SON OF SINBAD

US, 1955, 91 minutes, Colour.
Dale Robertson, Sally Forrest, Lili St Cyr, Vincent Price, Mari Blanchard, Leon Askin, Jay Novello.
Directed by Ted Tetslaff.

The reason for any interest in Son of Sinbad is not because of its variation on the 1001 Nights theme. It was produced by Howard Hughes. Its history is interesting insofar as it was held up for two years as Hughes capitalised on his trademark show business signature, his glamorous women, the most famous of which was his campaign for The Outlaw in the 1940s with Jane Russell and the consequent objections from the Legion of Decency and from Cardinal Spellman in New York.

While the contemporary American Catholic Bishops’ Office for Cinema has given the film a classification A3, unobjectionable for adults, it refers to the bevy of scantily-clad starlets. They include Sally Forrest who has a dance at the end of the film as well as Mari Blanchard. There are also several lengthy dances during the film to distract from the action.

Despite the fact that the film is about Sinbad’s son, his swashbuckling and amorous adventures, the potential attack by the Mongols under Tamalan, the introduction of the poet Omar Khayyam, and experiments with gunpowder, the film is not particularly interesting in itself.

Dale Robertson, better known for western films, is the dashing Sinbad. Sally Forrest is the servant who is associated with the Forty Thieves. Mari Blanchard is the daughter of the scientist with the Greek fire, gunpowder. However, the main interest in the film and its cast is the fact that Vincent Price plays Omar Khayyam, tongue-in-cheek, quoting the poetry – and giving a hugely unfeminist speech at the end to persuade the female descendants of the Forty Thieves and Ali Baba to come back to the city to be wives and mothers! One blogger noted that it was a great showcase for 1950s burlesque dancers. That is probably a very good summary.