Excellent, Without a doubt!!

disgusting, overrated, pointless

The acting is good, and the firecracker script has some excellent ideas.

The joyful confection is coated in a sparkly gloss, bright enough to gleam from the darkest, most cynical corners.

First of all, the casting was not bad at all. Omar Sharif really looked the part as Sultan Hassan. Jessica Grey, played by Nancy Travis looks American enough, but is not really the sexiest choice for a kidnapped woman who is sold into slavery to serve as the love plaything/possible wife of an Ottoman leader. Spoiler Alert! Why bother making the film at all, if not to write some scenes of real passion between Sharif and Travis? I've seen more action on the 6 o'clock news. A long soap opera, only worth it if you love long made for television novellas.

a chain of nice clichés. but interesting for cast, clash between civilizations, romanticism ,atmosphere and the remember of a lot of sweet legends about Middle East. the performance of Art Malik is really interesting. the presence of Ava Gardner in a cold role - almost seductive. Omar Shariff, as fictive sultan , does his ordinary role in exotic B film. but the great virtue of film is to present the spirit of "80's. the glamor, the ambiguous lights, the soap opera potential, the life as dream, the love as large circle. the second virtue - the atmosphere from Arabian Nights with precise number of drops from freedom, condition of woman in Orient at the beginning of century and flavor or rare images. a film who could be more than easy delight. but a letter from far land of memory.

I watched this fun little mini-series when it was first broadcast. The story confused me, until I suddenly recognized the plot structure: it was a classic Historical Romance Novel(tm)! Innocent yet spunky heroine? Check. Attractive, decent, but somewhat stuffy fiancé? Check. Kidnapping by sexy, mysterious stranger? Check. Heroine compelled by circumstances to explore her own sensuality? Check! Danger, intrigue, jealousy, temptation, and adventure? Check, check, check-arino! I don't think they missed a single beat here! I didn't catch part of the last broadcast, however, so I missed out on the full effect of the story...still, as I had only begun to read historical romances at the time, I found it surprisingly good fun. It was probably much sillier than I was aware of back then, but if you're looking for a costume-era romance novel on film (and can tolerate some historical dubiousness), you'll probably enjoy this little romp through the seraglio.

In my opinion this is the best TV mini-series ever made. I have only ever seen it on television once and at one video store (no longer open). Art Malik played a great part and I have enjoyed several of his other films. If you have not seen this series I advise that you do so - definitely 10 out of 10.