Saadia (film)

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.

Cast

 * Cornel Wilde as Si Lahssen
 * Mel Ferrer as Henrik
 * Rita Gam as Saadia
 * Michel Simon as Bou Rezza
 * Cyril Cusack as Khadir
 * Wanda Rotha as Fatima
 * Marcel Poncin as Moha
 * Anthony Marlowe as Cpt. Sabert
 * Hélène Vallier as Zoubida
 * Mahjoub Ben Brahim as Ahmed
 * Jacques Dufilho as leader of bandits
 * Bernard Farrel as Lt. Camuzac
 * Richard Johnson as Lt. Girard
 * Peter Copley as Mokhazenis
 * Marne Maitland as horse dealer
 * Harold Kasket as Sheikh of Inimert
 * Peter Bull as village leader
 * Eddie Leslie as a villager

Production
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.

Reception
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.