Story (or lack thereof) in a nutshell: The young, beautiful virgin Sheherazade (Catherine Zeta-Jones, in her film debut) embarks on an adventure through the legends of the 1001 nights. Aided by a genie living in 1990 London who watches her through his TV, she meets all the great heroes and kings, when she's not getting stripped completely naked, that is.Badly dubbed, badly directed, & badly funded, this underwhelming take on the 1001 Arabian Nights is of interest only for the chance to see a very young Catherine Zeta-Jones in her film debut, and seeing her completely naked at least 3 times. Zeta-Jones was barely 21 when she made this, and like I said, it is only of interest for seeing her appealingly pleasant, curvy body unclothed at various points - such as when her clothes fly off of her when she endures a great fall and the completely naked young lady falls into the lap of a drunken Sinbad the Sailor.

This is a retelling of the story of Scheherezade and the 1001 nights. All of the famous heroes of the 1001 Nights are shown to be quite different than the heroes they are portrayed as. That and the fact that the Genie is a 20th century man who keeps appearing in 8th century Arabia with a 20th century bag of tricks is what makes for the humor. It is not hysterically funny humor, but it is effective satire. This is Catherine Zeta-Jones debut film... and you can't take your eyes off her! Not only is she beautiful, but she has charismatic presence.... this is a star-making role for her. I saw this film on Japanese TV... in English. It was so entertaining that I tried to buy a copy. One can find VHS copies dubbed in German (Amazon.de). It is also possible (but more difficult) to find English on eBay...As for why the film is so difficult to find, considering the star and director.... I would guess that it is hard to find for the same reason it is hard to find a copy of Ecstasy with Hedy Lamarr....

**spoiler warning**this movie is a great movie to watch, seeing catherine zeta jones in her first movie was even better - the film tells the story of sheherazade and the famous kings etc. this film is a top buy but is hard to find on video in UK. 10/10 top film

Unless of course you are a hardcore Catherine Zeta-Jones fan and you would like to see her youthful body covered (in descreetly placed) sea shells, or sailing through a storm in a wet shirt, or just like staring at her cleavage which is on display for most of the film.The fantasy-like element of the film doesn't really come together as it tries to blend a number of themes into one. The result is a poorly dubbed film with actors who look like they would rather be somewhere else, except for Catherine herself.