Ali Baba Goes to Town Reviews

ALI BABA GOES TO TOWN is a silly title for this better than average satirical musical that stars Eddie Cantor in a variation of Mark Twain's classic A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court. A Hollywood extra (Cantor) is working on the set of an Arabian Nights film when he takes some sleeping pills and wakes up in the Arabian Nights era. The Sultan (Roland Young) immediately names the transplanted extra his chief minister. In a spoof of Franklin Delano Roosevelt's "New Deal" administration, he quickly disbands the army, goes after and levies enormous taxes on the very wealthy, and then begins a series of massive public works projects--a tailor-made message for the Depression-torn 1930s. He is almost done in by his enemies but discovers a flying carpet and uses this to frighten opponents into submission before waking from his dream of empire. An amusing, well-done farce with many tuneful ditties sprucing up the sometimes inane script, including "Swing Is Here to Stay" (which earned an Oscar nomination for Sammy Lee's choreography), "Twilight in Turkey," and "Laugh Your Troubles Away" (Mack Gordon, Harry Revel, Raymond Scott).