mattijsvandenbosch

Ali Baba et les 40 voleurs (1954)

Very enjoyable and well made!

I really enjoyed (re)watching this movie. I must have seen it as a child in the late sixties while growing up in Morocco but didn't remember it well. "Deja vu" flashes came back while watching it now and then and also made me remember the context: some gags to pay attention to where discussed beforehand at school by schoolmates. The Fernandel movies where hugely popular at that time, specially amongst the then still very present French speaking population . Of course the whole Ali Baba tale is a fantasy. So lets judge it that way. The main thing I like about this movie is that it was filmed in Morocco, the perfect backdrop and scenery to merge with the Ali Baba story. But this movie is also not about the real Morocco, it is a fantasy...And the use of local scenery and extra's is VERY WELL done. Other then another Fernandel movie I also saw at the time set in the medieaval age (Le bon roi Dagobert) where anachronistic gags where built in: Fernandel, the medieval king asking : 'What is the time?", looking at his watch...The ending of Ali Baba with a least a thousand (!) extras is impressive . It is strange that the perfect production and its costs where dealt with with more attention to then the quite simple plot. But in this lies the charm of this movie. This is actually a feel good movie about a good man who does good deeds with the treasure he finds while he stumbles on huge richness in the 40 robbers cave. It IS also a comedy an that is Fernandel's strong point. After having watched this movie I had a big smile on my face for hours...