Turhan Bey, as Aesop, and Merle Oberon in NIGHT IN PARADISE (1946)
The copy of this movie is not the best so I had to use a publicity photo here, which are plenty to chose from. This exotic fable was a financial flop when released which was bad for Universal who spent a lot on this quasi-Maria Montez fantasy. I'm not too familiar with Merle's career. She was born in Sri Lanka and lived in London before heading for Hollywood. I checked her IMDb profile and I haven't seen any of her other movies. While I'm familiar with Turhan Bey. I like him. But to be honest, I don't think I've seen an actor lose their looks as fast as Turhan. He was an exotic Technicolor dreamboat for most of the 1940s. A few years later, he looked like a regular taxi driver. At the start of the movie, Aesop appears as an old man. He disguises himself as such because no one would take wisdom from a young good looking man seriously. It seems life sorta imitated art, in the opposite. Once Turhan lost his looks, his career went nowhere. This movie has a lot, including probably the biggest bathing beauties scene in any movie. I really hope it will be released in a stunning copy even if the story itself is not that compelling. Directed by Arthur Lubin who directed the equally 'exotic' THIEF OF BAGHDAD (1961) starring Steve Reeves.
3 comments:
He was good in 'The Amazing Mr. X'!
He's a very good actor!
It's Arthur Lubin, not Rubin. Yes, Bey was a very good actor in the Forties films. He preferred photography to acting and returned to Vienna when his star faded. Merle Oberon was cast as Messalina in the unfinished I Claudius. She had a long and amazing career.
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