Search - Cyril Ritchard :: Aladdin Collector's Series with Lenticular Art

I would love to WATCH this masterpiece on film!

J. D. Radcliffe | 05/25/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"For those of us who are lucky enough know this piece of splender,
wouldn't it be just wonderful if they reissued the performance on DVD or VHS?"

3rd rate Porter, but with some gems

J. D. Radcliffe | Boston | 06/19/2010

(4 out of 5 stars)

"On the plus side we have Cyril Ritchard and his opening song, 'Come to the Supermarket in Old Peking' as well as the later 'No Wonder Taxes Are High.' The unused 'Wouldn't It Be Nice' is supposed to be the last song Porter ever wrote (they took his leg off immediately afterwards), and it is done nicely here by Basil Rathbone. The rest of the songs are serviceable, but never rise above the production value of this soundstage TV show, with its commercial-jingle chorus. The pre-overture introduction by Cole Porter himself is a nice touch, if startling--"I hope you will enjoy my sssthongs!"



The casting reflects the times more than production needs. Dennis King was Pooh-Bah in the Groucho Marx TV 'Mikado,' hence his part here. Anna Maria Alberghetti and Sal Mineo were both rising young juveniles in mid-50s showbiz (she in TV opera, he in drama), and since they're both Italian they can be romantically paired without raising any ethnic or racial hackles.



I haven't seen any visuals, but know that nobody looks particularly Chinese, and only Cyril Ritchard has the proper pantomime panache to bring it off. Still I appreciate the fact that this IS set in China, as it properly should be, as that's where it is in the Arabian nights, and where it has remained through many generations of comic pantomime. Only the Disney animators, weirdly, transplanted the story to Arabia.



There was no doubt a lot of irony and wordplay in the script by S. J. Perelman, but it's not here on the record."