:

Sinbad | Harem | Secret Weapon | Dungeon | Beauty

Cast

Dale Robertson	...	Sinbad
Sally Forrest	...	Ameer
Lili St. Cyr	...	Nerissa
Vincent Price	...	Omar Khayyam
Mari Blanchard	...	Kristina
Leon Askin	...	Khalif
Jay Novello	...	Jiddah
Raymond Greenleaf	...	Simon Aristides
Nejla Ates	...	Dancer in market
Kalantan	...	Dancer in desert
Ian MacDonald	...	Murad
Donald Randolph	...	Councillor

Also Known As:

Nights in a Harem

Runtime:

91 min | France:88 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.00 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound System)

Certification:

West Germany:12 (nf) | Argentina:13 | Finland:K-16 | USA:PG | Sweden:15 | USA:Approved (certificate number not listed)

Company:

RKO Radio Pictures

Quotes:

Sinbad: [Outside a cave] Open Sesame, OPEN SESAME
Kristina: [to a donkey tied to a contraption that opens the doorway] Sesame

Movie Connections:

Featured in Howard Hughes: His Women and His Movies (2000) (TV)

The Sonovagun Is Nothing But A Sailor

Son Of Sinbad is a film that follows the old studio rule that when you have an expensive picture and build an expensive set, get some use out of it. Any film fan will readily recognize the sets that were used in the RKO classic Sinbad The Sailor that starred Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. and Maureen O'Hara.

Fairbanks had the style and dash to play the scimitar wielding Sinbad, ladies man and teller of tall tales. I suspect Sinbad also told a lot of tales about the women as well as the voyages in his life. But here we get poor Dale Robertson who must look back on this film with no amount of horror. But as he was working for Howard Hughes I'm sure that Robertson did not have to worry his paycheck wouldn't clear.

In the Citadel film series book, the Films of Vincent Price both Price and Sally Forrest who played one of the many women in the cast both looked back with amusement on the whole thing. Price acknowledged that he hammed up his part of Omar Khayyam to the hilt. The role did give the classically trained actor a chance to speak Omar's immortal lines for the screen.

The plot if you can call it involves Sinbad and Omar Khayyam teaming up to save the Caliph Leon Askin from the invading Mongol hordes of Tamerlane. They also manage if you can believe to bring Aladdin's magic lamp and the Amazonian descendants of Ali Baba's Forty Thieves. This is an errand for their lives because Askin already has Robertson and Price under a death sentence for some harem indiscretions.

All this was an excuse for Howard Hughes to put in as many opportunities as he could to bring in as much leg and cleavage as he could pack on the screen at one time. At the drop of a gold dinar a harem dance number will occur, too bad the silly plot had to get in the way.

The film was shot in 1953 and waited two years for release, something not unheard of in the RKO years of Howard Hughes. It awaited approval of the Legion of Decency which controlled the censorship of films. Hughes apparently had to cut some of the more revealing scenes before inflicting this on the general public.

Son Of Sinbad gets as high a rating as it does for the sheer campiness of the film. Don't give this film one serious moment of viewing if you choose to watch it. Apparently the players didn't.