Movie Review: Ali Baba and the Seven Saracens

Ali Baba and the Seven Saracens (Simbad contro i sette saraceni)
Starring: Gordon Mitchell, Bruno Piergentili (as Dan Harrison), Bella Cortez, Carla Calò, Amedeo Trilli, Luigi Tosi, Tony Di Mitri, Lilli Zander, Attilio Severini, Tonino Stoppa, Franco Doria, Maria Pia Conte, Renato Terra, Mario Russo, Alberto Conversi, Artemio Antonini, Bruno Carotenuto 
Director: Emimmo Salvi
Avis Film, American International Productions, Italy, 1964.

This movie is published as a part of Warriors 50 movie pack box published by Mill Creek Entertainment.

Originally this was a Sinbad adventure trying to ride on the wave of popular Sinbad the Sailor movies. The main character was changed to Ali Baba in the American dub. 

Cruel ruler of Cufra named Omar (Gordon Mitchell) casts his eyes on Fatima (Bella Cortez). This displeases his lover Farida (Carla Calò). Fatima's father is a tribe leader who has thousands of warriors and gold. Omar wants to rule all tribes. Captive rebels are being tortured by inquisitor-like Sharif (Tony Di Mitri).

Omar and Farida

Sharif (on the right)

The Yeriti rebels led by Ali Baba (Bruno Piergentili) are meeting on the beach. Omar orders to guard well Fatima and her uncle Haswan (Amedeo Trilli). He plans a surprise attack on Ali Baba's Yeriti troops. Ali Baba Escapes. There is an upcoming tournament, last man standing fight will  be used to decide the new ruler of the Golden Throne. Omar invites Seven Saracen leaders to take part of the tournament. Majii has given a sign that also Eight warrior must come. He must come from the Yeriti tribe that Omar hates.

Fatima

Fatima's uncle Haswan

Fatima goes riding and finds fainted Ali Baba. She helps her and takes him into a cave. However she gets scared when she sees Ali Baba's amulet. She promises to return though. Farida sends spies after her. The spy assassinates Fatima's stableman. Ali Baba's amulet turns out to be the symbol of slavery. Fatima brings weapons to Ali Baba although he is her enemy. Ali Baba gets angry because he does not want Omar's weapons. Ali Baba throws Fatima out and Fatima falls in love with Ali Baba instantly!

Spy kills Fatima's stableman

Ali Baba and Fatima

Omar's soldiers knock Ali Baba down and capture him. Farida makes Fatima a harem slave. The other harem girls like Fatima because he is a friend of Ali Baba. However the other prisoners are not fond of Ali Baba. There is a weird scene where a guy dances on a table while others are clapping. After a fistfight with Momet (Alberto Conversi) they become best buddies.

Ali Baba vows revenge

Omar celebrates the capture of Ali Baba

Have you ever been in a Turkish prison?

Great big little man Jukki (Franco Doria) is now also friend of them both. He has a plan to free the prisoners and the harem girls. Jukki is so small that he can crawl in the secret ducts of the palace. Jukki is a friend of a crazy eunuch who lets the girls escape.

Farida puts in Fatima the harem

Momet, Jukki and Ali Baba

However the guards notice the escape attempt. Momet manages to escape. Ali Baba and Fatima hide in the warehouse. They are captured again. Omar is not allowed to execute Ali Baba because of Majii's prophecy. Omar sends Haswan to chase Momet, hoping that Haswan will get killed. Momet finds his gang and fights the chasing soldiers. They take Haswan as their prisoner.

Jukki introduces himself to the harem girls

The tournament begins. The combatants use a wide assortment of different weapons, ranging form rakes and chain weapons to huge swords. Omar's favourite weapon is a blade attached to his boot tip, obviously stolen from Rosa Klebb. There is also some chariot fighting. Meanwhile Jukki finds a map of the ducts. Finally only Omar and Ali Baba remain of the combatants.

Rake weapons

Huge swords

Omar and Sharif plan to cheat and make archers shoot Ali Baba. Ali Baba is wounded but the people get angry and attack the soldiers. Momet's gang arrives with their new friend Haswan. Jukki finds the mechanism that opens the gate to the palace. Ali Baba's and Momet's troops win the battle and a chariot runs over Omar. Now Farida gets to know how it feels to be a slave. The people celebrate liberty.

Victory!

Fatima and Ali Baba celebrate

The pacing of the film is awful. Also the acting is bad. The clumsiness causes lots of unintended hilarity. There are some jumpy cuts,and the situation is not helped by the restless pan and scan of the DVD. Gordon Mitchell makes a good villain, Bruno Piergentili is a run-of-the-mill hero and Franco Doria is fun as Ali Baba's little sidekick. There is a lot of running around the Italian countryside. Some of the sets are good, others bad. Probably a huge part of the budget went to the tournament scenes.

An example of the abrupt pan and scan jumps in two consecutive frames

Rating: Bad