One of my favorite guilty pleasures is this Arabian Nights movie from the Golden Age of Hollywood. Starring Jon Hall, Maria Montez, Andy Hall, Conrad Veidt, and Tuhran Bey, it is an wonderful, action-packed romance. The story is well-known, but Hollywood added its own twist, making the thieves honorable after meeting the young, orphaned son of the Caliph (brutally betrayed by his prime minister and then murdered Hulagu Khan). Years pass, and Ali is an adult, leading the thieves who are now a band of rebels in grand Robin Hood-style defiance.

Maria Montez is Amara, Ali's childhood sweetheart and the daughter of the vile betraying prime minister. Now, as a beautiful adult, she has been promised to Hulagu Khan. Ali does not know that the gorgeous fiancee of the Khan is the girl he once played with.

Turhan Bey is her faithful servant who worships Ali Baba and helps free him from the Khan's clutches. Of course, in the end, the evil Khan is defeated, and Ali and Amara are reunited to rule Baghdad.

I just love the sets, the costumes, and the so Alpha maleness of these leading men. And I really giggle at the wonderful rousing men's chorus that was prevalent in swashbucklers at this time. From Errol Flynn pirate movies to Jon Hall desert dramas, there's almost always a scene where the group of men are rowing the boat or riding through the desert all singing in beautiful 3 or 4 part harmony some song that you cannot understand the words to. But it's obviously a morale raiser.

It's a shame that movies like this are rarely made anymore. That's why I love the remakes of the Mummy and new films like Pirates of the Caribbean - they are modern versions of these fun films.

Now that the new season is upon us, I have to add a few names to my hunkiest TV male characters. When new evidence presents itself, I am driven to reassess and adjust accordingly - it's the researcher in me.

So, I have added Jamie Bamber (aka Captain Lee "Apollo" Adama) to the list based on the last few episodes (and particularly the towel scene). Hot, hotter, hottest. Now that Richard Dean Anderson is not a regular on Stargate SG-1, I'm happy to find a new Friday night hottie to drool over. Plus, like SG-1, Battlestar Galactica is an incredible show. I'm sooooooooo anxious for January when the new season starts (Sci-Fi shows do several mini-seasons rather than 1 big season, so we get 2 cliffhanger finales a year).

My other entry is from the show PRISON BREAK, Monday's at 8:00 CST. I really like this show a lot. I know it soft-soaps prison life, but this isn't HBO, so they have to. Anyway, Wentworth Miller (aka Michael Scofield) is delicious. Not only is he British (and I am dying to hear him speak in his native accent), but he has a degree from Princeton in English Literature. He's one of my kind. ;-)

His charisma is in part the smoothness of his voice (simply yummy) and in part the intensity of his gaze. He also has the most sensitive mouth - the kind you want to hang on for hours (and I mean hang on with your own lips).

Dominic Purcell (aka Lincoln Burrows) is also a serious hottie - he also has a deep, smooth voice that is like velvet running up and down your most errogenous of zones. He also has an intense gaze. I really liked him in his other show, JOHN DOE, and hated that they cancelled it. But I still prefer Scofield. Perhaps because his character appeals to me more. He's not a screw up like Lincoln. He's a hero, willing to sacrifice his life in order to save his falsely-convicted brother.