Saadia is a 1953 adventure film directed by Albert Lewin and starring Mel Ferrer and Cornel Wilde. Set in Morocco, and based on a novel by the French writer Francis D'Autheville, it tells of a love triangle.
Contents
Plot
Setting and premise
The story follows Saadia, a wild and mysterious Arab girl whose life has been shaped by a local sorceress who claims she has the “evil eye” and brings misfortune to those who love her. This belief isolates her from the community.
Love triangle
French doctor Henrik takes Saadia to his clinic for rehabilitation, where he falls in love with her. At the same time, Henrik’s friend and the reigning prince of the small Moroccan state, Si Lahssen, also becomes enamored with her, creating a tense love triangle.
Plague and mission
When a plague strikes the town, Saadia is convinced she is responsible. Determined to help, she rides alone into the mountainous region to retrieve a plague serum being held for ransom by Tuareg bandits. This journey becomes the central action of the film.
Cast
Cornel Wilde as Si Lahssen
Mel Ferrer as Henrik
Rita Gam as Saadia
Michel Simon as Bou Rezza
Cyril Cusack as Khadir
Wanda Rotha as Fatima
Marcel Poncin as Moha
Anthony Marlowe as Cpt. Sabert
Hélène Vallier as Zoubida
Mahjoub Ben Brahim as Ahmed
Jacques Dufilho as leader of bandits
Bernard Farrel as Lt. Camuzac
Richard Johnson as Lt. Girard
Peter Copley as Mokhazenis
Marne Maitland as horse dealer
Harold Kasket as Sheikh of Inimert
Peter Bull as village leader
Eddie Leslie as a villager
Production
Filmed entirely in Morocco, Saadia is believed to have been the first Technicolor feature to have been filmed on location. The cinematographer Christopher Challis called it the most difficult production he had ever worked on. Lewin had pre-selected the sets on a pre-production tour of Morocco, however, unaware of the technical requirements of the large three-strip camera rig, interiors proved to be too small. Thus, there could be no long shots. Among his other eccentricities the film maker also had a horse transported more than a thousand miles to the set, but finding the tail too short, had fake ones made abroad and sent to the filming location.
Reception
According to MGM records the movie earned $580,000 in the US and Canada and $772,000 elsewhere, making a loss to the studio of $408,000.