Kismet (musical) London's West End and has been given several revivals. A 1955 film version was produced by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. The musical was commissioned by Edwin Lester, founder and director of the Los Angeles Civic Light Opera, who conceived of a musical based on the 1911 play "Kismet" by Edward Knoblock. Lester had previously produced "Song of Norway", with the same composing team, adapting the melodies of Edvard Grieg. For "Kismet", the writers seized upon the melodies of Alexander Borodin, which they felt had a suitable exotic flavor and lush melodies. "Kismet" is set in a fictional Baghdad in the times of "The
Kismet (1930 film) Kismet (1930 film) Kismet is a 1930 American pre-Code costume drama film photographed entirely in an early widescreen process using 65mm film that Warner Bros. called Vitascope. The film, now considered lost, was based on Edward Knoblock's play "Kismet", and was previously filmed as a silent film in 1920 which also starred Otis Skinner. Hajj, a rascally beggar on the periphery of the court of Baghdad, schemes to marry his daughter to royalty and to win the heart of the queen of the castle himself. Warner Bros. spared no expense in making this picture. They spent $600,000 in producing it