1001 Arabian Nights is a 1959 American animated film. It was the first animated film to be released by Columbia Pictures.
Plot
In a distant Middle Eastern Kingdom, the young Aladdin lives with his nearsighted and stubborn uncle, Abdul Azziz Magoo, who owns a lamp shop. Believing that Aladdin is growing up to be a lazy and irresponsible man, Magoo encourages Aladdin to get married.
Meanwhile, the wizard Wazir has been siphoning money from the royal treasury and manages to persuade the now-bankrupt Sultan to ask his daughter, the Princess Yasminda, to marry the richest man in the land - which now happens to be Wazir.
During a royal procession, Aladdin and Yasminda fall in love. In his quest for absolute power, Wazir seeks the genie of the magic lamp, which is sealed in a magic cave, and needs Aladdin to get it for him. However, he is unable to obtain the lamp after it falls back into the cave with Aladdin still inside. Aladdin meets the genie and escapes the cave with a chestful of treasures. Magoo then takes the treasure to the palace as a dowry, and manages to unintentionally spoil Wazir and Yasminda's wedding with his naivety and nearsighted physical handicap.
The genie conjures a palace and wealth for Aladdin, which is enough to persuade the Sultan to agree to let Yasminda marry him. However, the vengeful Wazir manages to steal the lamp and the allegiance of the genie, thus exposing Aladdin as a fraud. Aladdin is sent to the scaffold.
As Wazir kidnaps and attempts to woo Yasminda back, the clueless Magoo inadvertently manages to obtain the lamp from Wazir and thus the allegiance of the genie, while also managing to dodge all of Wazir's attempts to kill him. Wazir falls to his death. Only wanting the best for his nephew, Magoo wishes for Aladdin and Yasminda to live happily ever after; thus, the genie saves Aladdin from execution and he and Yasminda wed.
Voice cast
- Jim Backus as Uncle Abdul Azziz Magoo
- Kathryn Grant as Princess Yasminda
- Dwayne Hickman as Aladdin
- Hans Conried as the Wicked Wazir
- Herschel Bernardi as the Jinni of the Lamp
- Alan Reed as the Sultan
- Daws Butler as Omar the Rugmaker
- The Clark Sisters as the Three Little Maids from Damascus
See also
- List of American films of 1959
