Shéhérazade (1963 film)

Shéhérazade or Scorching Sands is a 1963 adventure film directed by Pierre Gaspard-Huit and starring Anna Karina as the title character. The cast also featured Gérard Barray, António Vilar and Giuliano Gemma[2] The film is loosely based on the One Thousand and One Nights. The film's sets and costumes were designed by the art director Georges Wakhévitch.

Shéhérazade
Film poster
Directed byPierre Gaspard-Huit
Written byPierre Gaspard-Huit
José Gutiérrez Maesso
Marc-Gilbert Sauvajon
Produced byMichel Safra
Serge Silberman
Georges Lourau
StarringAnna Karina
Gérard Barray
António Vilar
CinematographyAndré Domage
Christian Matras
Edited byLouisette Hautecoeur
Music byAndré Hossein
Production
companies
Ciné-Alliance
Dear Film Produzione
Filmsonor
Spéva Films
Tecisa
Distributed byCinédis
Release date
  • 15 May 1963 (1963-05-15) (France)
Running time
124 minutes
Countries
  • France
  • Italy
  • Spain[1]
LanguageFrench[1]

Plot

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Baghdad in the year 809. The city is ruled by the Caliph, Haroun-al-Rashid, to whom the beautiful and spiritual Scheherazade has been promised. Ambassadors of Charlemagne arrive in Baghdad to ask the Caliph for free access to the Christian holy sites. Among these envoys from the west is the knight Renaud Villecroix, who falls in love with her. The grand vizier, enemy of the Caliph, ambushes a traveling party and takes Scheherazade prisoner, threatening to cut off her head. Renaud saves her and flees into the desert with her.

Cast

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Release

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The film was released in France on May 15, 1963.[1]

It was the 46th top-grossing film of 1963 in France, where it sold 1,375,848 tickets at the box office.[3][unreliable source?] In Poland, it sold more than 2 million tickets, making it one of the thirteen highest-grossing foreign films in Poland as of 1968.[4]

References

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  1. ^ a b c "Shéhérazade" (in French). Unifrance. Retrieved 25 February 2023.
  2. ^ Wakin, Daniel J. (2012). "Shéhérazade". Movies & TV Dept. The New York Times. Archived from the original on 26 October 2012. Retrieved 25 January 2010.
  3. ^ "Shéhérazade (1963)". JP's Box-Office (in French). Retrieved 26 June 2020.
  4. ^ Ford, Charles; Hammond, Robert (2015). Polish Film: A Twentieth Century History. McFarland & Company. p. 107. ISBN 978-1-4766-0803-7.
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