Arabian Nights (1942 film)
Arabian Nights is a 1942 adventure film directed by John Rawlins and starring Jon Hall, Maria Montez, Sabu and Leif Erikson. The film is derived from The Book of One Thousand and One Nights but owes more to the imagination of Universal Pictures than the original Arabian stories. Unlike other films in the genre (The Thief of Bagdad), it features no monsters or supernatural elements.
| Arabian Nights | |
|---|---|
Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | John Rawlins |
| Written by | Michael Hogan (story and screenplay) True Boardman (additional dialogue) |
| Produced by | Walter Wanger |
| Starring | Jon Hall Maria Montez Sabu Leif Erikson Billy Gilbert Edgar Barrier Shemp Howard Thomas Gomez Turhan Bey Elyse Knox Acquanetta Carmen D'Antonio |
| Cinematography | W. Howard Greene Milton R. Krasner William V. Skall |
| Edited by | Philip Cahn |
| Music by | Frank Skinner |
Production company | Walter Wanger presents |
| Distributed by | Universal Pictures Company, Inc. |
Release date |
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Running time | 87 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $904,765 |
| Box office | $3,453,416 |
The film is one of series of "exotic" tales released by Universal Pictures during World War II. Others include Cobra Woman, Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves and White Savage. This is the first feature film that Universal made using the three-strip Technicolor film process, although producer Walter Wanger had worked on two earlier Technicolor films for other studios: The Trail of the Lonesome Pine (1936) at Paramount and the 1937 Walter Wanger's Vogues of 1938 for United Artists.