gpachovsky To begin, I've always found movies with Arabian Nights settings to be curiously seductive, even if infested with clichés. The exotic (though studio bound) locales, pastel colours, lavish interiors, voluptuous dancing girls, and lively daring-do provide, if not quality, an irresistible recipe for pure escapism. Universal Studios regularly churned out these carpet rides during the late '40s and early '50s, often using them as proving grounds for many of its young contract players.THE PRINCE WHO WAS A THIEF may well be the best of the lot. It is a happy combination of above-average script sourced from a short story by Theodore Dreiser, technically competent direction, and fortuitous casting of the two leads.Tony Curtis plays a young Prince of Tangier, marked for assassination as an infant but raised into adulthood by thieves and becoming one himself until he can reclaim his birthright, all with the help of fellow thief, Piper Laurie. Both players, who went on to better films and even critical praise, attack their roles with a boundless energy that's contagious, yet they avoid upstaging each other. So appealing was their on-screen rapport that they would make three subsequent films together. Here, the accent is on acrobatics and the athletic Curtis and the agile Laurie deliver in spades, performing all of their own stunts with the exception of Laurie's (she was 19 at the time) climb to the top of a high wall on the backs of men near the climax. A playful banter between the two throughout adds a good-natured battle-of-the sexes to the proceedings and keeps the story humming along.Direction was deftly handled by Rudolph Maté, a Hungarian ex-pat who had previously apprenticed with Alexander Korda as cameraman and with Fritz Lang and René Claire as cinematographer. While none of his later work produced what can be called certified classics, his films, such as D.O.A., Branded, and The Mississippi Gambler remain effective and visually appealing as evidenced here.

jtabler I love this movie. Why do I like it so much? It is from the 50's when I was a little kid. Tony Curtis is in the movie....as an Arabian. (My friends like to comment on Tony's accent in Brooklynese in a role where it doesn't sound right... I don't notice.) He,(and Burt Lancaster, I think of together) was athletic, heroic and his youthful movies show a special promise, spirit that will pervade all of his movies. Piper Laurie is so thin and flexible.....she's awesome. Another Tony Curtis movie like this one is The Black Shield of Falworth. I recall seeing a Robin Hood sort of movie with Tony when I was young, perhaps that is partly why I like Tony and this movie. (What movie was it? I don't know. Maybe it wasn't Tony.) When he was older, a writer friend of my mother's met Tony and raved about how good looking he was and how nice. In the same vein as this movie, I also think of Burt's The Crimson Pirate.

lindee Tony curtis will and always be remembered as a fun loving Actor from Some Like it hot to the Persuaders and the this film showed what he could do and I wonder how many female fans he aquired after this was released good few I remember watching this when I was a child and wishing I could watch it all over again there's not many kissing scenes which make you shudder but this one does,

lorenellroy This was made by Universal as part of the grooming process aimed at turning Tony Curtis from contract player into a star ,allowing him to build up an audience over the years.It is just as well he was a busy actor and other product came along to obscure just how very bad this is. Curtis is the eponymous Prince ;earmarked for assassination while still a baby he is spared by the soft hearted would be assassin who raises him as his own son As an adult Curtis becomes involved in a nonsensical plot to recover a priceless pearl and in so doing rescue his native city from attack by heartless enemies.Along the way he falls in love with the scheming princess ,not noticing the vivacious Tina (Piper Laurie )until it is almost too lateInsultingly slipshod in every respect -poor acting ,garish colour ,weak sets etc .This is juvenile and unengaging and wastes everybody's time in watching and the talents of those who made it.