A naked Noëlle Adam, Donald O'Connor (back to us) and Vittorio De Sica in THE WONDERS OF ALADDIN (1961)
I challenge anyone to give a short, concise synopsis of this movie. The story is all over the place. It's a comedy and even though there are some funny moments, it's not a laugh a minute comedy. The way Noëlle Adam's character is treated in this family movie is so peculiar. Yes, this is a family movie. So many questionable things in it. The framing of this shot is so odd. Everything about this movie is wonky. It's available in a super clear Blu-ray which has some really nice photography throughout the oddity. I still can't believe this was available in HD and a pristine print of HERCULES (1958) is still nowhere to be found (not counting those abomination of Blu-ray releases from Japan or France). I still can't believe Steve Reeves was set to star in this. They switched Reeves for O'Connor (!!!) and gave Reeves THIEF OF BAGHDAD. Phew.
https://www.peplumtv.com/2020/11/article-of-week-wonders-of-aladdin-blu.html
ReplyDeleteRaiPlay TV has HD pristine prints of Le Fatiche di Ercole and Ercole e la Regina di Lidia.
ReplyDeleteThe RAI prints are the same as the Japanese and French Blu-rays
ReplyDeleteEvery Titanus production I have seen on Blu-ray is exceptional quality
ReplyDeletewhich is why this looks so good. Apparently they kept their original elements in excellent condition. I always heard Reeves was going to star in this as a follow up to Thief of Baghdad but then bowed out. When they got Donald O'Connor as star the script was rewritten as a comedy.
I had telephone conversations with Ms. Adam between 2009-2012 where she said she was in the above scene suffering actual torture because she refused to sleep with the director Henry Levin. Noelle asked Levin to stop filming because "it was burning too much" but he continued. She was completely nude. O'Connor and the film crew saw all her body parts.
ReplyDeleteThat's crazy! But somehow not unexpected.
ReplyDelete