The Magic Carpet | |
---|---|
Directed by | Lew Landers |
Screenplay by | David Mathews |
Produced by | Sam Katzman |
Starring | Lucille Ball John Agar Patricia Medina George Tobias Raymond Burr Gregory Gaye Rick Vallin Gary Klein |
Cinematography | Ellis W. Carter |
Edited by | Edwin H. Bryant |
Music by | Arthur Morton |
Production companies | The Katzman Corporation Esskay Pictures Corporation |
Distributed by | Columbia Pictures |
Release date |
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Running time | 84 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
The Magic Carpet is a 1951 American adventure film directed by Lew Landers and written by David Mathews. The film, shot in SuperCinecolor, stars Lucille Ball, John Agar, Patricia Medina, George Tobias, Raymond Burr, Gregory Gaye, Rick Vallin and Gary Klein. [1] It was released on October 18, 1951 by Columbia Pictures, [2] [3] three days after Ball's I Love Lucy premiered.
Omar, a caliph, and Yazmina, a queen, arrange their infant son Ramoth's escape when rival Ali moves to forcibly overthrow them. Before they are slain, they ensure that the baby, his locket and magic carpet are kept in the safe hands of Ahkmid, an uncle and physician who raises Ramoth to manhood.
Ramoth, unaware that he is the rightful heir but disapproving of Ali's tyranny, disguises himself as the Scarlet Falcon and, assisted by his friend Razi and Razi's beautiful sister Lida, attempts to disrupt the caliph's reign. The evil Boreg becomes his nemesis, as does Narah, a princess who is the sister of Ali.
Ahkmid, mortally wounded by Boreg, reveals his true identity to Ramoth. Lida endeavors to infiltrate Ali's forces by disguising herself as a dancer, but she is caught and imprisoned. Ramoth is also taken prisoner, but Lida escapes and sends the magic carpet to rescue Ramoth in the nick of time. Ali is killed and Narah is placed in a dungeon as Ramoth and Lida fly away on the carpet to begin a new life.
In his two-star review, Leonard Maltin described The Magic Carpet as a "[m]ild costumer that has virtue of Ball as heroine, and little else," although Patricia Medina portrays the actual heroine in the film. [4]
The film was also described as a ’routine effort’. [5]
The Thief of Bagdad is a 1924 American silent swashbuckler film directed by Raoul Walsh and starring Douglas Fairbanks, and written by Achmed Abdullah and Lotta Woods. Freely adapted from One Thousand and One Nights, it tells the story of a thief who falls in love with the daughter of the Caliph of Baghdad. In 1996, the film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".
Abu Ja'far Harun ibn Muhammad al-Mahdi or simply Harun ibn al-Mahdi, famously known as Harun al-Rashid, was the fifth Abbasid caliph of the Abbasid Caliphate, reigning from September 786 until his death in March 809. His reign is traditionally regarded to be the beginning of the Islamic Golden Age. His epithet al-Rashid translates to "the Orthodox", "the Just", "the Upright", or "the Rightly-Guided".
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Aladdin is a Middle-Eastern folk tale. It is one of the best-known tales associated with The Book of One Thousand and One Nights, despite not being part of the original text; it was added by the Frenchman Antoine Galland, based on a folk tale that he heard from the Syrian Maronite storyteller Hanna Diyab.
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The Evil Queen, also called the Wicked Queen or just the Queen, is a fictional character and the main antagonist of "Snow White", a German fairy tale recorded by the Brothers Grimm; similar stories exist worldwide. Other versions of the Queen appear in subsequent adaptations and continuations of the fairy tale, including novels and films. One particularly notable version is Disney's depiction, sometimes known as Queen Grimhilde. The character has also become an archetype that inspired unrelated works.
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