La mille et deuxième nuit Review: Giant Turbans and Cardboard Walls

If you're looking for a slick, fast-paced action movie, you should definately skip this one. La mille et deuxième nuit is really only for people who love dusty, weird 1930s fantasy films and don't mind a lot of painted cardboard scenery. 🎬

The story is pretty simple, even if the characters make it look complicated. We got an Arabian prince who gets mixed up with a bunch of poor rebels while also trying to date the local Sultan's wife.

As you can guess, the Sultan is not very happy about this. The whole thing plays out like a theatrical play where everyone talks just a little bit too slow.

The Eyes of Ivan Mozzhukhin

Ivan Mozzhukhin plays the prince, and his performance is easily the most interesting part of the movie. He was a massive star in the silent era, and boy, you can tell he still wants to act with his entire face.

In almost every close-up, his eyes are open so wide you think they might pop out. It is a bit intense, but it kept me awake during the slower talking scenes.

Sometimes he stares directly at the camera. It feels less like acting and more like he is trying to stare through the screen right into my living room.

The romance side of things is a bit flat, though. The chemistry between him and Tania Fédor is pretty much non-existent, like two polite strangers waiting for the same bus.

Cinematic perspective: Exploring the visual vocabulary of La mille et deuxième nuit (1933) through its definitive frames.

Cardboard and Sleepy Guards

I love looking at the backgrounds in these super old films. The palace walls are so thin you can actually see them wobble a tiny bit when a door slams shut.

And the extras! There is this one scene where the prince is arguing with some guards, and one guy in the back is clearly just trying to survive the day.

He keeps shifting his weight from foot to foot and staring at the ceiling. I wonder if he ever knew someone would be watching him do that ninety years later.

It has none of the tense, tight editing you get in a film like The Bedroom Window. Instead, scenes just sort of fade out when the actors run out of things to say.

"The Sultan's beard looks like it was glued on five minutes before they yelled action."

The audio is also pretty rough in some parts. During a dungeon scene, the echo is so loud it sounds like they threw the microphone down a well.

Is it a great film? Not really, and the middle section drags so much you might find yourself checking your phone.

But there is something very sweet about how hard they tried with such a small budget. If you like weird film history, it is worth a lazy afternoon watch.