Shéhérazade (1963 film)

{{short description|1963 film}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2020}}

{{Infobox film

| name = Shéhérazade

| image = Shéhérazade-poster.jpg

| caption = Film poster

| director = Pierre Gaspard-Huit

| producer = Michel Safra
Serge Silberman
Georges Lourau

| writer = Pierre Gaspard-Huit
José Gutiérrez Maesso
Marc-Gilbert Sauvajon

| starring = Anna Karina
Gérard Barray
António Vilar

| music = André Hossein

| cinematography = André Domage
Christian Matras

| editing = Louisette Hautecoeur

| studio = Ciné-Alliance
Dear Film Produzione
Filmsonor
Spéva Films
Tecisa

| distributor = Cinédis

| released = {{film date|1963|5|15|France|df=yes}}

| runtime = 124 minutes

| country = {{plainlist|*France

  • Italy
  • Spain{{cite web|url=https://www.unifrance.org/film/4435/sheherazade#|publisher=Unifrance|title=Shéhérazade|accessdate=February 25, 2023|language=French}}}}

| language = French

| budget =

}}

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{{cite news |url=https://movies.nytimes.com/movie/109071/Scheherazade/overview |title=Shéhérazade |accessdate=25 January 2010 | first=Daniel J. | last=Wakin | url-status=dead | archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20121026092149/http://movies.nytimes.com/movie/109071/Scheherazade/overview |department=Movies & TV Dept. |work=The New York Times |date=2012 | archive-date=26 October 2012}} 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.

Plot

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

Release

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

It was the 46th top-grossing film of 1963 in France, where it sold 1,375,848 tickets at the box office.{{cite web |title=Shéhérazade (1963) |url=http://www.jpbox-office.com/fichfilm.php?id=15106&view=2 |website=JP's Box-Office |language=fr |accessdate=26 June 2020}}{{rs|date=February 2023}} In Poland, it sold more than {{nowrap|2 million}} tickets, making it one of the thirteen highest-grossing foreign films in Poland {{as of|1968|lc=y}}.{{cite book |last1=Ford |first1=Charles |last2=Hammond |first2=Robert |title=Polish Film: A Twentieth Century History |date=2015 |publisher=McFarland & Company |isbn=978-1-4766-0803-7 |page=107 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tiYkCQAAQBAJ&pg=PA107}}

References

{{reflist}}