The shots appear to have been filmed in 16 mm and then trans- ferred to 35 mm anamorphic stock, resulting in a deliberately grainy and distorted, taffy-pull imagery. The giant flea—one of the film’s comic highlights—was constructed by Rambaldi, with a small catapult built into its underside to help it leap. As with Il
ladro di Bagdad,
Bava was not responsible for the uncharacteristically sloppy blue screen work seen in the picture— which causes De Sica’s genie to float and Aladdin’s magic carpet to fly—which was done during post- production, after Bava had moved on to other projects.
Variants
In America, the distribution rights to The Wonders of Aladdin were ini- tially sold by Joseph E. Levine to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. MGM was apparently uncomfortable with some aspects of the production and hired American editor Gene Ruggiero to re- edit the picture. The resulting vari- ant is true to Le meraviglie di Aladino in terms of story and dialogue, but it differs from the European prints in some striking ways. The following is a list of shots and scenes included in the European versions, signed by Bava, which are not included in the US Levin cut: • Medium shot of Prince’s carriage
interior, as Moluk offers one of the harem girls painting his fingernails a taste of his ice cream.
• When Aladdin leaves to take back the lamp, the scene cuts to a silhou- etted rear view of Aladdin exiting a keyhole-shaped doorway into the mar- ket place. On the threshold, he blows out the flame of his lamp and a fire- eater entertaining the locals responds by blowing a large arc of flame into the sky. He then eats flame from the end of a stick. Aladdin looks around, and we cut to the lamp vendor, seeing Aladdin and hiding—not wishing to re- fund money for the lamp once again. • While running away from the mob, Aladdin pauses to stash his stolen goods in an alcove.
FRENCH affiche with prominent billing for Mario Bava.
