Kismet | |
---|---|
Directed by | Vincente Minnelli |
Written by | Charles Lederer Luther Davis |
Based on | Kismet 1911 play by Edward Knoblock |
Produced by | Arthur Freed |
Starring | Howard Keel Ann Blyth Dolores Gray Vic Damone |
Cinematography | Joseph Ruttenberg |
Edited by | Adrienne Fazan |
Music by | Alexander Borodin Bob Wright George Forrest Music supervised by André Previn Jeff Alexander |
Production company | |
Distributed by | Loew's, Inc. |
Release date |
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Running time | 103 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Budget | $3,015,000 [2] |
Box office | $1,827,000 [2] |
Kismet is a 1955 American musical-comedy film directed by Vincente Minnelli and produced by Arthur Freed. It was filmed in CinemaScope and Eastmancolor and released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.
It is the fifth movie version of Kismet. The first was released in 1914, the second in 1920, the third in 1930 by Warner Brothers, and the fourth, starring Ronald Colman and Marlene Dietrich, by MGM in 1944. [3] The 1955 film is based on the successful 1953 stage musical Kismet , while the four earlier versions are based on the original 1911 play by Edward Knoblock.
In old Baghdad, an impoverished poet (Howard Keel) is abducted and brought to the desert tent of Jawan (Jay C. Flippen), an elderly thief, having been mistaken for a man who cursed Jawan fifteen years ago. As a result of the curse, Jawan's beloved son was kidnapped, and Jawan longs to find him again before he dies. The Poet asks for one hundred gold pieces to reverse the curse; Jawan agrees and returns to Baghdad to look for his son.
In Baghdad, the Poet's daughter, Marsinah (Ann Blyth) meets and falls in love with the young Caliph (Vic Damone), who has been traveling incognito. They arrange to meet again that night.
The Poet is arrested when he begins spending his hundred gold pieces because his purse carries the insignia of a wealthy family that was robbed. At the Wazir's (Sebastian Cabot) court, he defends himself against the charge of robbery but also curses the Wazir. Jawan, brought before the Wazir on another charge, angrily confirms the Poet's story and then notices a familiar amulet around the Wazir's neck. In this way, Jawan discovers his long-lost son.
The Caliph announces that he plans to take a bride that night, discomforting the Wazir, who has a badly needed loan riding on persuading the Caliph to marry a princess of Ababu. The Wazir, fearing that the Poet's curse had something to do with it, offers to make the Poet an (Emir) if he reverses the curse. The Poet happily accepts, and when the Wazir leaves him alone with his favorite wife Lalume (Dolores Gray), the two realize they have similar temperaments.
The Poet orchestrates an elaborate "curse-reversal" scheme that enables him to sneak out of the palace; he finds Marsinah and convinces her that he will be killed unless they flee Baghdad. Despite Marsinah's protests—she wants to wait for her rendezvous and see the Caliph's wedding procession—they flee. Word spreads that the Caliph's bride was not there when the Caliph came to claim her. Since the "curse reversal" seems to have worked, the Poet leaves Marsinah and returns to the palace.
The Poet tells Lalume that he is worried about Marsinah, and Lalume suggests that she come to live in the palace. Marsinah arrives and confesses that she has fallen in love but does not know her beloved's name. Lalume hides Marsinah in the harem for her own protection, but there the Caliph sees her and believes her to be a wife of the Wazir. When the Wazir privately congratulates the Poet on bringing the Caliph's true love into the Wazir's own harem, the Poet realizes that the Caliph is Marsinah's beloved.
At a ceremony planned to choose a new bride, the Poet tricks the Wazir and (almost) drowns him in front of the Caliph and the crowd. The Poet is sentenced to death, but Lalume saves the day as Marsinah is revealed to be the Poet's daughter and the victim of the Wazir's scheming. The Caliph sentences the Wazir to death and the Poet to exile. The Poet agrees, but asks to take the soon-to-be-widowed Lalume with him. Thus the Poet weds Lalume and the Caliph weds Marsinah—all in the course of a single day.
According to MGM records the film earned $1,217,000 in the US and Canada and $610,000 elsewhere resulting in a loss of $2,252,000. [2]
The film is recognized by American Film Institute in these lists:
Charles Sebastian Thomas Cabot was a British actor. He is best remembered as the gentleman's gentleman, Giles French in the CBS-TV sitcom Family Affair (1966–1971). He was also known for playing the Wazir in the film Kismet (1955) and Dr. Carl Hyatt in the CBS-TV series Checkmate (1960–1962).
Vic Damone was an American traditional pop and big band singer and actor. He was best known for his performances of songs such as the number one hit "You're Breaking My Heart", and other hits like "On the Street Where You Live" and "I Have But One Heart".
Kismet is a musical adapted by Charles Lederer and Luther Davis from the 1911 play of the same name by Edward Knoblock, with lyrics and musical adaptation by Robert Wright and George Forrest. The music was mostly adapted from several pieces composed by Alexander Borodin. The story concerns a wily poet who talks his way out of trouble several times; meanwhile, his beautiful daughter meets and falls in love with the young caliph.
"And This Is My Beloved" is a popular song from the 1953 musical Kismet, credited to Robert Wright and George Forrest. Like most other music in the show, this melody was based on music composed by Alexander Borodin, in this case the nocturne from the third movement of Borodin's String Quartet No. 2 in D.
"Stranger in Paradise" is a popular song from the musical Kismet (1953), credited to Robert Wright and George Forrest. Like almost all the music in that show, the melody was adapted from music composed by Alexander Borodin (1833–1887), in this case, the "Gliding Dance of the Maidens", from the Polovtsian Dances in the opera Prince Igor (1890). The song in the musical is a lovers' duet and describes the transcendent feelings that love brings to their surroundings. Later versions were mostly edited to be sung by male solo artists.
Jay C. Flippen was an American character actor who often played crusty sergeants, police officers or weary criminals in many films of the 1940s and 1950s. Before his motion-picture career he was a leading vaudeville comedian and master of ceremonies.
Doretta Morrow was an American actress, singer and dancer who appeared in stage and television productions during the 1940s and 1950s. She is best remembered for having created roles in the original productions of three successful Broadway musicals: Kitty Verdun in Where's Charley? (1948), Tuptim in The King and I (1951) and Marsinah in Kismet (1953). She co-starred in the 1952 Hollywood film Because You're Mine, as Mario Lanza's love interest. She appeared in several live television musicals. She retired from performance in 1960 at the age of 33.
Kismet is a 1944 American Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer film in Technicolor starring Ronald Colman, Marlene Dietrich, Joy Page, and Florence Bates. James Craig played the young Caliph of Baghdad, and Edward Arnold was the treacherous Grand Vizier. It was directed by William Dieterle, but was not a success at the box office. Dieterle had directed Dietrich two decades before in the German silent film Man by the Wayside, which was both the first role in which Dietrich was cast competitively and Dieterle's directorial debut.
It's Always Fair Weather is a 1955 MGM musical satire scripted by Betty Comden and Adolph Green, who also wrote the show's lyrics, with music by André Previn and starring Gene Kelly, Dan Dailey, Cyd Charisse, Dolores Gray, and dancer/choreographer Michael Kidd in his first film acting role.
Sit Tight is a 1931 American Pre-Code musical comedy film, directed by Lloyd Bacon, written by Rex Taylor, edited by James Gibbon, and produced and distributed by Warner Bros. It was originally intended as a full musical, but due to the backlash against musicals, all the songs were cut from the film except for one – sung by Winnie Lightner – in all release prints in the United States.
Kismet is a 1930 American pre-Code costume drama film photographed entirely in an early widescreen process using 65mm film that Warner Bros. called Vitascope. The film, now considered lost, was based on Edward Knoblock's play Kismet, and was previously filmed as a silent film in 1920 which also starred Otis Skinner.
Son of Sinbad is a 1955 American adventure film directed by Ted Tetzlaff. It takes place in the Middle East and consists of a wide variety of characters, including over 127 women.
A Thousand and One Nights is a 1945 tongue-in-cheek American adventure fantasy film set in the Baghdad of the One Thousand and One Nights, directed by Alfred E. Green and starring Evelyn Keyes, Phil Silvers, Adele Jergens and Cornel Wilde.
The Golden Blade is a 1953 American adventure film directed by Nathan Juran and starring Rock Hudson as Harun Al-Rashid and Piper Laurie as Princess Khairuzan. It is set in ancient Bagdad and borrows from the Arabic fairy tales of One Thousand and One Nights as well as the myth of King Arthur and the Sword in the Stone.
Kismet is an American silent film version of the 1911 play Kismet by Edward Knoblock, starring Otis Skinner and Elinor Fair, and directed by Louis J. Gasnier.
Kismet is a three-act play written in 1911 by Edward Knoblauch. The title means Fate or Destiny in Turkish and Urdu. The play ran for 330 performances in London and later opened in the United States. It was subsequently revived, and the story was later filmed several times and adapted for the 1953 musical.
The Thief of Baghdad is a 1978 fantasy film directed by Clive Donner and starring Roddy MacDowall and Kabir Bedi. A British and French co-production, the film was released theatrically, except for the United States where it debuted on television.
The Sword of Ali Baba is a 1965 American adventure film from Universal Pictures, directed by Virgil W. Vogel and written by Edmund Hartmann and Oscar Brodney. The film stars Peter Mann, Jocelyn Lane, Frank McGrath, Gavin MacLeod, Frank Puglia, and Peter Whitney and is a remake of the 1944 film Ali Baba and the Forty Thives, which was derived from The Book of One Thousand and One Nights and the tale of the same name.
Kismet is a 1967 American TV film. It is an adaptation of the musical Kismet directed by Bob Henry.
The harem of the caliphs of the Abbasid Caliphate (750–1258) in Baghdad was composed of his mother, wives, slave concubines, female relatives and slave servants, occupying a secluded portion of the Abbasid household. This institution played an important social function within the Abbasid court and was that part were the women were confined and secluded. The senior woman in rank in the harem was the mother of the Caliph. The Abbasid harem acted as a role model for the harems of other Islamic dynasties, as it was during the Abbasid Caliphate that the harem system was fully enforced in the Muslim world.