Arabian Nights (1974 film)

Infobox Film
name = Arabian Nights


image_size =
caption = Franco Merli and Ines Pellegrini in Arabian Nights
director = Pier Paolo Pasolini
producer = Alberto Grimaldi
writer = Dacia Maraini
Pier Paolo Pasolini
starring = Franco Merli
Ines Pellegrini
Ninetto Davoli
Franco Citti
Tessa Bouche
Margaret Clementi
Francelise Noel
Ali Abdulla
music = Ennio Morricone
cinematography = Giuseppe Ruzzolini
editing = Nino Baragli
Tatiana Casini Morigi
distributor = United Artists
released = 20 June, 1974
runtime = 155 mins (France)
135 mins (Argentina)
131 mins (USA and Australia)
129 mins (Italy)
country = Italy
France
language = Italian
preceded_by = "The Canterbury Tales"
amg_id = 1:2745
imdb_id = 0071502

"Arabian Nights" is a 1974 Italian film directed by Pier Paolo Pasolini. Its original Italian title is "Il fiore delle Mille e una notte", which means "The Flower of the One Thousand and One Nights".

The film an adaptation of the ancient Arabic anthology "The Book of One Thousand and One Nights", better known as "The Arabian Nights". It is the last of Pasolini's "Trilogy of Life", which began with "The Decameron" and continued with "The Canterbury Tales". The lead was played by young Sicilian Franco Merli who was discovered for this film by Pasolini.

Synopsis

The main story concerns an innocent young man, Nur-e-Din (Franco Merli), who comes to fall in love with a slave girl, Zumurrud (Ines Pellegrini), who selected him as her master. After a foolish error of his causes her to be abducted, he travels in search of her. Meanwhile Zumurrud manages to escape and, disguised as a man, comes to a far-away kingdom where she becomes king. Various other travelers who recount their own tragic and romantic experiences include stories of a young man who becomes enraptured by a mysterious woman on his wedding day, and a man who is determined to free a woman from a demon (Franco Citti). Interwoven are Nur-e-Din's continuous search for Zumurrud and his - mostly erotic - adventures. In the end he arrives at the far-away kingdom and is finally reunited with Zumurrud. The tales contain abundant nudity, sex, and slapstick humor.

Crew

Producer: Alberto Grimaldi Director: Pier Paolo Pasolini Written by: Dacia Maraini, Pier Paolo Pasolini Original Music: Ennio Morricone Cinematographer: Giuseppe Ruzzolini

Cast

Franco Merli, Ines Pellegrini, Ninetto Davoli, Franco Citti, Tessa Bouche, Margaret Clementi, Francelise Noel, Ali Abdulla, Christian Aligny, Jeanne Gauffin Mathieu, Francesco Paolo Governale, Salvatore Sapienza, Zeudi Biasolo, Barbara Grandi, Elisabetta Genovese, Gioacchino Castellini, Abadit Ghidei, Mohamed Ali Zedi, Salvatore Verdetti, Jocelyne Munchenbach, Luigina Rocchi, Alberto Argentino, Luigi Antonio Guerra, Franca Sciutto

External links

*imdb title|0071502

###@@@KEY@@@###succession box
title=Grand Prix Spécial du Jury, Cannes
years=1974
before="The Mother and the Whore"
after="The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser"