6.4 | / 10 |
Users | 4.0 | |
Reviewer | 3.0 | |
Overall | 3.0 |
An evil magician seeks to gain power by obtaining a magic rose. A peasant boy and a Prince join forces to stop him.
Starring: Christopher Lee, Oliver Tobias, Milo O'Shea, Emma Samms, John WymanFamily | Insignificant |
Adventure | Insignificant |
Fantasy | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.85:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 (48kHz, 16-bit)
BDInfo
English
Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region A (B, C untested)
Movie | 3.0 | |
Video | 3.5 | |
Audio | 2.5 | |
Extras | 2.0 | |
Overall | 3.0 |
Throughout WWII and into its aftermath, the 1940s were a heyday for the "Arabian nights" movies in which audiences escaped the harsh realities of war and domestic problems to ride the carpet into a world of fantasy and adventure. Alexander Korda's The Thief of Bagdad (1940) is the crown jewel of the genre, followed by the solid Arabian Nights (1942), Kismet (1944), A Thousand and One Nights (1945), and several others. Few genre offerings were released during the 1970s and the escalation of the Vietnamese Conflict, save for Pasolini's Arabian Nights (1974). British director Kevin Connor's Arabian Adventure (1979) is a G-rated B film that was purportedly made to cash in on the success of Star Wars: A New Hope (1977).
The malevolent sorcerer Alquazar (Christopher Lee, in the role of Jafar) rules the oppressed village of Jadur. He keeps his good self imprisoned in a mirror and also keeps Princess Zuleira (Emma Samms), his beautiful daughter, within the confines of the castle. (Also incarcerated is an old vizier portrayed by Peter Cushing in a cameo.) Outside are the wise boy, Majeed, (Puneet Sira, stepping into Sabu's little shoes) and swashbuckler Hasan (Oliver Tobias, doing a decent imitation of Errol Flynn). Vahishta (Capucine) watches over Majeed inside a sapphire. Alquazar promises Hasan that he will let him marry Zuleira if he travels to the Isle of Elil and retrieves the magic white Rose. This would grant Alquazar all-mighty power. Along with Khasim (Milo O'Shea), Alquazar's flunky, Hasan and Majeed ride on the magic carpet to Elil where they encounter flame-breathing brass monsters. Daad El Shur (Mickey Rooney), guardian of the grotto and an antipode to the Wizard of Oz, hopes to prevent Majeed and Hasan from seizing the Rose.
Kino Lorber Studio Classics has given Arabian Adventure its global debut on Blu-ray on this MPEG-4 AVC-encoded BD-25. The film has been opened up to 1.78:1 from its native 1.85:1. The marketplace scenes look bright and colorful (see Screenshot #s 8 and 12) with a little speckling detectable in-motion. The enchanted forest scene (#19) has an earthy green and rising sun only obscured by tree branches. The matte effect shots (such as the one in #16) aren't seamlessly blended with the live-action footage in a convincing fashion. Interiors and cave scenes are much lower lit and display kernels of grain. The grain structure is somewhat inconsistent throughout the picture, though. Kino has encoded the feature at an average video bitrate of 24451 kbps. My video score is 3.75/5.00.
Kino provides it standard eight chapters for the 98-minute film.
Kino supplies a DTS-HD Master Audio Dual Mono (1557 kbps, 16-bit) as the sole sound track. Pitch levels vary from scene to scene. For instance, dialogue is more audible in Alquazar's lair than it is in the street scenes, owing to noise and ambience. Composer Ken Thorne's rousing score brings the liveliest presence to the front channels. Unfortunately, it's only been released as a promo from Belgium-based record label Prometheus in an album titled Arabian Adventure: The Film Music of Ken Thorne, Volume 3. Syndicated movie reviewer Richard Freedman regards it as "a score largely lifted from Rimsky-Korsakov's Scheherazade."
The optional English SDH display in a small white font and I activated them with semi-frequency.
Arabian Adventure has all the necessary ingredients for the fantasy adventure movie: an evil sorcerer, genies, swordsmen, magic carpets, a prince, and a princess. But it's a middle-of-the-road effort compared to the silent and sound versions of The Thief of Bagdad and Arabian nights pictures from the '40s. Kino released this as a cash cow to coincide with the live-action Aladdin (2019) but I'm glad it's at last available in high-def. The transfer is above average but the uncompressed sound track could have used some more remastering or even a new stereo mix. RECOMMENDED to fans of the genre as well as Christopher Lee admirers.
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