The Prince Who Was a Thief
Cast & Crew
Rudolph Maté
Tony Curtis
Piper Laurie
Everett Sloane
Jeff Corey
Betty Garde
Film Details
Technical Specs
Synopsis
In 13th-century Tangiers, regent Mustapha hires master thief Yussef to murder the baby Prince Hussein so Mustapha can take the throne in the infant's place. Yussef, too kind-hearted to kill the boy, instead adopts him and rears him as a peasant named Julna, with the mark of the rajah tattooed on his arm. Eighteen years later, Julna now reigns as the city's master thief and ladies' man, but becomes smitten by Prince Mustapha's beautiful and cunning daughter, Princess Yasmin. His romantic rival is the powerful Hedjah, Prince of Algiers, who is courting Yasmin with the renowned Pearl of Fatima. When the pearl is stolen, Hedjah threatens to declare war if it is not recovered in one month, and Mustapha informs Yussef that he must either find the jewel or lose his life. By posing as the owners of a priceless ruby, Yussef and Julna trap the thief, a mischievous girl named Tina, who enjoys a reputation as the master thief of Marrakesh. As Tina demonstrates her abilities as a contortionist and escape artist, the two men hatch a plan to use Tina to wiggle through the bars of the city treasury so they can steal the gold inside. They then return the pearl to Mustapha, but Tina steals it back without their knowledge. When Julna visits the prince to demand a reward for the pearl he thinks he has just returned, Yasmin, believing he has the pearl, pretends to love him in order to make him promise to find the jewel for her. Julna, Yussef and Tina, who has fallen in love with Julna, then carry out their treasury robbery, and are blackmailed into sharing the loot with two petty thieves. Later, Julna informs Tina that he is really a prince, and she returns the pearl to him, stating that though she loves him, he should marry a princess like Yasmin. She then hides while he visits Yasmin and, seeing guards ready to grab him, shouts out a warning and is herself captured by the palace guards. Julna pays the petty thieves to help him rescue Tina, and a sword fight in the marketplace ends in victory for Julna when he reveals his royal tattoo to the guards. The city's inhabitants, tired of Mustapha's tyrannical ways, storm the palace and name Julna, now once again called Hussein, their rightful prince. After Julna has Mustapha arrested and gives both the pearl and Yasmin to Hedjah, he entices Tina to give up her plan to return to Marrakesh, and proclaims her the most brave and beautiful princess in the land.
Director
Rudolph Maté
Cast
Tony Curtis
Piper Laurie
Everett Sloane
Jeff Corey
Betty Garde
Peggie Castle
Donald Randolph
Nita Bieber
Milada Mladova
Hayden Rorke
Midge Ware
Carol Varga
Fred Graff
Susan Cabot
King Donovan
Robert Rockwell
James Vincent
Dick Morris
Ramsey Hill
Jack Briggs
Frank Malet
Roy Engel
Nico Lek
Basil Tellou
Robert Dane
Nolan Leary
Frank Lackteen
Gino Corrado
Ken Terrell
Buddy Roosevelt
Jean Hartelle
Jo Buffalino
George Macgrill
Crew
Gerald Drayson Adams
Glenn E. Anderson
Harold B. Belfer
Leslie I. Carey
Edward Curtiss
William Fritzsche
Russell A. Gausman
Irving Glassberg
Leonard Goldstein
Bernard Herzbrun
Jesse Hibbs
Aeneas Mackenzie
Emrich Nicholson
Hans J. Salter
Lee Sholem
Otto Siegel
Joan St. Oegger
Bill Thomas
Bud Westmore
Harry Wolf
Film Details
Technical Specs
Quotes
Son of a noseless mother! Maggot-brained child of a jackass!- Emir Mokar
Trivia
Notes
The opening title card for this film reads: "Theodore Dreiser's The Prince Who Was a Thief." As noted in the Hollywood Reporter review, Curtis and Laurie made their starring debuts in this film, and Midge Ware and Carol Varga made their feature film debuts. Although other Hollywood Reporter news items add Bonnie Menzies, Zachary Charles, Willetta Smith, Vickie Saunders, Dolores Starr, Peggy Murray and Winona Smith to the cast, their appearance in the final film has not been confirmed. Many modern film critics have complained that Curtis' New York accent was incongruent with his role as a Middle Eastern prince. According to interviews with Curtis, his response to such accusations is that if British actors could play Romans, New York actors ought to be able to play Arabs.
