Arabian Adventure (1979)

SERIOUSLY. This is what the crap Hollywood still puts out?

i must have seen a different film!!

Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.

The movie is surprisingly subdued in its pacing, its characterizations, and its go-for-broke sensibilities.

Prince Oliver Tobias will be granted permission to marry Princess Emma Samms if he succeeds in a quest to find a magic flower for her father, wicked Caliph Christopher Lee. However, the wicked Caliph has contrived to send along duplicitous Milo O'Shea to make sure the quest fails.This fantasy adventure features special effects which weren't all that special back at the time (back projected backgrounds behind flying carpets with wiggly edges, and models which scream "I am a model!" chief among them), some dodgy fighting, some screamingly though unintentionally funny dialogue, not massively heroic performances from Tobias and Samms, Mickey Rooney overacting as if his life depends on it, and beautifully understated villainy from Christopher Lee.For all that, there is a naïve enthusiasm about it which pleases and, at the time, we had nothing better. But these days we are used to our fantasy being a little less unsophisticated.

This was a really nice rediscovery on UK DVD for me; I remember I've watched 'Arabian Adventure' on TV in the 1980s but not since then. I mean, you get flying carpets, jinns, belly-dancers, a beautiful princess to save and Christopher Lee as an evil wizard turning people into toads ("You call yourself my servant?") - what more could you ask for? 'Arabian Adventure' knows the genre standards and delivers. Lest I forget, fire-breathing metal monsters and Peter Cushing with a silly beard are in it as well. One has to admit that the limited budget shows in the set decoration, as the palace looks more like cardboard than marble, and then some effects like the superimposed jinn are rather TV quality than big screen. But fairy tales from 1001 Nights don't need realism that much, I found I could successfully switch into fantasy mode and simply enjoy it. It's an old-fashioned production like they did in the 1940s and 50s, maintaining the same naive charm and that's fine for such kind of things.

this film is pathetic the acting (if you could call it that is cardboard and predictable) the plot again is predictable and so clichéd (with no real attempt to even disguise the cliché). I didn't know that thieves had cockney accents in 'arabia'. what makes it even worst is that all the actors are supposed to be Arab but just have lots of fake tan on. it looks like everything from every fantasy and storybook has been thrown into a bag and pulled out in some random order. the story doesn't seem to focus on one magic thing to the next this is too dull a film to mention in fact i couldn't get through the whole thing without giving up and deciding that this is a wholesale waste of my time. i was very surprised to see that this film had been made in 1979. i mean, star wars had been made by then, Indiana Jones wasn't far off. jaws had been made and yet the effects in this film are pathetic. i could not justify giving this film any more than a one as a rating.

I LOVE THIS MOVIE!!!...Yet I haven't been able to find a copy of it for years.. As a child I watched this movie constantly, esp' due to my love of LEE..And it has remained as a special movie to me. It seemed to be one of those movies back then, that was one of the newer 'style' movies in the late 70's (effects and stuff)..so back then i just loved it..It's a true fantasy!! I think most children would absolutly love this film..though if i saw it now, i'd proberly laugh at the effects! But no one i've met has ever heard of it..I think it's a hidden gem..hopefully not lost forever!!!