The ever handsome Cornel Wilde looks great in colorful outfits obviously recycled from the last big Arabian knights adventure or simply rented from Western costumes. Obviously as fictional as Aesop's fables, this tells of a simple poet's influence on the Shah, here played as a basically decent ruler by an excellent Raymond Massey. When Massey makes young Debra Paget (whom Wilde loves) his newest bride, Wilde must practice what he proverbs and turn the other cheek, especially as he helps prevent assassins from slaying the Shah as one of his own sons attempts to absurb the throne. More a feast for the eyes than for its silly dialog in spite of a plot that sounds more complicated than it is. Strictly entertainment, I didn't feel I knew anything more about Omar Khayyam coming out. Still, the sets are sumptuous and the costumes on scantily clad slave men and women are sublime, and there's plenty of great action sequences. For added camp, there's a musical sequence featuring Yma Sumac hitting notes that don't seem to be in any other human's range.

Unfortunately we do not have a lot of biographical detail on Omar Khayyam, one of the world's greatest mathematician, astronomer and poet, and a philosopher as well. His tomb, still existent in Iran is a great monument of Islamic architecture. This movie is a monument to Hollywood's inability to capture any of those values and turn it all instead into a vapid adventure story with miles of cheap fabrics that look 'exotic'. We even get a band of "assasins' that is very similar in spirit, logical plan and training to today's Taliban. Cornell Wilde is unable to project the charisma and genius of this Persian poet. He looks like a retired banker that lives in NY, has a mild interest in the theater and is doing this movie because he wants to have a tax right-off. He should have been played by Omar Shariff. Margaret Hayes is great camp as Queen Zarada, the queen mother whose ambition will stop at nothing to secure the throne for her sons. She is also capable of sustaining a platinum blond mane in the midst of the harem with great aplomb, as a symbol and reminder that all queens should be white, blond and preferably from Philadelphia. She is always trailing several yards of Technicolor blue cape behind her every move. Joan Taylor is so ferociously loyal and annoyingly organized as Yaffa, Omar's slave, that one is relieved to see her being pushed from a cliff. Debra Paget plays Sharain, Omar's great love and inspiration for his poems, as a secular nun who also clearly has a cross-eyed problem. This role should understandably have gone to Arabian Night-resident-Hollywood-expert Maureen O'Hara. Michael Rennie is the EVIL Hasani Sabah, and gives the best performance in his role as the ruthless leader of the Assassins sect. One laments not to see him shirtless and wearing a pendant cabochon emerald from one of his handsome earlobes. As a vapid Arabian Night action movie it has all the polyester, plated gold, architectural plaster and Technicolor spectrum of saturated glamorama to while away a lazy summer afternoon. Great double feature with a Sinbad or Baghdad movie.

Omar Khayyam, medieval poet and scholar and quite the scientist as it turns out in this film, stars Cornel Wilde in the title role. Khayyam is a guy content to do his scholarly thing, but there's a whole lot of treachery going in Persia and it's coming from people close to him.The legend of Omar Khayyam has him involved with two others, a rich merchant Hisreini who becomes leader of the assassin cult and Nizam who is prime minister to the Shah, played respectively by Michael Rennie and Sebastian Cabot. Rennie who is as always cultured and refined, is the 12th century Osama Bin-Laden of the piece. His is probably the best performance of the film.By the way Omar Khayyam gives one an opportunity to see both the men who Cecil B. DeMille considered for the role of Joshua in The Ten Commandments in the same film. John Derek who is the crown prince played Joshua and Wilde was the one originally offered the part.The film was done at Paramount which was a bit unusual itself because the Arabian knights type films were an in house staple of Universal Studios.Probably Cornel got the part after Tyrone Power who was freelancing then turned it down. It was that way all Wilde's life, getting sloppy seconds from either Power or Errol Flynn.The film is all right, but should have had Wilde doing a bit more swordplay. He was in real life a champion at fencing.

"Omar Khayyam" is in many ways a typical 50s Hollywood oriental sword and sandal epic but with a few twists and tremendous (unmet) potential. The actual story of three friends (Hassan, Omar and Nizam) goes back hundreds of years and is pretty engaging. The historical personalities of Omar and Hassan al-Sabbah are quite interesting characters. There is potentially a great film here.The actual production is not great but it has some nice things: Michael Rennie gives a great performance as Hassani. It is one of his best things, right up there with the alien in "The Day the Earth Stood Still." It also has Raymond Massey and the great Abraham Sofaer, a distinctive character actor, as Tutush, the Sultan's brother. It has a fine score by Victor Young and some neat matte paintings of Alamut. Some of the lines are great: "I know of some other heads that should be sealed with wax and honey." But in the end it is too formulaic of a Hollywood spectacular. Cornel Wilde is too stolid. Such a rich historical backdrop and fascinating subject matter is worthy of a better film.