A Thousand and One Nights (1969 film)

This article is about the 1969 Japanese anime film. For the 1959 American animated film, see 1001 Arabian Nights (1959 film).

One Thousand and One Arabian Nights
Directed by	Eiichi Yamamoto
Produced by	Osamu Tezuka Atsushi Tomioka
Written by	Osamu Tezuka Kazuo Fukasawa Hiroyuki Kumai
Music by	Isao Tomita
Cinematography	Akira Tsuchiya
Distributed by	Nippon Herald Movies
Release dates	June 14, 1969
Running time	128 minutes
Country	Japan
Language	Japanese

A Thousand and One Nights (千夜一夜物語, Senya Ichiya Monogatari) is a 1969 anime feature film directed by Eiichi Yamamoto, conceived by Osamu Tezuka. The film is part of Mushi Production's Animerama, a series of films aimed at an adult audience.

The film was a hit in Japan and was given limited screenings in America, but the film did very poorly, as an X-rated cartoon did not seem to appeal to an audience. The dubbed version of the film is now very rare, and has never been released on home video, and may be considered lost.The English-dubbed version was cut to 100 minutes.The film predates the more successful release of Fritz the Cat, the first American X-rated animated film, by 3 years.

Plot

Aldin (Aladdin), a simple traveling water seller, falls in love with Miriam, a beautiful slave on auction. Havahslakum, spoiled son of the chief of police, buys her. Before he can take her home, a sand storm interrupts the auction. Aldin uses the opportunity to steal away the slave woman, rescuing her from slavery. They hide from pursuing guards in a seemingly empty mansion. They make love there, and are secretly watched by the master of the mansion, Suleiman. Suleiman traps them and commands them to continue. Havahslakum and his guards invade the mansion & find them. He takes Miriam. Badli, right hand of the chief of police, murders Suleiman. Aldin is sent to prison by mistake for the murder of Suleiman. There, Aldin is tortured. One year later, a heartbroken Miriam dies in childbirth. After a time, Aldin is set free. He meets Badli in the desert, and threatens to kill him, but shows him mercy and lets him leave. Aldin finds the cave of Kamhakim and the 40 thieves. Aldin follows a thief inside. The thieves are asleep, and Aldin begins stealing their treasure. Madhya, a young female thief, awakens and threatens to kill Aldin. Aldin convinces her to see the world with him. The two fly away on a magic wooden horse. While they are over the ocean, living hair pulls them down. They swim to the nearby island, inhabited by beautiful amazons. Their queen/goddess invites the two to stay, but the thief girl doesn't trust the amazons. She flies away on the magic horse. Aldin makes love to the amazons. The queen forbids Aldin from following her to her house in the woods at night. Aldin follows her and is horrified to see her change into a large white serpent. All the amazons change likewise and chase Aldin off the island. Aldin is later picked up by sailors. They land on an island inhabited by a giant who eats much of the crew. Aldin finds a magic talking wishing ship that will take him anywhere and give him almost anything he wants. Over the years, Aldin uses the ship to become as wealthy as a king. Aldin enters a competition in Baghdad, the winner of which will becomes king. He wins the competition by tricking his opponent onto his magic ship, and by commanding the ship to take him to the end of the world. He wants a girl who looks like Miriam. She is Jalis, the daughter of Miriam. As king, he tries to force her to marry him, but she loves Aslana. Aldin commands the people to build a tower to Heaven. The people hate him and revolt, led by the Aldin's second in command. Not prepared for the pressures of kingship, Aldin gives up the throne to travel the world as a poor man again, for he now sees the value of freedom.

Cast

• Yukio Aoshima as Aldin
• Kyōko Kishida as Miriam and Jalis
• Hiroshi Akutagawa as Badli
• Sachiko Itō as Madhya
• Haruko Kato as the Genie
• Asao Koike as Kamhakim
• Isao Hashizume as Aslan
• Noboru Mitani as Jin
• Shūsaku Endō, Junnosuke Yoshiyuki, Morio Kita, Sakyō Komatsu and Yasutaka Tsutsui as onlookers in the female slave market
• Sōichi Ōya, Sen Saga and Minoru Ōmori as senate members
• Kyosen Ōhashi as a ticket scalper at the horse race
• Takehiko Maeda, Danshi Tatekawa and Chinpei Nozue as horse race spectators
• Kunika Kizaki as the quack doctor
• Takako Andō as an amazon

See also

• List of Osamu Tezuka anime
• List of animated feature-length films

External links

• A Thousand and One Nights at Anime News Network's encyclopedia
• A Thousand and One Nights at IMDb
• A Thousand and One Nights in the TezukaOsamu.net database
• bcbd Senya Ichiya Monogatari
• bcdb cartoon characters