Ali Baba (1954)

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Movie
German title Ali Baba
Original title Ali Baba et les Quarante Voleurs
Country of production France
original language French
Publishing year 1954
length 92 minutes
Age rating FSK 6
Rod
Director Jacques Becker
script Jacques Becker
Marc Maurette
Cesare Zavattini
Maurice Griffe
Annette Wademant
production Adry de Carbuccia
Ronald Girard
music Paul Misraki
camera Robert Lefebvre
cut Marguerite Renoir
occupation

Ali Baba is a French fantasy, adventure and comedy film from 1954 directed by Jacques Becker . Fernandel plays the leading roles as Ali Baba and Dieter Borsche as the leader of the robbers.

action

"Once upon a time ..." - This is how this fairy tale of Ali Baba and the 40 robbers begins , a small desert town in which the brave, clever and generous Ali Baba lived, a friend of the poor and servants of the rich trader Cassim. He does business for him and takes care of the house and harem. The latest assignment from his master brings him to the beautiful Morgiane, which he buys from her own father for Cassim. Ali Baba falls in love with the beautiful maiden and is reluctant to leave her to his grouchy master. From now on, the shrewd Ali Baba tries to protect Morgiane from Cassim's desires as well as he can. One day a caravan, in which Ali Baba also rides, is attacked and robbed by the robbers of the dark Abdel. Ali Baba is very fortunate to be able to eavesdrop on the leader of the band of robbers in a hiding place and in this way to find out where their riches have been hidden. He also learns the magic spell with which one gets access to the cave: "Sesame, open yourself!".

Ali Baba takes as much as he can carry. The gold stolen from the 40 robbers enables him to seriously woo Morgiane and to buy her from his greedy master, from whom he has renounced thanks to the fresh wealth. Ali Baba acquires a house for himself and Morgiane that is also intended to provide a roof over their heads for some homeless beggars. But Cassim does not want to simply let his former house factotum boat him and plans a devious intrigue to destroy Ali Baba's dreams. Cassim desperately wants to get to Ali Baba's gold treasure and therefore makes him drunk at the wedding feast at which he finally wants to marry his Morgiane. But Abdel and his band of robbers have also sneaked in to steal his treasure back during the hustle and bustle of the festival. Finally, at the festival between the robbers and Cassim's men there is a decisive “battle” in which not only fruit flies through the air. In the end, good has triumphed and Abdel and Cassim, locked in cages, are pilloried for general amusement. Ali Baba has finally married his Morgiane and distributed the remaining money to the poor and needy in the city. So he is happy, but ultimately poor again.

Production notes

Ali Baba was filmed from April 12 to July 14, 1954 in Morocco ( Ouarzazate , Taroudant and Agadir ) (outdoor shots) and in the Billancourt studios (studio shots) and premiered in Germany on December 21, 1954. The French premiere was three days later, on Christmas Eve of the same year. The film also opened in Austria on April 9, 1955, and on February 5, 1961, Ali Baba was broadcast for the first time on German television ( ARD ).

The costumes were designed by Jacqueline Moreau and Georges Wakhévitch , who was also responsible for the film construction.

criticism

Ali Baba disappointed me in the first view, bored me in the second and thrilled and delighted in the third. You have to leave the stage of surprise behind, you have to know the structure of the film in order to let go of the sensation of imbalance that you first felt. "

- François Truffaut in Cahiers du cinéma , no.44 of February 1955

“Moderately entertaining, but colorful variant of the oriental fairy tale. As a popular title hero, Fernandel sugar-coated his mimic clowning with teasing loyalty. The charge of the robber captain was filled with Dieter Borsche, who in the end had to be pelted with rotten fruit. "

- Der Spiegel , No. 3 from January 12, 1955

Paimann's film lists summed up: "Here once 1001 nights à la Fernandel: with an ironic tone, carried by the artist's humor, in a real oriental environment, but also without the rapid pace of American filming."

"Motifs from 1001 nights in a film that can't quite decide between fairy tales and parody."

Individual evidence

  1. Jean-Claude Sabria: Cinéma français. Les années 50. Paris 1987, No. 24
  2. Ali Baba in Der Spiegel 3/1955, p. 36
  3. Ali Baba in Paimann's film lists ( memento of the original from July 10, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / old.filmarchiv.at
  4. Ali Baba. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed July 22, 2017 .Template: LdiF / Maintenance / Access used 

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