I don't have all the words right now but this film is a work of art.

Absolutely Fantastic

Blistering performances.

It’s sentimental, ridiculously long and only occasionally funny

Burl Ives as a genie named Fakrash. He is released from an ancient Kum Kum bottle by former Paris beatnik Tony Randall, who is now struggling along in the suburbs as an unsuccessful architect. Naturally the genie causes trouble ("This isn't Baghdad, this is Pasadena!"), but the gags in Oscar Brodney's musty screenplay are right off an assembly line of bad jokes. Family film from Universal is too talky, really, to engage children (to say nothing of their parents), though Ives, Randall and Edward Andrews (and Barbara Eden as Randall's fiancée) work hard to buoy the familiar scenario. Adapted from a book by F. Anstey, this was the inspiration for Eden's forthcoming TV series, "I Dream of Jeannie". ** from ****

This movie serves as a warning to all that one should be careful when opening antique Arabian brass bottles. You could accidentally let lose a ghost, weird monasteries beetles or a genie trapped inside for centuries. No doubt if a genie is trapped in a bottle there must be a good reason for it. Harold Ventimore (Tony Randall) is a prime example of a life ruined by letting lose a jinn. Having a grateful being with power to grant your every whim and wish sounds pretty sweet, especially if your a cruel greedy dictator, but not if your a humble easy going, get up and go to work kind of guy. After being cooped up for thousands of years Fakrash the Genie (Burl Ives) wants to shower grateful and lavish gifts upon his rescuer (Harold) . The trouble is he wants to do it Ancient Arabian Style. This approach to wish fulfillment doesn't fit with the 20th century way of doing things especially with the moral and ethical mindset of Harold. Fakrash wants to kill Harold's enemies, furnish him with gold and provide him with lots of sexy women to be his wife. Nowadays murder is wrong, only the government can issue money and Harold only wants one wife, his fiancé Sylvia Kenton (Barbara Eden). Before he meet Fakrash he had had a beautiful relationship with his fiancé and a good flowing job. But Fakrash's over-bearing wrong century approach to service has lost him both plus his sanity. Interestingly his fiancé doesn't believe him when the following year she would become a genie herself in the comedy series 'I Dream of Jeannie'. Hypocrite. Should you rub 'The Brass Bottle' and let the comedic genie out of it? It is a lighthearted fantasy comedy with nothing too offensive that would make it unsuitable for family viewing. Their are some dancing girls dressed somewhat sexy, but it is still more modest then MTV or going to the beach. It is the style of Ancient Arabian Times. Harold even wants to get the genie dressed all sexy some modest attire to wear. Awww the innocent days of film comedy. The comedy remains situational and never runs into silly mayhem or slapstick (not there is anything wrong with that providing it is done right.) The film doesn't depend on CGI and only uses pretty basic effects sparingly when it has to. It relies mostly on the relationship between Harold and Fakrash and the various other characters whom them meet to build the story on.So rub the bottle if you want a decent, amusing, somewhat funny, comedic fantasy with some decent moral lessons you can watch with the kids. Afterwards you can then always read the original book by Frank Anstey (which can be found online). Remember hard work can never replace the instant gratification of an out of touch genie.

This was a movie I saw in the theater when I was a kid and have been looking for it for the last 15 or so years. The VHS tape is available on amazon for a ridiculous price so I haven't bought it but now that I see everyone else's comments I understand why. I too wish that the studio would release it on DVD and I would get a copy as soon as they did.To the person that remembered the scenes with the businessmen floating in the pitcher clinging to the Pencil, and the female Genie, I remember it too. IMDb doesn't list her in the credits but I remember her being a beautiful lady. Makes me wonder what else she did.It's rather curious how I came to think of this movie. I was thinking of the actor who played Kang on Star Trek TOS because he played a technomaige (sp) named Elric on Babylon 5 and looked him up only to find (and remember) that he was married to Barbara Eden and thought of this movie because I remembered she played Tony Randall's GF. I guess the idea of the Genie is deep in my memory from when I was an even younger boy and my parents bought me the story of Aladdin and the Magic Lamp on record those many years ago. "New Lamps for Old"! Anyone remember that? My how the time has past. I am not a big Tony Randall fan but I liked him in this. I keep thinking of him Honking in the Odd Couple series. Though that was his most famous role, he did loads more. Unfortunately I see him as more like Felix than any of his other roles. I seem to remember him in a movie with Rock Hudson A long time ago too. Now that would have seemed to have been more his type than Barbara Eden if we had known Rock as well then as we do now. Well Gooooooleeee Sargent Carter!!!! hehehehee Still it was a great movie and I would love to own a copy of it. It was Burl Ives' best roll. Much better than Rudolph's Narrator.

The Brass Bottle, which I thought was quite entertaining, was obviously the basis for the "I Dream of Jeannie" television series, but one thing I liked that was in the movie that wasn't really dealt with in the television show was that the genie utilized his ability to see the future to his master's advantage. This was particularly amusing when it came to the confident efforts of the genie in the management of his master's investments. When I watched "I Dream of Jeannie", I always wondered whether Jeannie could tell the future, and if so, why she didn't use that ability to help her master. It really seems to me that had she done so, it would have made a great television series even better.