Main Cast: Tony Randall, Burl Ives, Barbara Eden, Kamala Devi, Edward Andrews
Release Year: 1964
Country: US
Run Time: 89 minutes
Plot
In this goofy comedy, an architect discovers that a recently purchased antique bottle is the home of a jovial but vexing genie who is more than willing to destroy anyone who would oppose or annoy his new master. This creates problems for the architect as he is more interested in impressing his in-laws-to-be than having his wishes granted. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
Review
Make no mistake about it: The Brass Bottle is a silly and fairly predictable comedy, the kind that Hollywood was making in the early 1960s before it figured out that people were more and more getting this kind of fluff on television, where it was more at home. So, no, Bottle is not a great film, not even a great comedy. But it's a pleasant, amiable and diverting little flick, thanks in large part to its very agreeable cast. One can hardly be more agreeable, for example, than Barbara Eden, who would of course soon gain fame as a genie herself, but who here is playing one of those typical-for-the-era girl friends who doesn't have a whole lot of character. But Eden is quite lovely to look at, and she's so at home in the role that she almost makes you forget that they haven't given her a lot to do. Burl Ives is certainly agreeable, an actor with great charm and who uses that charm for all its worth here. And first and foremost, we have Tony Randall, an expert at playing people who are a tad too stuffy yet whose stuffiness is endearing rather than irritating. And it doesn't hurt that he has a mean sense of timing and takes that range from overtly double to so small as to be almost invisible. Bottle's direction is adequate, and its screenplay does provide some amusing moments, but it's the players that make it worth watching. ~ Craig Butler, All Movie Guide
Harry Keller - Director, Ted Kent - Editor, Bernard Green - Composer (Music Score), Clifford Stine - Cinematographer, Robert Arthur - Producer, Oscar Brodney - Screenwriter, F. Anstey - Book Author
The Brass Bottle is a 1964fantasy film about a modern man who accidentally acquires a djinn. Though the word is commonly translated into English as "genie", author F. Anstey made a distinction between the two in the novel of the same name (originally published in 1900) which provides the basis of the film.
The film starred Tony Randall, Burl Ives and Barbara Eden. Eden's role was instrumental in getting her cast as the star of the TV series I Dream of Jeannie, even though she did not play a djinn in this film.
Architect Harold Ventimore (Tony Randall) buys an antique that turns out to contain a djinn named Fakrash (Burl Ives). However, Fakrash has been away a long time, and his unfamiliarity with the modern world causes all sorts of problems when he tries to please his new master. Ventimore ends up in a great deal of trouble, including with his girlfriend, Sylvia Kenton (Barbara Eden).
