Ali Baba and the Seven Saracens (1964)

Good start, but then it gets ruined

Admirable film.

Absolutely brilliant

Fun premise, good actors, bad writing. This film seemed to have potential at the beginning but it quickly devolves into a trite action film. Ultimately it's very boring.

Like with a number of Italian movies American-International Pictures picked up in the 1960s, "Ali Baba and the Seven Saracens" bypassed North American theaters and was released directly to television. That was a good decision, but I think a better one would have been to have looked for a better movie to pick up. Those viewers expecting a retelling of the Arabian Nights hero (either loose or more accurate) will be disappointed, since the story has absolutely nothing to do with the Ali Baba hero - or Sinbad for that matter. It's instead another sword and sandal story about an evil tyrant and rebels trying to overthrow him. Despite the familiar story, it could have still worked, but the movie for the most part is simply dull and uninvolving. There's almost no real action in the first third of the movie, and while there's a bit more in the remaining portion, it's almost all choreographed and directed with no passion at all. Another problem is that the character of Ali Baba/Sinbad gets put on the back burner for long periods of time. I guess the production values are okay, but I would have sacrificed some of that for some real excitement and action.

I'm not sure that strictly speaking this movie is classifiable as a peplum. Peplum films are often characterized as Italian action movies that take place in ancient times and star Hercules, a Son of Hercules or one of many Hercu-surrogates. Feisty midgets sidekicks are not uncommon and there is usually at least one veil dance. The leading man in this film, while definitely a hero, is of non-Herculean stature. The movie also seems to take place in Medieval Middle East. However the movie does bear many similarities to the classic peplum including: 1. Gorgeous heaving Mediterranean women who majored in Veil Dancing in B-Movie finishing school, 2. The hero is a man of the people who delivers the masses from the rule of an oppressive tyrant, 3. If you try to follow the plot literally you'll end up in a straightjacket or with your head in a gas oven. Better to just flow along like a twig on the shoulders of a mighty river and enjoy the ride. For these reasons I am awarding this movie Honorary Peplum Status.Piecing together the plot from scraps of intelligible dialogue was like deciphering the Rosetta stone, only much, much more difficult. I think it shakes out like this: An evil dude named Omar wants to win the Golden Throne of the Maji, which would give him total power over whatever country this thing takes place in. You can tell he's evil because he is always whipping someone, slapping someone or laughing maniacally and because he walks around shirtless and aggressively flashing his beefy nipples at everyone. "Cower before Omar's mighty nipples!!!" is a line often heard through this film. In order to win the Throne he has to fight the kingdoms greatest warriors, the Seven Saracens, plus another warrior who has been chosen by the gods (Ali Baba). Since he is evil he imprisons Ali Baba and a smoking hot princess with the hope that somehow this will help him defeat the other Saracens during the Big Tournament and Harvest Ball.Ali isn't imprisoned long thanks to the intervention of Jookie the cunning dwarf (is there any other kind?). The most moving part of the film is when Jookie bids farewell to Ali, the only person to treat him like a friend, and the dwarf breaks down and cries. There's also a scene where a chubby guy in a turban dances on a tabletop for the rest of the prisoners who are clapping and laughing. I'm not sure what that scene was supposed to bring to the narrative, but it was disturbing enough to take your mind off the lonely, sobbing midget.Well no sooner is Ali Baba away from the influence of a more competent person, which could have been anyone really, then he winds up captured and right back in Omar's torture garden.Does he escape, win the throne, defeat Omar O'the Nipples and get the fabulous babe? Are you new? Of course he does, but I'll let this little flower of a film unveil its final petals for you all by itself.The mass fight scenes are laughably terrible. The fencers seem more interested in not getting hit and then also in not hitting their opponent so you have a mob of burly guys in armor dancing gingerly around each other. In a few scenes I saw some of the extras appear to stop fighting and lean on their swords in order to catch their breath. But they were husky lads wearing heavy armor under a hot sun, so maybe they needed the break.Believe it or not, it's the acting that makes this movie.Not the acting of Bruno Piergentili who plays Ali Baba. He seems about as wooden and vaguely constipated as many peplum heroes, but who says the male lead in these movies has to be interesting? In this movie that's left to the supporting cast.Gordon Mitchell as Omar makes an excellent over the top villain. Seriously he was more than a match for most peplum heroes. He menacingly glowers like nobodies business and tears up every scene he's in. Gordon Mitchell is just a whole lot of fun to watch.Bella Cortez as Fatima, the bodacious babe, is the reason the word voluptuous was invented. She's why cavemen painted pouty lips on cave walls. Acting.....um.....yeah I think she does some acting.Franco Doria played Sharif, Omar's aide de camp. He's evil, manipulative, cool headed, aloof and intellectual. He what would happen if Dick Cheney and Mr. Spock had a baby and Franco plays him perfectly.Tony Di Mitri played Jookie the dwarf, who is the smartest and noblest character in the story. He's a likable guy.The best fight scene is when the Harem girls take on Omar's personal bodyguards. Those girls had A lot of repressed anger.Ali Baba is as cheesy as it gets, but it's earnest in a Lil' Rascals/Andy Hardy "Let's put on a show" kind of way. It's ill scripted, improbable and illogical, but it still wants you to have a good time. So I say, if you're in the mood for some dopey fun and a ridiculously hot Cuban actress, give this movie a shot.

To begin with, the name of the most popular Arabian Nights character i.e. Sinbad has been variably spelled over the years and around the world – from Sindbad to Simbad and Szindbad. Moreover, the character of Sinbad has been included in films in which he had nothing to do with originally – the Russian adventure outing SADKO (1953) became THE MAGIC VOYAGE OF SINBAD in the U.S. – just as, in this case, he became Ali Baba when it crossed over the Atlantic! These facts alone are more interesting than anything that occurs in this film…because where are the seafaring adventures of Sinbad The Sailor to be seen in this one, not to mention the sundry creatures he generally struggled with? On the other hand, if this is Ali Baba, whatever happened to the Forty Thieves? One thing is certain: I wasn't expecting Gordon Mitchell – who had previously portrayed such legendary heroic figures as Achilles and Maciste – to be the villain here, nor Sinbad to be incarnated by a teenager still wet behind the ears, thus making for possibly the lamest Sinbad in film history! Appropriately, then, the seven Saracens of the title are even more anonymous than the hero – and, what's worse, they don't even engage him in battle! At least, the heroine's physical attributes are well in evidence…but that's small compensation when set against the obligatory and unfunny comic relief provided by Sinbad's midget cellmate/sidekick and, for good measure (ugh!) a court eunuch with a bad facial tick; the pits, however, are reached by the silly gyrations of a particularly animated dancer preceding every ritual at court!

Ali Baba and the seven Saracens is one of the Italian made flicks with no budget and god-awful dubbing. So why bother? Two words; Bella Cortes. Huzzah, what a babe! She puts most other women in these sword and sandal flicks to shame. Plus shes kind and sweet and the only actor in this who doesn't feel the need to shout every line of dialog.The plot, if you can find one, concerns Ali Baba ( or it might be Sinbad) seeking to get the Golden Throne away from Omar the tyrant. Actually Gordon Mitchell play Omar pretty well, its just no motivation is ever given for his brutality. For that matter Ali Baba never seems very heroic either. Still there are some fun scenes, Jukki the midget is a different hero and the whipping of the harem girls and the half-crazed but good-hearted Eunnich is fun. The music here is very close to the themes heard in "The BLue Rose" with Steve Reeves. Same composer? This is probably more fun to watch with a group so you can boo and hiss at the appropriate times. The big plus here is Bella Cortez as Fatima, wow! For that alone, its worth a look.