A Thousand and One Nights (1945 film)

Plot

Aladdin, a wandering singer, spends much of his time trying to keep his friend Abdullah, a pickpocket, out of trouble. People think Abdullah is crazy because he insists he was born twelve centuries too soon, peppers his speech with slang from the 1940s, and talks about television. Princess Armina, the lovely daughter of Sultan Kamar Al-Kir, is carried through Baghdad in a palanquin. Knowing that any commoner who sees her face faces execution, Aladdin still manages to distract the guards and sneak inside. He convinces Armina to lift her veil, and he is thrilled to find that the tales of her beauty are accurate. After kissing her, she gives in to his charm, and he slips away before anyone notices. Later that night, Aladdin returns to the palace to court Armina but is caught and thrown into the dungeon, where he finds Abdullah. Both are scheduled to be executed the next day. Heartbroken, Armina orders her loyal lady-in-waiting, Novira, to steal the dungeon key from the jailer and pass it to Aladdin. The two men escape the city with the Sultan’s guards in pursuit. They take refuge in a cave, where a sorcerer named Kofir talks Aladdin into retrieving a magic lamp from deep inside. Aladdin and the nervous Abdullah manage to avoid a laughing giant and bring back the lamp, only to discover Kofir has sealed the entrance. The sorcerer demands the lamp before he will let them out, but Aladdin refuses to trust him, so Kofir abandons them to die. Frustrated, Aladdin hurls the lamp away, and a red-headed female genie appears. She tells him that rubbing the lamp makes him her master, that only he can see or hear her, and that she insists on being called Babs. Aladdin orders her to free them, but when he decides to go back to the palace for the princess, the genie is upset because she has fallen for him. When he commands her to turn him into a prince, he and Abdullah are instantly given fine clothes and a group of servants. Meanwhile, the Sultan’s twin brother, Prince Hadji—who has already tried to overthrow his sibling once—captures the Sultan and takes his place without anyone noticing. The treacherous Grand Wazir Abu-Hassan helps Hadji, expecting to be rewarded with Armina’s hand in marriage.