Bagdad

A Bedouin princess (Maureen O’Hara!) seeks the aid of the Pasha (Vincent Price) in avenging the death of her father.

Bagdad is a curious movie. First, there’s the casting. While Maureen O’Hara’s fiery red hair may look great in Technicolor, that’s not enough of a reason to cast her as an Arab princess. In fact, that—along with her Irish complexion—is a pretty good reason not to cast her without at least some cursory explanation in the script as to why she’s the only woman in the country with red hair and white skin.

Slightly less strange is the casting of Swiss-born Paul Hubschmid opposite her. While he may not sound Arabic, at least somewhat looks the part.

And then there’s Vincent Price. His over the top performance (he man-slaps everyone around him) is makes the film watchable.

Aside from the casting, there’s the curious decision to film in color. Given the throwaway nature of the script, and the lack of marquee names, I’m surprised Universal shelled out the extra bucks for the more expensive Technicolor process. For his part, director Charles Lamont hardly makes use of the format, as his sets and costumes are visually uninspiring. Also, the southern California countryside does a poor job subbing for the Iraqi desert.

As a curiosity—especially for Price fans—this may intrigue some, but make no mistake, this is junk.