Siren of Bagdad | |
---|---|
Directed by | Richard Quine |
Written by | Robert E. Kent Larry Rhine |
Produced by | Sam Katzman |
Starring | Paul Henreid Patricia Medina Hans Conried |
Cinematography | Henry Freulich |
Edited by | Jerome Thoms |
Music by | John Leipold |
Distributed by | Columbia Pictures |
Release date | May 20, 1953 |
Running time | 73 min. |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Siren of Bagdad is a 1953 Technicolor fantasy adventure film produced by Sam Katzman and directed by Richard Quine set in the medieval Iraq. It stars Paul Henreid as a travelling Master magician who seeks to recover his troop of beautiful dancing girls who are to be sold into slavery. Patricia Medina portrays his love interest who seeks to overthrow the corrupt Grand Vizier with the magician's help. [1] Hans Conried plays the sidekick to Quine's magician, who is transformed into a beautiful blonde woman who spies and distracts the Grand Vizier while retaining Conried's voice.
This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (November 2014) |
Kazah the Great, a magician is traveling in Arabia with a circus.
Patricia Medina signed a three-picture contract with Sam Katzman, of which this was the first. [2]
Filming started 3 September 1952. [3]
It was Henreid's third swashbuckler for Katzman. The actor later recalled that Quine "wanted to do the film as a satire, a Chaplinesque burlesque of pirate films." [4]
The movie had a successful preview which Henreid said "Every situation joke worked; the audience howled. I came out beaming, and producer Sam Katzman, Quine and I congratulated one another on the very funny picture." [5]
He said Katzman's wife was the only one who did not think the film would be a success, saying "People who go to pirate pictures want just that, a pirate picture. They aren’t as sophisticated as this preview audience. They want their pictures to follow a strict formula. This picture pokes fun at the sacred formula—and I don’t think they’ll accept that." Henreid said "she was absolutely right. The picture was a flop! " [6] [7]
Paul Henreid was an Austrian-American actor, director, producer, and writer. He is best remembered for two film roles: Victor Laszlo in Casablanca and Jerry Durrance in Now, Voyager, both released between 1942 and 1943.
Hans Georg Conried Jr. was an American actor and comedian. He was known for providing the voices of George Darling and Captain Hook in Walt Disney's Peter Pan (1953), Snidely Whiplash in Jay Ward's Dudley Do-Right cartoons, Professor Waldo P. Wigglesworth in Ward's Hoppity Hooper cartoons, was host of Ward's live-action "Fractured Flickers" show and Professor Kropotkin on the radio and film versions of My Friend Irma. He also appeared as Uncle Tonoose on Danny Thomas' sitcom Make Room for Daddy, and twice on I Love Lucy.
Richard Quine was an American director, actor, and singer.
Jon Hall was an American film actor known for playing a variety of adventurous roles, as in 1937's The Hurricane, and later when contracted to Universal Pictures, including Invisible Agent and The Invisible Man's Revenge and six films he made with Maria Montez. He was also known to 1950s fans as the creator and star of the Ramar of the Jungle television series which ran from 1952 to 1954. Hall directed and starred in two 1960s sci-fi films in his later years, The Beach Girls and the Monster (1965) and The Navy vs. the Night Monsters (1966).
Sam Katzman was an American film producer and director. Katzman's specialty was producing low-budget genre films, including serials, which had disproportionately high returns for the studios and his financial backers.
Serpent of the Nile is a 1953 Technicolor historical adventure film produced by Sam Katzman and directed by William Castle. The film starred Rhonda Fleming, Raymond Burr, William Lundigan and Michael Ansara. In an early role, actress Julie Newmar appears as an exotic dancer clad only in gold paint. It also stars William Lundigan as Lucilius and Michael Fox as Octavius.
The Spanish Main is a 1945 American adventure film starring Paul Henreid, Maureen O'Hara, Walter Slezak and Binnie Barnes, and directed by Frank Borzage. It was RKO's first all-Technicolor film since Becky Sharp ten years before.
Jaʽfar ibn Yahya Barmaki or Jafar al-Barmaki (767–803), also called Aba-Fadl, was a Persian vizier of the Abbasid caliph Harun al-Rashid, succeeding his father in that position. He was a member of the influential Barmakid family, formerly Buddhist leaders of the Nava Vihara monastery. He was executed in 803 at the orders of Harun al-Rashid.
Patricia Paz Maria Medina was a British actress. She is perhaps best known for her roles in the films Phantom of the Rue Morgue (1954) and Mr. Arkadin (1955).
Adventures of Sir Galahad is the 41st serial released in 1949 by Columbia Pictures. Directed by Spencer Gordon Bennet, it stars George Reeves, Nelson Leigh, William Fawcett, Hugh Prosser, and Lois Hall. It was based on Arthurian legend, one of the very few serials of the time with a period setting that was not a western.
John Samuel Ingram was an American film and television actor. He appeared in many serials and Westerns between 1935 and 1966.
Thief of Damascus is a 1952 American Technicolor adventure film directed by Will Jason and starring Paul Henreid, John Sutton and Jeff Donnell. The film features a generous use of stock footage from such films as Joan of Arc. The film, produced by Sam Katzman, was preceded by his The Magic Carpet and followed by Siren of Bagdad.
Terry Lawrence Frost was an American actor who appeared in dozens of Western films during the 1940s and 1950s.
Sangaree is a 1953 American 3-D color period costume drama film by director Edward Ludwig. It was adapted from the 1948 novel of the same name by Frank G. Slaughter.
The Prince of Thieves is a 1948 American adventure film nominally inspired by Alexandre Dumas' 1872 novel Le Prince des voleurs. Produced by Sam Katzman for Columbia Pictures and starring Jon Hall as Robin Hood with stuntwork by Jock Mahoney, the film was shot in the Cinecolor process that features an inability to reproduce the colour green. Sequences were shot reusing several of the sets of Columbia's The Bandit of Sherwood Forest and at Corriganville. Patricia Morison and Adele Jergens co-star.
Pirates of Tripoli is a 1955 American adventure film directed by Felix E. Feist and starring Paul Henreid and Patricia Medina.
The Iron Glove is a 1954 American historical adventure film directed by William Castle and starring Robert Stack, Ursula Thiess and Richard Stapley. It was based on the adventures of the Jacobite Charles Wogan.
Slaves of Babylon is a 1953 American adventure film directed by William Castle and starring Richard Conte and Linda Christian
Last of the Buccaneers is a 1950 American Technicolor adventure film directed by Lew Landers and starring Paul Henreid as Jean Lafitte.
Paul Palmentola (1888–1966) was an Italian-born American art director. He designed the film sets for more than two hundred productions during his career, much of his work during the 1930s and 1940s at low-budget studios such as Mayfair Pictures, Monogram and PRC. He was later employed by Columbia Pictures in the early 1950s, working on their adventure films and with Sam Katzman's unit.