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


A flawed masterpiece   June 12, 2005
 14 out of 14 found this review helpful

There is a badly edited VHS version of this around. The UK dvd version appears to be this version only in dvd format. The running time is around about 127 mins. There is a full version available on DVD in the US on amazon.com. It runs in at around 175 mins or so. Recommend you fish out the old credit card and wait patiently for the disc to arrive from the US unless you want a hacked to bits version on dvd format


A wonderful array of stars   January 11, 2005
 6 out of 6 found this review helpful

This version of Arabian Nights is closer to the actual story than any other version I have heard of and has a huge variety of actors.
Dougray Scott is brillant as the Caliph (ruler) beginning with him verging on the edge of madness after the betrayal of his firsrt wife and brother and then as his second wife, a friend who has loved him since they were children and the daughter of the Caliph's chief consultant, brings him from the brink of madness and saving her own life by keeping him distracted by telling him different stories.
This wonderful story as well as being funny and well performed also teaches other that stories can teach us many things.