Main Cast: Howard Keel, Ann Blyth, Dolores Gray, Vic Damone, Monty Woolley
Release Year: 1955
Country: US
Run Time: 113 minutes
Plot
This fourth film version of the warhorse Edward Knoblock theatrical piece Kismet was based on the Broadway musical version of the same property. Howard Keel stars as Hadji, the poet of old Baghdad, who goes from beggar to millionaire in a single day. Hadji's daughter Marsinah (Ann Blyth) falls in love with the young Caliph (Vic Damone), while Lalume (Dolores Gray), the sexy wife of the despotic Wazir (Sebastian Cabot), sets her sights on Hadji. Meanwhile, the Wazir plots and plans to topple the Caliph from the throne and to add Marsinah to his own harem. Making periodic appearances is Omar Khayyam, played as a doddering old meddler by Monty Woolley. The Robert Wright-George Forrest musical score, based on themes by Borodin, includes such standards as "Baubles, Bangles and Beads", "This is My Beloved", "Stranger in Paradise" and "Not Since Ninevah". Though the dancing girls in the film are more modestly dressed than their stage counterparts, they are put through some fairly sensuous paces by choreographer Jack Cole. Kismet was good for another go-round in 1967, when it was adapted for television with Jose Ferrer, Barbara Eden, Anna Maria Alberghetti, George Chakiris and Hans Conried in the cast. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Review
By the mid-1950s, operetta had fallen out of fashion; Kismet, the cinematic version of the hit Broadway musical, tried to make its origins more palatable by injecting a large dose of comedy, but the result is too stiff, slow and stilted to really work. Making matters worse, aside from some of choreographer Jack Cole's slinky, sensual dances, there's little of the heat that the stage version offered. Director Vincente Minnelli must take the lion's share of the blame for this; never exactly comfortable with overt sexuality in his films, he particularly seems to shy away from it here. The entire film suffers from stodgy, uninspired direction, although there is plenty of eye-catching, opulent décor -- always a Minnelli strong point. Howard Keel tries hard, but the role requires both a better actor and one with a greater presence. He sounds good, of course, as does Ann Blyth, who gets the big hits -- "Baubles, Bangles and Beads," "Stranger in Paradise," and "And This is My Beloved." Unfortunately, she shares the last two with a miscast and boring Vic Damone. Dolores Gray livens things up considerably, wrapping her luscious belt around "Not Since Ninevah" and several others. With a more engaged director, Kismet could have been consistently enjoyable; as it is, it's an attractive but dull bauble that could have used more bright shiny beads. ~ Craig Butler, All Movie Guide
Sebastian Cabot - Wazir; Jay C. Flippen - Jawan; Mike Mazurki - Chief Policeman; Jack Elam - Hassan-Ben; Ted de Corsia - Police Subaltern; Reiko Sato - Princess of Abubu; Patricia Dunn - Princesses of A Ba Bu; Wonci Lui - Princesses of Aba Bu; Julie Robinson - Zubbediya; Mamta Kulkarni
In old Baghdad, an impoverished poet goes to the marketplace to sell his rhymes for food. Because the Poet has set up shop in a spot usually reserved for a man named Hajj, some men kidnap the Poet and take him to the desert tent of Jawan, an elderly thief. Jawan, assuming that the Poet is Hajj, orders him to reverse the curse Hajj put on him fifteen years ago, which led to the kidnapping of Jawan's beloved son. 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, a huge procession welcomes Lalume, favorite wife of the Wazir, back from Ababu. The King of Ababu is willing to give the Wazir a badly needed loan if the Wazir arranges for one of his three daughters to marry the young Caliph. Meanwhile, the Caliph, who has been traveling incognito, sees the Poet's daughter, Marsinah, and is immediately attracted to her. Marsinah falls in love with the Caliph, too, but she thinks he is a gardener. They arrange to meet in the garden that night.
The Poet returns to Baghdad and begins spending his hundred gold pieces; then, the Wazir arrests the Poet because his purse carries the insignia of a wealthy family that was robbed. At the Wazir's court, Lalume is impressed with the Poet's looks and gift for words, and lets him defend himself against the charge of robbery. The Poet does, 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. The Wazir, fearing that this puts his loan from the king of Ababu in jeopardy, and fearing that the Poet's curse had something to do with it, takes Lalume's advice: they will make the Poet an Emir if he reverses the curse. The Poet happily accepts, and when the Wazir leaves him alone with Lalume, the two realize they have similar temperaments.
Hearing the noise of the Caliph's wedding procession, and annoyed that the curse has not been reversed, the Wazir confines the Poet to the palace. The Poet orchestrates an elaborate "curse-reversal" scheme that enables him to sneak out; he finds his daughter 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 procession--they flee. Word spreads that the Caliph's bride was not there when the Caliph came to claim her. Since the "curse reversal" seemed to have worked, the Poet leaves Marsinah and returns to the palace.
Wazir wants to kill the Poet because he believes he has dangerous supernatural powers, but Lalume convinces her husband to keep the Poet in the palace and use his power. 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.
Meanwhile, the Caliph's men search Baghdad for Marsinah, and the Wazir suggest that the Caliph marry the three princesses and take pleasure in the harem. When the two men see Marsinah in the harem, the Wazir is shocked that the Caliph's intended bride is in his own palace, happy that she cannot, therefore, marry the Caliph. The Wazir tells Marsinah that she must marry him; and the disappointed Caliph must take another bride that night. 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. In revenge, he performs a trick that results in Wazir being held underwater in a pool. As the Wazir struggles, the Poet asks the Caliph what sentence should be given to a murderer and torturer who also cost him his bride. The Caliph answers "death," after which the Poet says the sentence has been carried out, then flees.
The Wazir is still alive, however, and his guards capture the Poet and sentence him to death. Lalume saves the day by explaining everything to the Caliph. 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.
