Sumptuous British Gainsborough Pictures production with a huge budget for its day ($500K) plays a lot like a cross between THE THIEF OF BAGHDAD and KISMET all bumbling through meters of silk and pearls on their way to a Gilbert and Sullivan convention.
Anna Mae Wong is just so beautiful and this very funny - delicious- farce is a pleasure to watch. Often referred to as an antique musical in that creaky British manner of 30s films - it is actually a lot better than that and viewers will find the whole concoction quite intoxicating. I am sure it did influence Hollywood and had Selznick known it was possible to make such a lavish fantasy musical I am sure he would have made in color too. Instead he made THE GARDEN OF ALLAH which this gives more than a veiled nod towards. Of course if Howard Hughes press-ganged RKO onto it we would have got ...huh? we did? oh yes...THE SON OF SINBAD. Chu Chin is good Chow. Enjoy!
Anna Mae Wong is just so beautiful and this very funny - delicious- farce is a pleasure to watch. Often referred to as an antique musical in that creaky British manner of 30s films - it is actually a lot better than that and viewers will find the whole concoction quite intoxicating. I am sure it did influence Hollywood and had Selznick known it was possible to make such a lavish fantasy musical I am sure he would have made in color too. Instead he made THE GARDEN OF ALLAH which this gives more than a veiled nod towards. Of course if Howard Hughes press-ganged RKO onto it we would have got ...huh? we did? oh yes...THE SON OF SINBAD. Chu Chin is good Chow. Enjoy!