Musings!

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.