Arabian Adventure

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Arabian Adventure
EMI Films
British Lion Films
Distributed byAssociated Film Distribution
Release dates
  • 5 July 1979 (1979-07-05)
  • 19 July 1979 (1979-07-19) (UK[1])
Running time
98 minutes
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish
Budget$4 million[2]

Arabian Adventure is a 1979 British fantasy adventure film directed by Kevin Connor and starring Christopher Lee and Oliver Tobias.[3]

Premise

An evil caliph (Christopher Lee) offers his daughter's hand in marriage to a prince if he can complete a perilous quest for a magical rose. Helped by a young boy (Puneet Sira) and a magic carpet, Prince Hasan (Oliver Tobias), has to overcome genies, fire breathing monsters and treacherous swamps to reach his prize and claim the hand of Princess Zuleira (Emma Samms).

Cast

Production

The film was the last of several fantasy movies Connor and Dark made together including

The Land That Time Forgot, At the Earth's Core and Warlords of Atlantis. Although it had the biggest budget it was far less successful at the box office.[4] The movie was a throwback to Arabian nights films like The Thief of Bagdad.[5]

Brian Hayles wrote Warlords and John Dark and Connor asked him to write an original Eastern fantasy.[6]

"These Eastern tales abound with lovely excursions into pure fantasy", said John Dark. "It was a very beautiful period and a very beautiful territory. We hope to recreate, in our story, the exciting architecture and costumes, as well as some exciting special effects, like an army of flying carpets. It's an amalgam of a lot of stories, a lot of lore, magic mirrors, wicked spells, benign and evil jinnees and one or two very special ideas of our own."[7]

In April 1978

Academy Award-winning A Little Romance, Over the Edge, Promises in the Dark, Heart Beat, The Wanderers and the box office hit 10.[9]

Filming took place in September 1978.

U.K.

Christopher Lee returned to Britain for the first time in three years to take the lead role. "I couldn't resist it" said Lee. "It's a very fine screenplay by Brian, falling into the true fairy tale genre of romance and beauty combined with the kind of wickedness and violence which has sent delicious shivers down the spines of children of all nations since time immemorial."[11]

Hayles died during filming, on October 30, 1978 shortly after having delivered his first draft of a third original film for Dark and Connor, about pirate ghosts.[11]

References

  1. ^ "West End Openings". Screen International. 7 July 1979. p. 2.
  2. ^ "Exclusive Interview With Legendary Director Kevin Connor". Horror Channel. 7 August 2012.
  3. ^ DVD Talk
  4. ^ Ed. Allan Bryce, Amicus: The Studio That Dripped Blood, Stray Cat Publishing, 2000 p 153
  5. ^ "Arabian Adventure". Fangoria. 1979.
  6. ^ "Arabian Adventure". Famous Monsters of Filmland (161 ed.). 1980. p. 26.
  7. ^ "The Ultimate Arabian Adventure". Starlog. No. 20. 1979. p. 11.
  8. ^ "Orion's star rises in hollywood". New York Times. 19 April 1978.
  9. ProQuest 158712364
    .
  10. ProQuest 186060271
    .
  11. ^ a b "News". Starburst. January 1979.

External links

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