Night in Paradise

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Night in Paradise
Directed by	Arthur Lubin
Produced by	Walter Wanger
Written by	George S. Hellman (novel)
Cinematography	W. Howard Greene Hal Mohr
Editing by	Milton Carruth
Distributed by	Universal Pictures
Release dates	3 May 1946
Running time	84 min.
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$1,602,641^[1]
Box office	$2,032,486^[1]

Night in Paradise is a 1946 American film produced by Walter Wanger and directed by Arthur Lubin.

This expensive, lavish Technicolor production of plaster Grecian temples and painted skies was Wanger's second attempt to film the novel, and ended up costing $1.6 million and losing Universal some $800,000. One source describes it as a kitschy "Maria Montez vehicle without Maria Montez".^[2] (The correct title is Night in Paradise, not "A Night in Paradise" as some sources have it.)

Plot

In 560 AD King Croesus of Lydia incurs the wrath of the sorceress Queen Attossa he had promised to marry, when he chooses the beautiful Delarai of Persia instead. Attossa, in disembodied form, mocks Croesus nearly to the point of madness, so he seeks a solution from the fortune-teller Aesop, who is very young and handsome, but believes that people only receive wisdom with age, arrived from the Isle of Samos in disguise of an old man with a hunch, a limp, and a cane. But Aesop also has eyes for Delarai. One day, Delarai invites Aesop to interpret a charm. As he does, he goes as his young self but with a different name, Jason. Delarai doesn't know at first, but as she sees the same scar on Jason's hand as Aesop's hand, she knows, and reveals that a hunch and a limp may be faked, but a scar remains a scar, and they fall in love with each other, but Atossa and the people in the palace suspect something is going on with Aesop and Delarai. Croesus wanted the Oracle to tell him the truth and sends Aesop to retrieve it. As Aesop is packing, Delarai talks him out of it but fails. Aesop goes anyway, and Delarai cries herself to sleep. Aesop does go fetch it from a priest, but the priest refuses, saying his life is valuable. Aesop claims that if a priest's words do not mean anything, then his life means less and strangles him. He takes the priest's clothes and hides his face in the hood. Delarai comes to the temple, wanting to seek for Aesop, but before she could say anything, Aesop reveals his young face slightly, and Delarai breaks out a smile. As the security guards see her smile, they unmask Aesop, and Aesop and Delarai run hand in hand. They are forced to jump off a cliff. They jump in each other arms, and Attosa reveals her image at sea, saying that Aesop and Delarai actually survived because of their faith, their love, and a little help from Attosa. They live in a small cottage with a lake and a garden. Delarai is mending and Aesop's hand around on her shoulder, 12 boys come out saying "daddy!" which reveals that they got married and have children. "Another fable to bed?" asks the eldest son. Aesop replies "not tonight, tonight is mommy's night." Delarai and Aesop smile and they have a family hug.

Cast

Merle Oberon as Delarai
Turhan Bey as Aesop
Thomas Gomez as King Croesus
Gale Sondergaard as Attosa
Ray Collins as Leonides
Ernest Truex as Scribe
George Dolenz as Frigid Ambassador
John Litel as Archon
Jerome Cowan as Scribe
Douglass Dumbrille as High Priest
Paul Cavanagh as Cleomenes
Marvin Miller as Scribe
Moroni Olsen as High Priest
Richard Bailey as Lieutenant
William 'Wee Willie' Davis as Salabaar
unbilled players include Julie London
unbilled singer Juli Lynne Charlot Opening title song

Reception

The film recorded a loss of $790,711.^[1]

References

↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Matthew Bernstein, Walter Wagner: Hollywood Independent, Minnesota Press, 2000 p442
↑ Universal horrors: the studio's classic films, 1931-1946, by Tom Weaver, Michael Brunas, John Brunas, page 532

External links

v t e Films directed by Arthur Lubin

1930s	A Successful Failure (1934) Great God Gold (1935) Honeymoon Limited (1935) Two Sinners (1935) Frisco Waterfront (1935) The House of a Thousand Candles (1936) Yellowstone (1936) Mysterious Crossing (1936) California Straight Ahead! (1937) I Cover the War (1937) Idol of the Crowds (1937) Adventure's End (1937) Midnight Intruder (1938) The Beloved Brat (1938) Prison Break (1938) Secrets of a Nurse (1938) Risky Business (1939) Big Town Czar (1939) Mickey the Kid (1939) Call a Messenger (1939) The Big Guy (1939)

1940s	Black Friday (1940) Gangs of Chicago (1940) Meet the Wildcat (1940) I'm Nobody's Sweetheart Now (1940) Who Killed Aunt Maggie? (1940) The San Francisco Docks (1940) Where Did You Get That Girl? (1941) Buck Privates (1941) In the Navy (1941) Hold That Ghost (1941) Keep 'Em Flying (1941) Ride 'Em Cowboy (1942) Eagle Squadron (1942) To the People of the United States (1943) White Savage (1943) Phantom of the Opera (1943) Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves (1944) Delightfully Dangerous (1945) The Spider Woman Strikes Back (1946) Night in Paradise (1946) New Orleans (1947) Impact (1949)

1950s	Francis (1950) Francis Goes to the Races (1951) Rhubarb (1951) Francis Goes to West Point (1952) It Grows on Trees (1952) South Sea Woman (1953) Francis Covers the Big Town (1953) Star of India (1954) Francis Joins the WACS (1954) Footsteps in the Fog (1955) Francis in the Navy (1955) Lady Godiva of Coventry (1955) The First Traveling Saleslady (1956) Escapade in Japan (1957)

1960s	The Thief of Baghdad (1961) The Incredible Mr. Limpet (1964) Hold On! (1966)

1970s	Rain for a Dusty Summer (1971)

v t e The films of Walter Wanger

1920s	The Sheik (1921) The Cocoanuts (1929) The Lady Lies (1929) Applause (1929)

1930s	Roadhouse Nights (1930) Tarnished Lady (1931) Washington Merry-Go-Round (1932) Gabriel Over the White House (1933) The Bitter Tea of General Yen (1933) Going Hollywood (1933) Another Language (1933) Queen Christina (1933) The President Vanishes (1934) Private Worlds (1935) Smart Girl (1935) Every Night at Eight (1935) Shanghai (1935) Mary Burns, Fugitive (1935) The Moon's Our Home (1936) Her Master's Voice (1936) The Case Against Mrs. Ames (1936) Fatal Lady (1936) Palm Springs (1936) The Trail of the Lonesome Pine (1936) Big Brown Eyes (1936) Spendthrift (1936) You Only Live Once (1937) Vogues of 1938 (1937) History Is Made At Night (1937) Stand-In (1937) 52nd Street (1937) Trade Winds (1938) Blockade (1938) Algiers (1938) I Met My Love Again (1938) Stagecoach (1939) Winter Carnival (1939) Eternally Yours (1939)

1940s	Foreign Correspondent (1940) The Long Voyage Home (1940) Slightly Honorable (1940) The House Across the Bay (1940) Sundown (1941) Eagle Squadron (1942) Arabian Nights (1942) We've Never Been Licked (1943) Gung Ho! (1943) Ladies Courageous (1944) Scarlet Street (1945) Salome Where She Danced (1945) Night in Paradise (1946) Canyon Passage (1946) Smash-Up, the Story of a Woman (1947) The Lost Moment (1947) Tap Roots (1948) Joan of Arc (1948) Secret Beyond the Door (1948) The Reckless Moment (1949) Reign of Terror (1949) Tulsa (1949)

1950s	Aladdin and His Lamp (1952) Lady in the Iron Mask (1952) Battle Zone (1952) Fort Vengeance (1953) Kansas Pacific (1953) Riot in Cell Block 11 (1954) The Adventures of Hajji Baba (1954) Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956) Navy Wife (1956) I Want to Live! (1958)

1960s	Cleopatra (1963)

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