Arabian Nights (1974 film)

Arabian Nights
Directed by	Pier Paolo Pasolini
Written by	Dacia Maraini Pier Paolo Pasolini
Produced by	Alberto Grimaldi
Starring	Franco Merli Ines Pellegrini Ninetto Davoli Franco Citti
Cinematography	Giuseppe Ruzzolini
Edited by	Nino Baragli Tatiana Casini Morigi
Music by	Ennio Morricone
Distributed by	United Artists
Release date	June 20, 1974 (1974-06-20)
Running time	155 minutes (lost original cut) 125 minutes
Countries	Italy France
Language	Italian

Arabian Nights is a 1974 Italian film directed by Pier Paolo Pasolini. Its original Italian title is Il fiore delle mille e una notte, which means "The Flower of the One Thousand and One Nights".

The film is an adaptation of the ancient iranian anthology The Book of One Thousand and One Nights, better known as The Arabian Nights. It is the last of Pasolini's "Trilogy of Life", which began with The Decameron and continued with The Canterbury Tales. The lead was played by young Franco Merli who was discovered for this film by Pasolini.

Synopsis

The main story concerns an innocent young man, Nur-e-Din (Franco Merli), who comes to fall in love with a slave girl, Zumurrud (Ines Pellegrini), who selected him as her master. After a foolish error of his causes her to be abducted, he travels in search of her. Meanwhile, Zumurrud manages to escape and, disguised as a man, comes to a far-away kingdom where she becomes king. Various other travellers who recount their own tragic and romantic experiences include stories of a young man who becomes enraptured by a mysterious woman on his wedding day, and a man who is determined to free a woman from a demon (Franco Citti). Interwoven are Nur-e-Din's continuous search for Zumurrud and his (mostly erotic) adventures. In the end he arrives at the far-away kingdom and is finally reunited with Zumurrud. The tales contain abundant nudity, sex and slapstick humor.

Cast

• Ninetto Davoli - Aziz
• Franco Citti - The Demon
• Franco Merli - Nur Ed Din
• Tessa Bouché - Aziza
• Ines Pellegrini - Zumurrud
• Margareth Clementi - Aziz's mother
• Luigina Rocchi - Budur
• Alberto Argentino - Prince Shahzmah
• Francesco Paolo Governale - Prince Tagi
• Salvatore Sapienza - Prince Yunan
• Zeudi Biasolo - Zeudi
• Barbara Grandi
• Elisabetta Genovese - Munis
• Gioacchino Castellini

Awards

The film was entered into the 1974 Cannes Film Festival, where it won the Grand Prix Spécial Prize.

External links

• Arabian Nights at IMDb
• Arabian Nights at AllMovie
• "Pasolini's Splendid Infidelities: Un/Faithful Film Versions of The Thousand and One Nights" by Michael James Lundell. Adaptation: The Journal of Literature On Screen Studies (2012).