Kismet

In a single magical day, in eleventh century Baghdad, a beggar-poet rises from poverty to defeat an evil wazir, save the kingdom and help two lovers come together. It may be luck… the result of masterful plotting… or it could be Kismet., Lavish Arabian nights musical, with Howard Keel as a poet-beggar with supposedly mystical powers., This fourth film version of the warhorse Edward Knoblock theatrical piece Kismet was based on the Broadway musical version of the same property. Howard Keel stars as Hadji, the poet of old Baghdad, who goes from beggar to millionaire in a single day. Hadji’s daughter Marsinah (Ann Blyth) falls in love with the young Caliph (Vic Damone), while Lalume (Dolores Gray), the sexy wife of the despotic Wazir (Sebastian Cabot), sets her sights on Hadji. Meanwhile, the Wazir plots and plans to topple the Caliph from the throne and to add Marsinah to his own harem. Making periodic appearances is Omar Khayyam, played as a doddering old meddler by Monty Woolley. The Robert Wright-George Forrest musical score, based on themes by Borodin, includes such standards as “Baubles, Bangles and Beads”, “This is My Beloved”, “Stranger in Paradise” and “Not Since Ninevah”. Though the dancing girls in the film are more modestly dressed than their stage counterparts, they are put through some fairly sensuous paces by choreographer Jack Cole. Kismet was good for another go-round in 1967, when it was adapted for television with Jose Ferrer, Barbara Eden, Anna Maria Alberghetti, George Chakiris and Hans Conried in the cast., A wily street poet enters into a scheme to find a bride for the son of the ruler of Baghdad, and as fate would have it, his daughter is in love with the young man, and her father will need to call on all his “magical” powers to bring the two together., Lavish musical charting the mixed fortunes of a poet-beggar with supposed mystical powers. The poet is pressured into using his special gifts to arrange a marriage between the son of a scheming vizier and a princess. But then fate – or kismet – plays its hand. The memorable tunes, including And This Is My Beloved and Stranger in Paradise, are based on the work of the 19th-century Russian composer Alexander Borodin.