Hi zoob, I have been hoping for many years now that The Adventures Of Haji Baba might get a release. It's a most enjoyable score, and while I do like the Nat King Cole song I would imagine that it might cause some copyright problems if that were to be included, but who knows, maybe I'm wrong ?
Of course, as banjo players, you can tell they both could use some work. But Cole had a way of bringing a touch of class to movies he had barely anything to do with, didn't he? Unfortunately this film was released several months after he passed away.
Better yet, Peter Leeds, Percy Helton Thomas Gomez, John Derek and Claude Akins as ARABS! Geez, Claude Akins as an Arab is almost as funny as Sterling Hayden as Sir Gawain--"Fine prince YOU turned out to be, flinging rocks like any lowborn Ruff'an."
But, then, I suppose nothing beats John Wayne as Genghis Khan--"Yer Beuootiful in yer wrath."
I just found the 45 rpm (for a quarter at a thrift store) of Tiomkin's Hajji Baba song, with DUEL IN THE SUN on the reverse (the Orgasm Theme.... oh, no,... it's the Ecstasy theme).