THE SINGING PRINCESS (1952/1967)

The title character in this animated feature set in Baghdad is Princess Zelia. As she has now reached marrying age, her father the Caliph has sent a messenger out to three nearby lands asking for any interested princes to come to Baghdad to be looked over as husband prospects. But the evil Jafar plots with his magician buddy Burk to stop the search. Burk uses a magic cloak made of the wings of bats and owls to fly to the messenger's canoe and turn him to stone before he can reach the other lands. Meanwhile, Zelia wanders through the land with Amin, her young companion and musician, and sings and dances out of enjoyment. Jafar asks for her hand, but three government ministers (Tanko, Zirco and Zizibe) advise her against it. Burk conjures up a magic ring that, when placed on Zelia’s finger, will cause her to fall in love with Jafar. Amin's pet magpie Calina steals the ring and the ministers plot to give the ring to the ugliest woman they can find, but Amin is kidnapped by Bork who kills the magpie. Amin manages to rip off a part of Burk's cloak to use for himself to escape. Zelia comes to realize that she loves Amin and eventually, Aladdin's lamp, complete with genie, enters the narrative to help good be rewarded and evil be punished.

This one hour film, mostly forgotten by pop culture today, is interesting for a few reasons. First, there's the tangled distribution history. Made in Italy in 1949, it was written and directed by Anton Gino Domenighini, and according to IMDb this was his only film credit. Under the title La Rosa di Bagdad, it won a prize at a children's film festival and in 1952 was dubbed into English, with the voice of the princess provided by 17-year-old Julie Andrews (her first film credit), and released in England. In 1967, after Andrews had become an international star, it was released in the States as a weekend kiddie matinee feature with an ad trumpeting "the magical voice of Julie Andrews." It’s largely vanished from view since then, though it did get a DVD release in 2005. With this kind of pedigree, the movie wouldn't seem promising, but it's quite watchable. The animation has the look of early Disney or Max Fleischer films; it's not quite as colorful or detailed as later Disney films would be, but I think it still holds up. The world-building of this fantasyland version of Baghdad is minimal but fun: the magic bat-wing cloak, a place called the Valley of the Lost, the fact that Zirko is the Minister of Beautiful Things. It's also interesting to look at influences. There are scenes here reminiscent of Fantasia, particularly a nifty dance that three snakes perform in mid-air, and one that the magpie does as it steals the ring. It feels like it might have inspired the Jafar character in Disney's Aladdin, and his somewhat sinisterly effeminate tone isn't too far from that of Scar, the chief villain in The Lion King. Andrews' voice is fine, but if she's the only reason you're watching, you'll be disappointed as her role is overshadowed by the other characters. The operatic tone of Andrews' voice rendered most of her lyrics unintelligible, but the songs aren’t really important to the plot. Recommended to animation fans and as a novelty. [YouTube]