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.

Saadia
Directed byAlbert Lewin
Written byAlbert Lewin
Based onÉchec au destin
by Francis D'Autheville
Starring
CinematographyChristopher Challis
Edited byHarold F. Kress
Music byBronislau Kaper
Distributed byMetro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Release date
  • December 1953 (1953-12)
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$1,022,000[1]
Box office$1,352,000[1]

Plot

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Cast

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Production

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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.[2]

Reception

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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.[1]

References

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  1. ^ a b c The Eddie Mannix Ledger, Los Angeles: Margaret Herrick Library, Center for Motion Picture Study.
  2. ^ Ellis, David A. (2012). Conversations with Cinematographers. Scarecrow Press. p. 54. ISBN 9780810881266. Retrieved June 29, 2015.
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