Arabian Nights

Two half brothers, Haroun-Al-Raschid and Kamar, are set against each other over the throne of Baghdad and the affection of the dancer Sherazade. Wounded and driven into hiding, Haroun takes refuge with a travelling troupe of performers that includes the acrobat Ali Ben Ali, and the company is soon threatened by the vizier Nadan, who sells its members into slavery.

The film is a Universal Pictures release produced by Walter Wanger and directed by John Rawlins, from a screenplay by Michael Hogan. It arrives roughly a decade into Rawlins's directing career, which by then ran to dozens of features, and among its credited cast of thirty-three are Jon Hall as Haroun-Al-Raschid, Maria Montez as Sherazade, Sabu as Ali Ben Ali, Leif Erickson as Kamar, Edgar Barrier as Nadan and Billy Gilbert as Ahmad. It mixes action and adventure with comedy across its eighty-six minutes.

Released in December 1942, Arabian Nights was made during a period when Universal and Wanger were producing lavish Technicolor spectacles built around exotic settings and Montez and Hall as a recurring screen pairing. Its worldwide box office of two million dollars stands as a strong return for such a production. On IMDb it holds 6.1 out of 10 from around 1,800 votes, while on TMDB it sits at 6 out of 10 from a much smaller pool of fifty-five votes.