BAGDAD

US, 1949, 82 minutes, Colour.
Maureen O'Hara, Pal Christian, Vincent Price, John Sutton.
Directed by Charles Lamont.

Bagdad is one of many short, small-budget adventure films that Maureen O'Hara made from the mid '40s to mid '50s. It was directed by Charles Lamont, veteran director at Universal, who made a number of the actioners of the time as well as many of the Ma and Pa Kettle films. This film is the usual 19th century clash of Arabs with Turks with treacherous Arabs in the background. The usual questions can be asked, especially why the genre has been so popular over the years. There were many such films at the time, including another with Maureen O’Hara?, The Flame of Araby, with Jeff Chandler, also directed by Lamont. Paul Christian is the enigmatic hero of this film. However, the film has an interest in the presentation of Vincent Price as the treacherous Pasha and looking at his style over so many decades. This is the kind of hokum that Hollywood could do expertly. Maureen O'Hara was an attractive, fiery actress who liked to dress up, sing and dance as well as challenge the men in her films. She has ample opportunity for doing this here.