Son of Sinbad (1955)

When you see the title of this film you tend to think it is made for children or adolescents at the most. But this is not the case, besides making fun of the genre , it presents us with a considerable number of beautiful women dressed for the Khalif's harem. And how they dance!!! Vincent Price is superb as Omar Khayam, the poet with beautiful words and witty remarks. The sensuality and perfection of the dance numbers makes this an above average film, which did not receive the credit it deserved, probably because it was not very clear about the public it was aimed at. Dale Robertson is Sinbad, a Don Juan type who keeps intruding on the harem and getting in trouble. Vincent Price is his friend who provides him with words to use for seduction. Mari Blanchard is Kristina, who has the secret of the formula of the Greek Fire, which will bring victory to whoever has it. Great entertainment, from beginning to end, and Howard Hughes had a great taste!!!

Howard Hughes is the man.This will probably be considered too cheesy to watch by most.The acting is horrible and the production values? Well, lets just say they used coarse brushes on the painted backdrops. This could be Vincent Price's most ridiculous role and that's saying a lot. He plays Omar Khayyám, possibly the brightest man who lived in historical times. Here he is a slackmouthed sidekick who writes alluring phrases for the stupid Lothario to clumsily recite. The women swoon nonetheless.But this has two things that matter. One is that the story actually makes sense, more sense than any modern adventure. But you won't notice this, because the movie is about sex. Hughes doesn't mess around because he knows his stuff.There are two harem dance sequences. The first occupies the first five minutes of the movie. Nothing happens until we end this dance, something that has nothing whatever to do with the story. The Arabs are played by scowling extras, but the roles that mattered are played by pros. The two dancers are the top stripper in Turkey, and the top stripper in Los Angeles. Scattered about are dozens of harem womenAnd it has some gags that are better than anything in Indiana Jones. For instance Sinbad and Omar stop in the middle of the huge desert and Sinbad starts digging. Why? Because he guesses that the bad guy will erect his harem's tent over the spot. Sure enough...The 40 thieves in this version are the sexy Amazonian daughters of the originals, led by the love interest, the nearly nude redhead dancer Sally Forrest. She claimed to have auditioned privately for Hughes. Her dance here is the whole story.This was incidentally when Howard became the goto guy for CIA gadgets. The special effects here revolve around "Greek fire," a legendary explosive. Here the "formula" is hidden in a beauty's mind, to be recovered by trance induced by a moving faceted prism. Hughes Aircraft would soon make the key breakthrough in modern thermobaric explosives.Ted's Evaluation -- 3 of 3: Worth watching.

Son Of Sinbad is a film that follows the old studio rule that when you have an expensive picture and build an expensive set, get some use out of it. Any film fan will readily recognize the sets that were used in the RKO classic Sinbad The Sailor that starred Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. and Maureen O'Hara.Fairbanks had the style and dash to play the scimitar wielding Sinbad, ladies man and teller of tall tales. I suspect Sinbad also told a lot of tales about the women as well as the voyages in his life. But here we get poor Dale Robertson who must look back on this film with no amount of horror. But as he was working for Howard Hughes I'm sure that Robertson did not have to worry his paycheck wouldn't clear.In the Citadel film series book, the Films of Vincent Price both Price and Sally Forrest who played one of the many women in the cast both looked back with amusement on the whole thing. Price acknowledged that he hammed up his part of Omar Khayyam to the hilt. The role did give the classically trained actor a chance to speak Omar's immortal lines for the screen.The plot if you can call it involves Sinbad and Omar Khayyam teaming up to save the Caliph Leon Askin from the invading Mongol hordes of Tamerlane. They also manage if you can believe to bring Aladdin's magic lamp and the Amazonian descendants of Ali Baba's Forty Thieves. This is an errand for their lives because Askin already has Robertson and Price under a death sentence for some harem indiscretions.All this was an excuse for Howard Hughes to put in as many opportunities as he could to bring in as much leg and cleavage as he could pack on the screen at one time. At the drop of a gold dinar a harem dance number will occur, too bad the silly plot had to get in the way.The film was shot in 1953 and waited two years for release, something not unheard of in the RKO years of Howard Hughes. It awaited approval of the Legion of Decency which controlled the censorship of films. Hughes apparently had to cut some of the more revealing scenes before inflicting this on the general public.Son Of Sinbad gets as high a rating as it does for the sheer campiness of the film. Don't give this film one serious moment of viewing if you choose to watch it. Apparently the players didn't.

Fans of Howard Hughes will appreciate this colorful little gem -- but even if you haven't got the slightest interest in the famous capitalist, there's a lot in this lost classic to grin at. Allow me to adjust your expectations. . . Imagine how many lovely starlets must have said to the amorous billionaire, `Gee, Howard, I'd do just ANYTHING to get into motion pictures!'Well . . . they DID it -- and Howard made this one to satisfy all those promises he made to seventy or eighty gorgeous, desperate young ladies who wanted to break into the movies. Okay, sure, the plot is weak, but it moves along moderately well, and the true stars of this Arabian Nights tale (Howard's harem of young starlets) are given plenty of chances to strut their stuff.For example: the first ten minutes of the film are dedicated to a slinky belly dancer who wiggles and jiggles for costar Vincent Price. Price plays poet Omar Khayyam, the loyal comic side-kick of Sinbad, played wonderfully tongue-in-cheek by Dale Robertson. Price contributes a wealth of humorous moments, doing dead-pan double takes at Robertson's single-minded pursuit of amorous conquests.Think of this as Howard Hughes' personal fantasy, with Robertson portraying the Arabian alter-ego of America's most notorious girl-chasing billionaire.Sexy Sally Forrest is captivating as the girl who steals Sinbad's heart. The provocative dance she does for Robertson near the end of the film is extremely daring for 1955. Lovely Mari Blanchard (star of `She Devil' and `Abbott and Costello Go to Mars') sweetens the scenery with her attractive presence. Lilli St. Cyr is positively slinky as the Arabian ruler's main squeeze who has a yen for Sinbad.The production has other strong points besides the girls. The rousing music is by veteran composer Victor Young. Famous 1950s voice-man Paul Frees has a brief but funny role in the opening scenes as a fortune teller. In fact, the cast is loaded with notable character actors who make this low budget (but slick-looking) production a joy to watch. Don't blink or you'll miss Woody Strode in a very brief role as a harem guard!But there's no denying the fact this is a girl-watcher's movie. Anyone who makes an honest effort to count the number of gorgeous girls in the cast will agree that there has never been a film packed with more pretty faces ( -- etc.). If you doubt this claim, go to IMDBs' `full cast and crew' and count the number of young ladies listed as `raiders' in the cast. These are the daughters of the `Forty Thieves' of Arabian legend -- and there's almost fifty of them in the cast, alone! Add to this a herd of harem girls and other lovlies, and the result is a girl-watcher's extravaganza, unequaled in Hollywood!You might not be thrilled by the plot, but if wall-to-wall babes can hold your interest, this one won't bore you.P.S. If you're hankerin' for a suitable second feature to match this unique film, try `Princess of the Nile', starring a young and breath-taking Debra Pageant. Trust me, you won't be disappointed.