The Brass Bottle (1964)

Fresh and Exciting

It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional

This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

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

This movie serves as a warning to all that one should be careful when opening antique Arabian brass bottles. You could accidentally let lose a ghost, weird monasteries beetles or a genie trapped inside for centuries. No doubt if a genie is trapped in a bottle there must be a good reason for it. Harold Ventimore (Tony Randall) is a prime example of a life ruined by letting lose a jinn. Having a grateful being with power to grant your every whim and wish sounds pretty sweet, especially if your a cruel greedy dictator, but not if your a humble easy going, get up and go to work kind of guy. After being cooped up for thousands of years Fakrash the Genie (Burl Ives) wants to shower grateful and lavish gifts upon his rescuer (Harold) . The trouble is he wants to do it Ancient Arabian Style. This approach to wish fulfillment doesn't fit with the 20th century way of doing things especially with the moral and ethical mindset of Harold. Fakrash wants to kill Harold's enemies, furnish him with gold and provide him with lots of sexy women to be his wife. Nowadays murder is wrong, only the government can issue money and Harold only wants one wife, his fiancé Sylvia Kenton (Barbara Eden). Before he meet Fakrash he had had a beautiful relationship with his fiancé and a good flowing job. But Fakrash's over-bearing wrong century approach to service has lost him both plus his sanity. Interestingly his fiancé doesn't believe him when the following year she would become a genie herself in the comedy series 'I Dream of Jeannie'. Hypocrite. Should you rub 'The Brass Bottle' and let the comedic genie out of it? It is a lighthearted fantasy comedy with nothing too offensive that would make it unsuitable for family viewing. Their are some dancing girls dressed somewhat sexy, but it is still more modest then MTV or going to the beach. It is the style of Ancient Arabian Times. Harold even wants to get the genie dressed all sexy some modest attire to wear. Awww the innocent days of film comedy. The comedy remains situational and never runs into silly mayhem or slapstick (not there is anything wrong with that providing it is done right.) The film doesn't depend on CGI and only uses pretty basic effects sparingly when it has to. It relies mostly on the relationship between Harold and Fakrash and the various other characters whom them meet to build the story on.So rub the bottle if you want a decent, amusing, somewhat funny, comedic fantasy with some decent moral lessons you can watch with the kids. Afterwards you can then always read the original book by Frank Anstey (which can be found online). Remember hard work can never replace the instant gratification of an out of touch genie.

I first watched this movie in the theater when it came out and have wanted to see it again ever since. When I saw that it was available on DVD I rushed my order in and have watched it four times since receiving it. Burl Ives is perfect as the Genie FakRash Alamash, and Tony Randall makes the perfect foil for his chicanery.Barbara Eden is beautiful, and as others have noted, this movie was no doubt her passport to her role in "My Favorite Genie." Edward Andrews gave one of his usual great performances as the father of her character.My favorite scene was the dinner party that Randall gave for his fiancé and her parents when the Genie FakRash converted his home into an Arabian Nights style magical palace, complete with exotic foods and slaves, and featuring the incredible belly dancing of Lulu Porter. I still laugh out loud every time I see Edward Andrews reaction to the eyes of lamb roasted in honey.This is a movie that everyone should see and enjoy. It came out about the same time as "Bell, Book and Candle," a comedy about witchcraft featuring James Stewart and Kim Novak. Maybe themes of magic and spells were reflective of the mood of America in that post war time of ease and a booming economy.

For the most part, "The Brass Bottle" is one of those silly comedies that they cranked out in the early '60s. In this case, jittery architect Harold Ventimore (Tony Randall) frees genie Fakrash (Burl Ives) who tries to hard to please his new master. It only complicates matters when Harold can't explain things to his fiancée Sylvia Kenton (Barbara Eden). Will these genies ever be able to do things right?! Yes, this movie is very much a product of those days, when we viewed the Middle East as the land of sultans with harems; I believe that OPEC gave us the negative view that now dominates. But no matter, this movie is impossible not to like. In that sense, it's sort of like the other 1964 movie in which Tony Randall and Barbara Eden co-starred: "7 Faces of Dr. Lao" (which also had kind of a magical plot).So, it may be a movie impossible to take seriously, but it's definitely good for a few laughs. And if absolutely nothing else, we can sort of see Barbara Eden getting primed to play the most famous genie ever to grace TV screens. Also starring Edward Andrews, Ann Doran and Philip Ober (who appeared on the "I Dream of Jeannie" pilot).One more thing: I noticed in the courtroom scene a picture of Pres. Kennedy. Since this movie obviously came out after his assassination, wouldn't they have been nervous about showing his picture?

The Brass Bottle, which I thought was quite entertaining, was obviously the basis for the "I Dream of Jeannie" television series, but one thing I liked that was in the movie that wasn't really dealt with in the television show was that the genie utilized his ability to see the future to his master's advantage. This was particularly amusing when it came to the confident efforts of the genie in the management of his master's investments. When I watched "I Dream of Jeannie", I always wondered whether Jeannie could tell the future, and if so, why she didn't use that ability to help her master. It really seems to me that had she done so, it would have made a great television series even better.