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THE MAGIC CARPET
(Hodja fra Pjort)
Rating:  ½
Denmark. 1985.
Director – Brita Wielopolska, Screenplay – Mogens Klovedal, Based on the Novel by Ole Lunk Kirkegard, Producer – Tivi Magnusson, Photography – Peter Klitgaard, Music – Sebastian, Special Effects – Peter Hoimark, Makeup – Elisabeth Bukkehave. Production Company – Metronome Productions A-S/Danish Film Institute.
Cast:
David Bertelsen (Hadja), Zuhal Ozdemir (Emerald), Lars Junggreen (The General), Zihini Kucumen (Sultan), Holger Boland (El Faza), Astrid Henning-Jensen (Old Woman)
Plot: The greedy Sultan of Petto desires to fly. One of his soldiers learns about the carpet seller El Faza who reputedly had a flying carpet and sends his men to take the carpet from El Faza by force. El Faza instead gives his carpet to his young friend Hadja who flees from the Sultan’s troops aboard it, along with the beggar girl Emerald. The Sultan’s soldiers pursue, making all effort to obtain the carpet.
This Danish-made Arabian Nights fantasy is a passably likeable effort. The Turkish locations, all black clay countryside and adobe huts seemingly built into hillsides, make for an interesting pseudo-Arabian Nights setting of seemingly authentic texture and verisimilitude. Even the travelling matte shots for the flying carpets are modestly and convincingly conducted. The film does contain a certain few implausibilities – like the ultra-silly moment where the young hero makes an escape from the jail cells by convincing the drunken jailer that he is the Sultan’s dog handler, or else Emerald’s ability to just get onto any old carpet and fly away. There is also some irritably broad acting from Zihini Kucumen as the Sultan. The Magic Carpet may not be the epic romantic fantasy of The Thief of Bagdad (1940) but it does nevertheless enchant in its own small way.
Copyright Richard Scheib 1999-2012
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