The Adventures of Hajji Baba

1954 "The girls pronounce it "Hotcha Baba!""
The Adventures of Hajji Baba
5.9| 1h34m| NR| en| More Info
Released: 01 October 1954 Released
Producted By: 20th Century Fox
Country: United States of America
Budget: 0
Revenue: 0
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Synopsis

In Ispahan, Persia, Hajji Baba is leaving his father's shop to seek a greater fortune, while the Princess Fawzia is trying to talk her father, the Caliph into giving her in marriage to Nur-El-Din, a rival prince known far and wide as mean and fickle. Her father intends for Fawzia to marry a friend and ally, and makes plans to send her to him.

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Jack Hunter 10 minutes into a film main actress goes into entire speech about being innocent and not knowing about love, and says "I am 17 and not married, so and so got married at 14". I thought she was 30+. So, I go and look up who she is, when she was born, what year movie is from and at time of filming she was 25, looking 30+. Playing a 17 year old which supposedly behaves like she is 12. Just ... too bizarre for me.That kills it for me. While sometimes performance is great and I can ignore nonsense like this, in this films case there is no depth. It appears to be very cheaply done knockoff of Ali Baba, with unattractive, untalented cast.Main male character similarly is near middle aged, playing a child. Most of remainder of male cast behave like they are all homosexual, while rest of female cast are all in 20's but acting like maybe set of 13 year old schoolgirls. Really weird film. Its supposed to be some kind of comedy/adventure, but its neither, its just garbage.
Moxy O The Adventures of Hajji BabaThis movie is excellent.Listed as 'B' movie, which it is.But this is no normal 'B' movie. The location scenery is superlative. In fact, some of the natural rock scenes I have seen many times in other famous movies. The direction is top notch. The acting is genuine and moving. Some very difficult lines are delivered with the utmost professionalism. EVERY actor AND EVERY actress is great! This movie is very impressive. To me, this movie is so good that it should be required viewing. The best 'B' that I have ever seen.But this movie goes beyond that. The (especial the women's) horse riding is very good. The ladies put the men to shame. It seems that the advertisement for hiring was "beautiful breasted barrel riders need only apply". Every female actress in this movie is gorgeous. For the men, one scene near the end, where the villain gives chase... he rides with his body unmoving.The wardrobe is inspired. The costumes are equally sparse as they are beautiful AND functional. As an aside, I would have put primal scissor cuts in the leotards of the Amazons.The sets are also awesome. Clearly to me, a stage director had built the minimalistic but dramatic sets. It is difficult to put in words how wonderful it to see such a laconic set. But look! Masterpiece, zen like, archetypal. Very good sets.There is one scene, which I am sure was supposed to be filtered as a night scene (when Hajji was rescuing the princess from the rope cross), was changed back to the actual film of full light. This exposed to me that the direction is tight. And the attention to detail made me, as a viewer, to more fully concentrate on the details. This made the movie more enjoyable because I have a want to be a couch coach.There's more! I don't know how the dialog was conceived and/or refined. Some of it is very contrived but at least effective. But, some of it is also inspirational. It seems to me that when the writers let go of the period that they did their best work. Honest and straightforward. In my mind, just a little more rewriting and a bigger budget would have propelled this movie into a classic.Ooh, I'm crazy, you say?! This movie was all ready better than Ivanhoe from the first scene. And, never looked back. The only movie, that comes to mind, that I can reasonably compare is 'The Robe'. But that is a classic, isn't it?The location manager needs to be commended. Unfortunately, in one scene the plants (to my eye) are spray painted red for effect. But in all the other scenes, the plants are shown off in great detail and for good effect.OK, that was the good.The male lead. The eyebrows, too much. I would have waxed a little from the bridge out to the ear to relieve some of the 'puppy' look. The haircut is consistent but a little long. I would have went with a GI crew. His acting is the hardest to relate with, however, glimpses of true feeling are displayed. Wish that it were more.The female lead. One scene she flicks her bangs back with were hand. Awesome. In the next, she uses a head shake to flick back her bangs back. Not awesome. That's the worst thing that I can say about the female lead! The leotards. NO. The answer is no. In one scene, a female player is shown WITHOUT tights. Thank god! Too bad the director didn't recognize this.Not enough closeups!! Hey, I'll trade two minutes of beautiful legs for two minutes of beautiful eyes! And, yes, that trade was possible. This is a western after all.Signing off. Moxy
childoasis John Derek was ahead of his time in the movement to uplift the status of women. This movie is really about women claiming their power and not being relegated to a status unequal with men. In his own life, he was so appreciative of the feminine ideal and he served the women he loved quite devotedly. I believe that he was more invested in life than in movies. I believe that he was as handsome as any of the great swashbucklers, and as good a performer. It is such a grace that he played Joshua in the Ten Commandments. Joshua is a true hero of the Bible - of the Hebrew and Christian traditions, both. He was an artist of high integrity and profound passion. This movie shows him in one of his best moments, career-wise, and in our insatiable appetite for entertainment, let us not overlook his travail in this life.
Ilya Mauter The Adventures of Hajji Baba is remotely based on the book by a British writer James Morier who was actually raised in a harem and later served as an English diplomat at the court of the sultan of Iran in the first part of the 19th century. The book called The Adventures of Hajji Baba of Ispahan enjoyed quite a success at the time of its release in 1824 not only in England but also in Iran, the fact that encouraged the author to write a sequel called The Adventures of Hajji Baba of Ispahan in England where our hero is sent to learn its customs and way of life. This film version hasn't borrowed much from the book except perhaps the name of the main character – Hajji Baba (played by John Derek) and his profession – the barber whose banal, but sweet story we follow as he runs of with a beautiful but very capricious princess Fawzia (Elaine Stewart) who tries to escape from marriage to a man she isn't really crazy about which is imposed by her authoritative father Khalif (Donald Randolph) who is not particularly inclined to consider his daughter's opinion regarding choosing her lifetime partner especially when his power and monetary interests are at stake. But the main Hajji Baba's interest in helping the fugitive princess lies not in her attractive physical appearances but in a ring with a priceless emerald in it, which she happens to possess and which Hajji happens to covet. But gradually a struggle ensues inside of our hero's heart as about the change in the flow of his preferences to the girl instead of the emerald, which are also fed by the attraction the princess feels each time stronger towards the irresistible barber. While all this internal fight is going on, our heroes come through numerous adventures most excitingly dangerous of them being caught by a band of beautiful women-outlaws several of whom were once Fawzia's personal servants who managed to escape mainly from princess' ill temper and promptly turned into bandits. Overall Adventures of Hajji Baba is an ultimate what can be called sex and sand adventure comedy with a lot of beautiful women and sand in it all filmed in larger than life Cinemascope, which somehow covers the films poor story and is significantly helped by a pleasant title song performed by Nat King Cole which can be heard several times throughout the film - `Hajji, Hajji, Hajji, Hajji, Hajji Baba, Hajji Baba.' 7/10