| Arabian Adventure | |
| Director: | Kevin Connor |
| Producer: | John Dark |
| Starring: | Christopher Lee Oliver Tobias |
| Music: | Ken Thorne |
| Cinematography: | Alan Hume |
| Editing: | Barry Peters |
| Studio: | EMI Films British Lion Films |
| Distributor: | EMI Distributors[1] |
| Runtime: | 98 minutes |
| Country: | United Kingdom |
| Budget: | $4 million[2] |
| Language: | English |
Arabian Adventure is a 1979 British fantasy adventure film directed by Kevin Connor and starring Christopher Lee and Oliver Tobias.[3] [4]
An evil caliph offers his daughter's hand in marriage to a prince if he can complete a perilous quest for a magical rose. Helped by a young boy and a magic carpet, Prince Hasan, has to overcome genies, fire breathing monsters and treacherous swamps to reach his prize and claim the hand of Princess Zuleira.
The film was the last of several fantasy movies Connor and Dark made together including The Land That Time Forgot, At the Earth's Core and Warlords of Atlantis. Although it had the biggest budget it was far less successful at the box office.[5] The movie was a throwback to Arabian nights films like The Thief of Bagdad.[6]
Brian Hayles wrote Warlords and John Dark and Connor asked him to write an original Eastern fantasy.[7]
"These Eastern tales abound with lovely excursions into pure fantasy", said John Dark. "It was a very beautiful period and a very beautiful territory. We hope to recreate, in our story, the exciting architecture and costumes, as well as some exciting special effects, like an army of flying carpets. It's an amalgam of a lot of stories, a lot of lore, magic mirrors, wicked spells, benign and evil jinnees and one or two very special ideas of our own."[8]
In April 1978 EMI Films announced they would make the film as part of a series of films they wanted to produce with the newly formed Orion Pictures.[9] It did end up being one of Orion's first films, along with the Academy Award-winning A Little Romance, Over the Edge, Promises in the Dark, Heart Beat, The Wanderers and the box office hit 10.[10]
Filming took place in September 1978.[11] The film was shot at Pinewood Studios, Buckinghamshire, U.K.
Christopher Lee returned to Britain for the first time in three years to take the lead role. "I couldn't resist it" said Lee. "It's a very fine screenplay by Brian, falling into the true fairy tale genre of romance and beauty combined with the kind of wickedness and violence which has sent delicious shivers down the spines of children of all nations since time immemorial."
Hayles died during filming, on October 30, 1978 shortly after having delivered his first draft of a third original film for Dark and Connor, about pirate ghosts.[12]