The Golden Blade (1953)
1h 21m | PG-13
Basra merchant Harun Al-Rashid avenges his father's murder in this adventure set in ancient Bagdad and inspired from the Arabic fairy tales of One Thousand and One Nights.
Director: Nathan Juran
Studio: Universal International Pictures
Genre: Adventure, Fantasy
Video: 720p
Cast
Rock Hudson
as Harun
Piper Laurie
as Khairuzan
Gene Evans
as Captain Hadi
George Macready
as Jafar
Kathleen Hughes
as Bakhamra
Steven Geray
as Barcus
Reviews
This is a tale that comes straight from the "Arabian Nights" compendium. The son "Harum" (Rock Hudson) out to avenge his father murdered at the hands of the evil "Jafar" (George Macready). He must travel to Baghdad where he encounters a feisty young woman "Khairuzan" (Piper Laurie) who is secretly the daughter of the city's caliph - a man also in danger from the menacing ambitions of "Jafar". Luckily, she has a magical golden sword that she gives him to wield. He is invincible! Well he is until someone hits on the idea of swapping his sword for a less effective fake - and soon "Harum" is in a dungeon! Can he escape and save the Caliph and get the girl? Rock Hudson never really cut it for me. Easy enough on the eye, but his characterisations rarely differed from role to role and here he just doesn't really gel with the more charismatic Laurie at all. Plaudits do go to Macready, though - he hams up perfectly as the silken-clad, megalomanic, tyrant. There's plenty of lavish costumes, colour, sword-fighting and at times it's actually quite an entertaining adventure that I did quite enjoy.