Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #8273 in DVD
• Released on: 2004-09-27
• Rating: Parental Guidance
• Format: PAL
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 137 minutes

Synopsis
A cold-blooded Sultan (Scott) enacts a declaration to avenge his unfaithful wife by beheading the women of his empire. However, the beautiful and clever Scheherezade (Avital) is one woman with a plan to save the people of her beloved kingdom. She tantalizes the Sultan with courageous tales of magical heroes--such as Aladdin and Ali Baba--for 1,001 nights. An action-packed adventure filled with dazzling special effects from the producers of the hit television mini-series MERLIN.

Customer Reviews

lost nights
Having enjoyed the original tv broadcast of this adaptation, I was disappopinted to find that the dvd edition has been edited heavily, thus spoiling the continuity of the film and cutting out much of the humour. The tale of Ali Baba & the 40 thieves is the tale that suffers most from this heavy-handed editing. Try telling a favourite tale to the kids minus their favourite bits! Just as well I kept my my video recording of the film.

Please can we have the whole series!
If this was the full version of this brilliant series, I would be giving it 5 stars. The acting is superb and the sets quite stunning. The story is spoilt by the amount that has been cut out of the english version. Some of the stories have been shortened and some, such as the three brothers, cut out altogether. I agree with the other reviewer who recommended getting the american version - that way you can enjoy the series to the full. I hope that one day it will be re-released in it's entirety for the english public.

The plot is simple, but the resulting story is great...
"Arabian nights" is a Hallmark mini-series based on the popular book "A thousand and one nights". Truth to be told, I enjoyed this dvd enormously, and I think many of you will like it too.

For those who haven't read any of the versions of "A thousand and one nights" yet, the plot is simple but the resulting story that the spectator can enjoy is great. A Sultan (Dougray Scott) discovers that his wife betrays him with his brother, and kills her. Hurt and almost mad, the Sultan says that he will wed again but declares that he will marry a new bride everyday, killing her the next morning so she won't betray him too. His first chosen bride is the daughter of his main advisor, Scheherazade (Mili Avital), a woman who loves him and that will try to keep herself and the other women in the palace alive, as well as make the Sultan fall in love with her. In order to do so, Scheherazade begins to tell him a story during their first night together, engaging the Sultan so much in it that the next day he postpones her execution.

And that continues for a long time, every night and with different and enchanting stories, that the director (Steve Barron) somehow manages to show to the spectator, mixed almost seamlessly with the main story. Among other tales, you will be treated to wonderful versions of "Ali Baba and the forty thieves" and "Aladdin and the magic lamp".

Of course, you will wonder how this story finishes, and what happens with the Sultan and Scheherazade. But for that, unfortunately (or fortunately?), you will have to watch this movie, or buy a good version of "A thousand and one nights". In my opinion, doing those two things one after the other would be an excellent idea. The reason for that is that even though the book and the filmic version of it that this dvd contains are quite different, they are both extremely good. Highly recommended!

Belen Alcat