Karavansara

East of Constantinople, West of Shanghai


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Tits & Sand: Arabian Nights, 1942

Arabiannights1Shot well before the tits & sand label was coined, Arabian Nights, directed by John Rawlins has all it needs to be listed in the genre.
Yes, there’s lots of sand, and star Maria Montez does show her graces in a number of lavish costumes.

A pity the story is so flimsy.
But we’ll get there.

Arabian Nights is one of the exotic movies featuring John Hall and Maria Montez poroduced in the ’40s by Universal pictures.
The first Technicolor feature produced by Universal in over a decade, the movie was designed to cash-in on the success of The Thief of Bagdad in 1940.
Both movies feature Sabu in a key role as the sidekick of the male lead. Continue reading →


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Samarkand

Graham_Diamond_Samarkand_new_editionI was quite happy to discover that recently launched British publisher Venture Press is going to reissue, in ebook format, a fair chunk of Graham Diamond‘s catalog.

Born in Manchester in 1949, Diamond started in fantasy and science fiction, to move later to many other genres.
But I am really interested in his earlier works.
I mentioned his quite entertaining Captain Sinbad when I read it last year.
And now, thanks to the Venture reprints, I’m having lots of fun with another of the earlier works of Graham Diamond – Samarkand.
Could I resist a book with such a title?

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Multipotentiality

A very different video for this Sunday – but it’s nice to cover a number of intersecting topics, right?
Emilie Wapnick’s TED presentation intersects two important points, for me.

First – it talks about me, and about “having too many interests”, a “defect” of mine that was often pointed out to me, from second grade to university and beyond. A “problem” that hindered me for decades.

And it does have a connection with pulp and genre fiction – as it describes what’s been called the omnicompetent hero.
This is, if you will, a lecture about Doc Savage.


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Swashathon!: The Court Jester (1955)

It’s the Swashathon!, boys and girls!
Devised and hosted by The Movies Silently, this is a blogathon about swashbuckling adventure movies.
Could Karavansara miss the opportunity?
Of course not.

swashathon-header

Please head to the Movies Silently blog for the full list of participating blogs, for fun browsing and to discover movies you might not know.

As for what we are about to do here, well, we are about to do this…

… because swashing the buckle is no laughing matter, but doing it singing?
AND dancing?
Ah!
Continue reading →