Arabian Nights

Released Dec 25, 1942

1h 26m

Fantasy

List

75%

Tomatometer

8 Reviews

80%

Audience Score

5,000+ Ratings

Scheherazade (Maria Montez), Sinbad, Aladdin and an acrobat (Sabu) help Baghdad's real caliph (Jon Hall) dethrone his bad brother.

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Nancy Banks-Smith

Guardian

Arabian Nights was lavish entertainment, with some good actors, mostly lost in whiskers, excellent effects like the flying carpet, and sly lines woven in to amuse the adults.

Feb 25, 2020

Full Review

John Leonard

New York Magazine/Vulture

They should have adapted, instead of Arabian Nights, a children's book that derives from (while modernizing) the same classic text -- Salman Rushdie's Haroun and the Sea of Stories.

Feb 6, 2018

Full Review

Grant Watson

Fiction Machine

It runs a tight 90-minutes: it gets in, does exactly what it says on the tin, and gets back out with efficiency.

Rated: 6/10

May 16, 2023

Full Review

Dennis Harvey

48 Hills

To watch this Arabian Nights now is to take in a rainbow of hues you’d forgotten existed...

Jul 18, 2022

Full Review

Charles Cassady

Common Sense Media

A fresh, but long, take on the classic stories.

Rated: 5/5

Dec 14, 2010

Full Review

TV Guide

Rated: 4/5

Jul 30, 2003

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jordan m

They did a good job with the costumes, which were surprisingly revealing for a 40s movie, and with creating a plot that doesn't exist in the tales the movie is ostensibly based on, but with this coming hot on the heels of 1940's Thief of Bagdad there wasn't much that ended up sticking with me for more than a couple days after my viewing. They didn't do anything with this movie that hadn't been done better by a predecessor.

Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars

03/31/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Gives a wrong shape to Arabian culture as if it was the intention.

Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars

01/19/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Arabain nights (2000) made for TV mini-series. Abit long, but it's a made for TV type of mini 2 part movie. Its can be digested in chunks. Although I watched it in one long sit in. It doesnt focus on the stories of Ali Baba and the 40 thieves or Aladdin too much. Those are treated more like side stories here. But they are saved thanks to the long run time. And it's the stories which are the most interesting part. All in all. It's a thumbs up from me. Arabian nights is definitely worth a watch.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

02/23/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Very underrated. The movie is long, but is truly captivating.

Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars

01/23/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Never feel bored something about the magic lamp and Alladin

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

02/26/23

Full Review

Frances H

Okay, but not spectacular.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

03/16/16

Full Review

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John Rawlins

Director

Jon Hall

Haroun-Al-Raschid

Maria Montez

Sherazade

Sabu

Ali Ben Ali

Leif Erickson

Kamar

Billy Gilbert

Ahmad

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Legend

41%

73%

Legend

The Thief of Bagdad

100%

81%

The Thief of Bagdad

Kismet

57%

50%

Kismet

A Guy Named Joe

67%

73%

A Guy Named Joe

Here Comes Mr. Jordan

100%

82%

Here Comes Mr. Jordan

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Synopsis

Scheherazade (Maria Montez), Sinbad, Aladdin and an acrobat (Sabu) help Baghdad's real caliph (Jon Hall) dethrone his bad brother.

Director: John Rawlins
Producer: Walter Wanger
Screenwriter: True Boardman, Michael Hogan
Distributor: Universal Pictures, Film Classics Inc., MCA/Universal Pictures [us]
Production Co: Universal Pictures
Genre: Fantasy
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Dec 25, 1942, Original
Release Date (DVD): Feb 6, 2007
Runtime: 1h 26m
Sound Mix: Mono