Kismet

2/19/2026

I’m usually a sucker for these sumptuous Arabian Nights style adventures, but I really struggled to stay engaged with this, despite it’s cast. Ronald Colman is “Hafiz”, a wily street beggar with a vivid imagination who fancies himself a prince. His occasional lover is “Jamilla” (Marlene Dietrich) who just happens to be the shrewd and independently-minded wife of the Grand Vizier. Now she knows that he is full of it, but even though she inhabits a tower in the palace with all she could want, she is bored and so enjoys his embellished tales. When he is not out telling his tales, he is at home with his young daughter “Marsinah” (Joy Page) filling her head full of princely marriage nonsense, unaware that she has actually fallen in love - only not with a prince, but with a pruner in the Caliph’