Tuesday, January 14, 2025

Ali Baba And The Forty Thieves!


Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves is a movie I didn't think I would like as much as I did when it started. Despite yearning to be an "epic", it's pretty clear early on that that the budget won't really allow that. Frankly, I'm shocked that we did actually seem to get forty thieves, a mob which made setting up some shots a horror, I'm sure. "Ali Baba" is portrayed unconvincingly by Jon Hall. This is a character who begins life as a boy named "Ali" who pledges himself to his young girlfriend and then is swept away only to see his father betrayed and killed. He is taken in by the "Forty Thieves" whose leader named "Baba" raises him until he grows to manhood sufficient to lead them. 


His little girlfriend grows up to be Maria Montez whose father was the betrayer of young Ali's father, the legitimate caliph. Mongols have taken control and rule with cruelty. Their leader wishes to take the thoroughly grown-up Montez as his wife, when by chance Ali and she meet again at an oasis where she's presented as being nude. (She's not.) Turhan Bey is her loyal man-servant who proves very useful and enterprising in this rattle-trap yarn. The most peculiar thing in the movie is Andy Devine as one of the thieves who is charged early on in the story with taking care of Ali. His presence makes this one feel even more like an oater than it does already. 


This one often feels like a musical number is about to break out. Our two leads seem a bit too old for their roles as well. Other than that, it's a utterly fine entertainment, but not a great one. 

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2 comments:

  1. Ali Baba could never be played by a white actor nowadays.

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    1. Likely not. I do remember Jake Gillyenhaal playing Prince of Persia a few years ago.

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