The image features an interior long shot of Ali Baba (Eddie Cantor), wearing prisoner's clothing, as he clutches his heart while looking into the eyes of Prince Musah (Douglass Dumbrille)who is about to strike him with his saber while a large group of men wearing elaborate Middle Eastern clothing watch. Printed on single-weight stock with a glossy finish, this vintage original photograph is in fine+ condition with two 1.75 in. long side-by-side vertical scratches above the lower right corner of the image area and a 2.5 in. long by 0.5 in. wide area of "dimpling" in the lower left portion of the image area within the background only. Please note that this photograph actually has more contrast and features richer dark tones than they appear in the accompanying scan. Two special-effects technicians--grip Harry Harsha and propman Philo Goodfriend--were killed when a machine that was being used to make the "flying carpet" look like it was flying jumped off its tracks and fell on them. Star Eddie Cantor appears as himself in the film's final sequence with Tony Martin. Newsreel footage of the many stars appearing at the Carthay Circle Theatre premiere of Wee Willie Winkie (1937), starring Shirley Temple, is used for the film's finale. The original release prints of this film used a then-revolutionary three-tone tinting process utilizing sepia and copper. Blue and orange mixed with copper were used for night sequences while sepia, amber and copper were used for daytime scenes. Ali Baba Goes to Town; 20th Century-Fox; 1937; dir: David Butler; cast: Eddie Cantor, Tony Martin, Roland Young, Gypsy Rose Lee, Raymond Scott and His Quartet, John Carradine, Virginia Field, Alan Dinehart, Douglass Dumbrille, Maurice Cass, Warren Hymer, Stanley Fields, Paul Hurst, Sam Hayes. |