''Bagdad'' is a 1949

Technicolor Technicolor is a series of Color motion picture film, color motion picture processes, the first version dating back to 1916, and followed by improved versions over several decades. Definitive Technicolor movies using three black and white films ...

adventure film An adventure film is a form of adventure fiction, and is a genre of film. Subgenres of adventure films include swashbuckler films, pirate films, and survival films. Adventure films may also be combined with other film genres such as action, ani ...

directed by

Charles Lamont Charles Lamont (May 5, 1895 – September 11, 1993) was a prolific filmmaker, directing over 200 titles and producing and writing many others. He directed several Abbott and Costello comedies and many Ma and Pa Kettle films. Biography A Calif ...

starring

Maureen O'Hara Maureen O'Hara (; 17 August 1920 – 24 October 2015) was a native Irish and naturalized American actress and singer, who became successful in Hollywood from the 1940s through to the 1960s. She was a natural redhead who was known for pl ...

Paul Hubschmid Paul Hubschmid (; 20 July 1917 – 31 December 2001) was a Swiss actor. He was most notable for his role as Henry Higgins in a production of ''My Fair Lady''. In some of his Hollywood films he used the name Paul Christian. He appeared in dozens ...

(billed as "Paul Christian"), and

Vincent Price Vincent Leonard Price Jr. (May 27, 1911 – October 25, 1993) was an American actor, art historian, art collector and gourmet cook. He appeared on stage, television, and radio, and in more than 100 films. Price has two stars on the Hollywood Wal ...

. O'Hara called it "a 'tits and sand' picture...one of the films that I point to as part of my decorative years but audiences love them."

Plot

It tells the story of a

Bedouin The Bedouin, Beduin, or Bedu (; , singular ) are nomadic Arabs, Arab tribes who have historically inhabited the desert regions in the Arabian Peninsula, North Africa, the Levant, and Mesopotamia. The Bedouin originated in the Syrian Desert ...

princess (

) who returns to

Baghdad Baghdad (; ar, بَغْدَاد , ) is the capital of Iraq and the second-largest city in the Arab world after Cairo. It is located on the Tigris near the ruins of the ancient city of Babylon and the Sassanid Persian capital of Ctesiphon ...

after being educated in

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

. She finds that her father has been murdered by a group of renegades. She is hosted by the

Pasha Pasha, Pacha or Paşa ( ota, پاشا; tr, paşa; sq, Pashë; ar, باشا), in older works sometimes anglicized as bashaw, was a higher rank in the Ottoman political and military system, typically granted to governors, generals, dignita ...

(

), the corrupt representative of the national government. She is also courted by Prince Hassan (

), who is falsely accused of the murder. The plot revolves around her attempts to bring the killer to justice while being courted by the Pasha. The film was directed by

and included choreography by

Lester Horton Lester Iradell Horton (23 January 1906 – 2 November 1953) was an American dancer, choreographer, and teacher. Early years and education Lester Iradell Horton was born in Indianapolis, Indiana on 23 January 1906. His parents were Iradell and Poll ...

and

Bella Lewitzky Bella Lewitzky (January 13, 1916, Los Angeles, California – July 16, 2004, Pasadena, California) was a modern dance choreographer, dancer and teacher. Biography Born to Jewish Russian immigrants, Lewitzky spent her childhood on a ranch in Sa ...

Cast

as Princess Marjan *

as Hassan *

as Pasha Ali Nadim * John Sutton as Raizul *

Jeff Corey Jeff Corey (born Arthur Zwerling; August 10, 1914 – August 16, 2002) was an American stage and screen actor who became a well-respected acting teacher after being blacklisted in the 1950s. Life and career Corey attended New Utrecht Hig ...

as Mohammed Jao *

Frank Puglia Francesco Giuseppe "Frank" Puglia (9 March 1892 – 25 October 1975) was an Italian-American film actor. He had small, but memorable roles in films including ''Casablanca'' (a Moroccan rug merchant), ''Now, Voyager'' and ''The Jungle Book''. ...

as Saleel * David Bauer as Mahmud (as David Wolfe) *

Fritz Leiber Fritz Reuter Leiber Jr. ( ; December 24, 1910 – September 5, 1992) was an American writer of fantasy, horror, and science fiction. He was also a poet, actor in theater and films, playwright, and chess expert. With writers such as Robert ...

as Emir * Otto Waldis as Marengo *

Leon Belasco Leon Belasco (born Leonid Simeonovich Berladsky; 11 October 1902 – 1 June 1988) was a Russian-American actor and musician who had a 60-year career in film and television from the 1920s to the 1980s, appearing in more than 100 films. Musi ...

as Beggar * Anne P. Kramer as Tirza (as Ann Pearce)

Production

In April 1949 Universal announced the film would star

Yvonne de Carlo Margaret Yvonne Middleton (September 1, 1922January 8, 2007), known professionally as Yvonne De Carlo, was a Canadian-American actress, dancer and singer. She became a Hollywood film star in the 1940s and 1950s, made several recordings, and later ...

and Swiss actor Paul Christian. It would be Christian's Hollywood debut - he had meant to star in ''Sword in the Desert'' but been ruled out due to an eye infection. De Carlo fell ill and so Universal borrowed Maureen O'Hara from 20th Century Fox; it was O'Hara's first film at Universal. Filming started in June. It took place on location at the Alabama Hills in Lone Pine, California. O'Hara wrote in her memoirs that she was stung by a scorpion a few days into the shoot "but other than that it was an uneventful experience." Vincent Price appeared in the movie as the last in a four-picture contract he had with Universal. “All through one week’s filming in the blistering sun, take after take was being ruined by the inhuman howls of a lady camel,” wrote Vincent Price in his book ''The Book of Joe''. “No one could make her stop, and the furious reprimand by the sound man to the animal owner brought out the news that the camel must have fallen in love with one of the cast. It couldn’t be anyone she was used to, because it had never happened before and the crew had been around the animals for a week before we arrived. Since there were only three men, including myself, in the company and lady camels fall only for human men, it must be one of us.” After the other two men were presented to the camel with no reaction. “...the moment I appeared the great lumpy beast gave forth with the most disturbing screams of passionate anguish. I was the object of her affection and also the friendly derision of the entire company, but the film was able to continue by eliminating this camel from any scene I was in.” Price, Vincent. The Book of Joe. Doubleday and Company, Inc.: New York, 1961. P. 99.

Reception

According to O'Hara the film "made Universal and fortune and Universal purchased part of my contract from Fox as a result of that success."

References

External links

* * * {{Charles Lamont 1949 films 1940s adventure drama films American adventure drama films Films directed by Charles Lamont Films set in Baghdad Films set in Iraq Films set in the 19th century Universal Pictures films 1949 drama films Films about coups d'état 1940s English-language films 1940s American films