The Brass Bottle

The Brass Bottle (1964) 

Odd Couple indeed. Ives the Genie and Randall the middle class working guy.  

This movie serves as a warning to all that one should be careful when opening antique Arabian brass bottles.  You could accidentally let lose a ghost, weird monasteries beetles or a genie trapped inside for centuries. No doubt if a genie is trapped in a bottle there must be a good reason for it. Harold Ventimore  (Tony Randall) is a prime example of a life ruined by letting lose a jinn. Having a grateful being with power to grant your every whim and wish sounds pretty sweet,  especially if your a cruel greedy dictator, but not if your a humble easy going, get up and go to work kind of guy.   

After being cooped up for thousands of years Fakrash the Genie (Burl Ives) wants to shower grateful and lavish gifts upon his rescuer (Harold) . The trouble is he wants to do   it Ancient Arabian Style. This approach to wish fulfillment  doesn’t fit with the 20th century way of doing things especially with the moral and ethical mindset of Harold.  Fakrash wants to kill Harold’s enemies, furnish him with gold and provide him with lots of sexy women to be his wife.  Nowadays murder is wrong, only the government can issue money and Harold only wants one wife, his fiance Sylvia Kenton (Barbara Eden).  

Before he meet Fakrash he had had a beautiful relationship with his fiance and a good flowing job. But Fakrash’s over-bearing wrong century approach to service has lost him both plus his sanity.  Interestingly his fiance doesn’t believe him when the following year she would become a genie herself in the comedy series ‘I Dream of Jeannie’. Hypocrite. 

Should you rub ‘The Brass Bottle’ and let the comedic genie out of it?  It is a lighthearted fantasy comedy with nothing too offensive that would make it unsuitable for family viewing. Their are some dancing girls dressed somewhat sexy, but it is still more modest then MTV or going to the beach.  It is the style of Ancient Arabian Times.  Harold even wants to get the genie dressed all sexy some modest attire to wear.  Awww the innocent days of film comedy. 

The comedy remains situational and never runs into silly mayhem or slapstick (not there is anything wrong with that providing it is done right.) The film doesn’t depend on CGI and only uses pretty basic effects sparingly when it has to. It relies mostly on the relationship between Harold and Fakrash and the various other characters whom them meet to build the story on.

So rub the bottle if you want a decent, amusing, somewhat funny, comedic fantasy with some decent moral lessons you can watch with the kids.  Afterwards you can then always read the original book by Frank Anstey (which can be found online). Remember hard work can never replace the instant gratification of an out of touch genie.