1001 Arabian Nights (1959 film)

Production

The film was originally directed by Pete Burness, who was the series director on the popular series of Mr. Magoo theatrical cartoons produced for Columbia by UPA between 1949 and 1959. Disagreements with producer and UPA owner Stephen Bosustow led to Burness resigning and Bosustow recruiting Jack Kinney, the director of many of Disney's Donald Duck cartoons, as the film's new director. The voice of Magoo in the short cartoons, Jim Backus, reprises his role in the feature, with Katheryn Grant, the singer/actress wife of Bing Crosby, as the voice of Princess Yasminda and Dwayne Hickman, from TV's The Bob Cummings Show and The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis, as the voice of Aladdin.

1001 Arabian Nights was the first full-length feature produced by UPA, a studio which had revolutionized animation during the 1950s by incorporating design and limited animation. The film was not a box-office success, and was UPA's final release through Columbia, which had ended its distribution for the UPA short subjects in favor of lower-cost Loopy De Loop cartoons from Hanna-Barbera Productions. Following the film's release, Bousustow sold UPA to Henry G. Saperstein, who moved the studio into television production and a second feature production, Gay Purr-ee, before closing the animation studio and moving UPA on to other ventures.

Voice cast

Home media

1001 Arabian Nights was released on VHS videocassette by RCA/Columbia Pictures Home Video in 1985. It was released on DVD in 2011 as a manufactured on demand release from the Sony Pictures Choice Collection, now available through the Warner Archive.

In 2014, 1001 Arabian Nights was included as disc four of the four-disc DVD boxed set Mr. Magoo- The Theatrical Collection: 1949-1959 from Shout! Factory.