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).

A Thousand and One Nights
Japanese film poster
Directed by	Eiichi Yamamoto
Screenplay by	Osamu Tezuka Kazuo Fukasawa Hiroyuki Kumai
Based on	One Thousand and One Nights
Produced by	Osamu Tezuka Atsushi Tomioka
Starring	Yukio Aoshima Kyoko Kishida Hiroshi Akutagawa
Cinematography	Akira Tsuchiya
Edited by	Masashi Furukawa
Music by	Isao Tomita The Helpful Soul
Production company	Mushi Production
Distributed by	Nippon Herald Films
Release date	14 June 1969
Running time	128 minutes
Country	Japan
Language	Japanese
Box office	¥290 million

A Thousand and One Nights (Japanese: 千夜一夜物語, Hepburn: Senya Ichiya Monogatari) is a 1969 Japanese adult animated fantasy film directed by Eiichi Yamamoto, conceived by Osamu Tezuka. The film is the first part of Mushi Production's adult-oriented Animerama trilogy, and was followed by Cleopatra (1970) and Belladonna of Sadness (1973).

The film was a hit in Japan with distribution box-office revenue of ¥290 million, and was given limited screenings in America in 1970, 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 was very hard to find, and was considered lost for a while, however, the trailer for the English dub was recently found, and anime distributor Discotek Media discovered and restored the English dub and released it on Blu-ray alongside the original Japanese version on 24 November 2020. The English-dubbed version was cut to 100 minutes and was recorded in Italy. The film predates the more successful release of Fritz the Cat, the first American X-rated animated film, by three years.

Plot

Aldin, a poor, traveling water seller, falls in love with Miriam, a beautiful slave woman on auction in Baghdad, but Havasalakum, the 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 have sex there, and are secretly watched by the master of the mansion, Sulaiman, who locks them in and commands them to continue. Havasalakum and his guards invade the mansion, where he finds them and capture Miriam. Badli, the right-hand man of the chief of police, murders Sulaiman. Aldin is tortured and sent to prison by mistake for the murder of Sulaiman. Meanwhile, a heartbroken Miriam dies in childbirth.

One year later, Aldin is set free and meets Badli in the desert. Aldin threatens to kill him, but shows him mercy and lets him leave. Aldin finds the magic cave where Kamahakim and the forty thieves hides their treasure. Aldin follows a thief inside, and as the thieves are asleep, he begins stealing the treasure. Madia, a young female thief, awakens and threatens to kill Aldin, who convinces her to see the world with him. The two fly away on a magic wooden horse. While they are crossing the ocean, living hair pulls them down.

Aldin and Madia eventually find themselves in the Lotus Island, which is home to beautiful Sirens. Their queen, Lamia, invites them to stay, but Madia becomes jealous and does not trust them. She leaves on the magic horse while Aldin stays and has sex with the sirens. Lamia forbids Aldin from following her into her house in the woods at night, but he still does so, and he is shocked as Lamia and the sirens transform into serpents. The serpents chase him, but Aldin flees from the island and is rescued by sailors. He travels with the sailors to a mysterious island, which is inhabited by a man-eating giant who eats most of the crew while Aldin survives. Aldin then finds a magical, sentient ship that will take him anywhere and fulfill almost any of his wishes.

15 years later, two genies on a carpet come across a shepherd named Aslan, whom the female genie falls for. The male genie, in hopes of keeping the other genie from risking death by being seen by the shepherd, brings a beautiful princess named Jalis, who is from Baghdad, but teleports her away when things start going wrong. The male genie, in a huff, leaves the female genie, as she transforms into a horse to help Aslan go to Baghdad. When Aslan and Princess Jalis cross paths in the desert, the genie disappears from sight.

Meanwhile, Aldin, now a rich man, enters a competition in Baghdad, the winner of which will become king. He wins the competition by tricking his opponent onto his magical ship, and by commanding the ship to take him to the end of the world. Aldin tries to use his power as the king to make Princess Jalis – who is Miriam's daughter – marry him, but she is in love with Aslan. Aldin commands the people to build a tower to heaven. The people hate him and revolt, led by Muhammand bin Sabaik, 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, now seeing the value of freedom and peace.

Cast

Cast

Character	Japanese	English
Aldin	Yukio Aoshima	Frederick Neumann
Miriam	Kyouko Kishida	Milliam
Princess Jalis	Kyouko Kishida
Badli	Hiroshi Akutagawa
Aslan	Isao Hashizume	Mike Billingsley
Madia	Sachiko Itou	Susan Spafford
Djinn	Noboru Mitani	Gene Luotto
Genie	Haruko Katou
Caliph Muhammand bin Sabaik IV		Mel Welles
Shalieman		Robert Spafford
Queen Lamia		Carolyn De Fonseca
Havasalakum		Ted Rusoff
Kamahakim	Asao Koike	Robert Sommer
Nursemaid	Reiko Niimura	Cicely Browne
Janir		Dan Sturkie
Halimar	Tomoko Fumino	Gisella Mathews
Quack Doctor	Kuniyoshi Kizaki
Ticket Scalper	Kyosen Oohashi
Race Spectators	Chinpei Nozue Danshi Tatekawa Takehiko Maeda
Senators	Minoru Oomori Sen Saga Souichi Ooya
Slave Bidders	Junnosuke Yoshiyuki Morio Kita Sakyou Komatsu Shuusaku Endou Yasutaka Tsutsui
Master of Ceremonies		Frank von Kuegelgen

See also

• Arabian Nights (1974 film)
• 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