Son of Sinbad (1955)

Best movie of this year hands down!

The film creates a perfect balance between action and depth of basic needs, in the midst of an infertile atmosphere.

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

In Baghdad, the poet Omar Khayyam (Vincent Price) is seeking out his friend Sinbad (Dale Robertson), who is wanted by the caliph (Leon Askin), wandering through the streets and markets of the city. When Omar finds his womanizer friend, Sinbad asks for poems to seduce Nerissa (Lili St. Cyr), who is one of the caliph's wives, in the palace. Sinbad encounters Nerissa in the harem and the slave Ameer (Sally Forrest) is jealous of him since she loves the sailor. Another slave sees Sinbad and beats the gong summoning the guards.Sinbad and Omar are arrested. They are brought to the caliph, together with the wise Simon Aristides (Raymond Greenleaf) and his daughter Kristina (Mari Blanchard) that are Sinbad's old friends and are unfairly accused of theft, to hear their sentences. However, the ambassador of the Tartar leader Tamerlane, Murad (Ian MacDonald), arrives in the palace and the caliph's adviser Jiddah (Jay Novello), who is a traitor, advises the caliph to not resist to the violent army that intends to invade Bagdad. Nevertheless, Sinbad tells to the caliph that Simon and Kristina know the secret of the powerful explosive Greek Fire and the caliph offers their freedom for the formula. But Jiddah and Murad see the demonstration of the explosive and kill Simon and kidnap Kristina. Sinbad offers to help the caliph to bring Kristina back and he rides with Omar through the desert. Ameer that belongs to the brotherhood of the forty thieves helps Sinbad and together with the army of the forty female thieves, they fight against the Tartar warriors to save Kristina and Bagdad."Son of Sinbad" is a highly entertaining adventure with a funny story and a incredible cast of beautiful actresses, including Kim Novak in an uncredited participation. Vincent Price "steals" the film in the role of a poet that helps the seducer Sinbad with the women, recalling the romantic poet Cyrano de Bergerac helping his friend Christian de Neuvillette to seduce Roxane. My vote is seven.Title (Brazil): "O Filho de Simbad" ("The Son of Sinbad")

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.

False statements, repeated often enough, can reinforce false impressions. I believe this is what has happened to "Son of Sinbad". As a writer and aficionado of Grecianzed Near-Eastern adventures, I admire the construction of the plot, the dialogue, the characters and the execution of the visually-lovely little gem. I suppose some have fallen in with the maker's jest at Dale Robertson's Oklahoma accent; but in the main, he is charismatic, intelligent and virile in the part of the son of Sinbad, a man who loves adventure even more than he loves women and who is afraid of neither. The film is all but stolen by Vincent Price, essaying another bright comedic part as Omar Khayyam, poet and victim of Sinbad's ill fortune after he is caught leaving the Sultan's harem. Sally Forrest as Amir is lovely and does quite well with her difficult role as palace servant, secret agent, lover and jealous woman. Leon Askin is superb as the vainglorious Sultan, and Mari Blanchard is very good as a long-lost love, as is Jay Novello as the sinister court buffoon. The plot line is a good and straightforward one. The Mongols are threatening the Sultanate; Simon Aristides and his daughter come to court just in time to save Sinbad and Omar from being executed; when the old man is murdered for his secret of Greek fire, the atom bomb of the ancient world, Sinbad is allowed at his suggestion to take Omar with him and try to retrieve the weapon before the Mongol General who stole it can get its secret from Aristides' daughter and deliver it to his Mongol Khan. Enter Amir, and her organization, with whom Sinbad leagues to use the Greek fire in battle and destroy the Mongol general and his army. The satisfying conclusion of the film finds Sinbad second to the Sultan, his allies, female descendants of the forty thieves, as the Sultan's new bodyguards and Amir and Sinbad II united in matrimony. The film features four extended exotic dance numbers, with lovely music by Victor Young, rousing direction by action-film veteran Ted Tetzlaff, and a surprising number of interesting dialogue-rich scenes, some lovely outdoor scenery and some tongue-in-cheek humor at the Sultan's expense. The costumes are delightful, the art direction is colorful and very fine and Larry Germain's hairstylings are a great asset. This film was never intended to shock, as are so many bad recent films. Its maker, Howard Hughes, however, did intend it to violate silly taboos on the exhibition of females in film; the result is a movie than is fun, very attractively photographed and choreographed and a fine entertainment. If it has suffered, it is because those who have spoken most often about it have not seen it nor perhaps considered its many merits as an attractive "entertainment".

Fans of Howard Hughes will appreciate this colorful little gem -- but even if you haven't got the slightest interest in the famous capitalist, there's a lot in this lost classic to grin at. Allow me to adjust your expectations. . . Imagine how many lovely starlets must have said to the amorous billionaire, `Gee, Howard, I'd do just ANYTHING to get into motion pictures!'Well . . . they DID it -- and Howard made this one to satisfy all those promises he made to seventy or eighty gorgeous, desperate young ladies who wanted to break into the movies. Okay, sure, the plot is weak, but it moves along moderately well, and the true stars of this Arabian Nights tale (Howard's harem of young starlets) are given plenty of chances to strut their stuff.For example: the first ten minutes of the film are dedicated to a slinky belly dancer who wiggles and jiggles for costar Vincent Price. Price plays poet Omar Khayyam, the loyal comic side-kick of Sinbad, played wonderfully tongue-in-cheek by Dale Robertson. Price contributes a wealth of humorous moments, doing dead-pan double takes at Robertson's single-minded pursuit of amorous conquests.Think of this as Howard Hughes' personal fantasy, with Robertson portraying the Arabian alter-ego of America's most notorious girl-chasing billionaire.Sexy Sally Forrest is captivating as the girl who steals Sinbad's heart. The provocative dance she does for Robertson near the end of the film is extremely daring for 1955. Lovely Mari Blanchard (star of `She Devil' and `Abbott and Costello Go to Mars') sweetens the scenery with her attractive presence. Lilli St. Cyr is positively slinky as the Arabian ruler's main squeeze who has a yen for Sinbad.The production has other strong points besides the girls. The rousing music is by veteran composer Victor Young. Famous 1950s voice-man Paul Frees has a brief but funny role in the opening scenes as a fortune teller. In fact, the cast is loaded with notable character actors who make this low budget (but slick-looking) production a joy to watch. Don't blink or you'll miss Woody Strode in a very brief role as a harem guard!But there's no denying the fact this is a girl-watcher's movie. Anyone who makes an honest effort to count the number of gorgeous girls in the cast will agree that there has never been a film packed with more pretty faces ( -- etc.). If you doubt this claim, go to IMDBs' `full cast and crew' and count the number of young ladies listed as `raiders' in the cast. These are the daughters of the `Forty Thieves' of Arabian legend -- and there's almost fifty of them in the cast, alone! Add to this a herd of harem girls and other lovlies, and the result is a girl-watcher's extravaganza, unequaled in Hollywood!You might not be thrilled by the plot, but if wall-to-wall babes can hold your interest, this one won't bore you.P.S. If you're hankerin' for a suitable second feature to match this unique film, try `Princess of the Nile', starring a young and breath-taking Debra Pageant. Trust me, you won't be disappointed.