Il ladro di Bagdad

After 60 some odd years THE THIEF OF BAGDAD is still one of the most

wondrous movies ever made. Filmed in wartime England and without the

use of digital imagry, the film soars and makes believers of us all.

From Rex Ingram's memorable Genie, (has any laugh been better than his

rumbling "BoohooHAHAHAH"?) to the Flying Horse, the six armed murderous

doll, the immense spider and on and on, the film excites in a visceral

way that no FX person could duplicate today. Though we can see through

the primitive special effects, the genius of this film is that the story

is told so well that we suspend our disbelief and fly along on a magic

carpet ride that never flags for all of its almost two hour running

time. Miles Malleson's script (he also plays the heroine's father in a

delightful turn), is filled with what we now see as cliches, but they

still bring a silly grin to our faces as we acknowledge them, and love

them all the same. The acting is WAY over the top and absolutely delightful. Sabu is

perfect as the little thief Abhou, John Justin stalwart as the hero

Ahmed, Conrad Veidt all snarly and despicable as the evil Jafar and June

Duprez all gauzy and creamy as the princess. The real star of the film, the glue that holds all the pieces

together,however, has to be Miklos Rozsa whose musical score evokes

every Arabian Nights fantasy that we have ever dreamed. What glorious

music, what a wondrous fim! (I was lucky enough to get an advance copy

of the new DVD of THIEF OF BAGDAD. What a great print. Wait till you

see it! It will knock your socks off.) I love Spielberg and I love

Lucas, but oh THE THIEF OF BAGDAD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The making of The Thief Of Bagdad is quite a story unto itself, almost as wondrous as the tale told in this film. Alexander Korda nearly went broke making this film.

According to the Citadel Film series Book about The Great British Films, adopted son of the United Kingdom Alexander Korda had conceived this film as early as 1933 and spent years of planning and preparation. But World War II unfortunately caught up with Korda and the mounting expenses of filming a grand spectacle.

Budget costs happen in US films too, only Cecil B. DeMille always had a free hand at Paramount after 1932 when he returned there. But DeMille nor any of his American contemporaries had to worry about enemy bombs while shooting the film. Part of the way through the shoot, Korda transported the whole company to America and shot those sequences with Rex Ingram as the genie in our Grand Canyon. He certainly wasn't going to get scenery like that in the UK. Korda also finished the interiors in Hollywood, all in time for a release on Christmas Day 1940.

The spectacle of the thing earned The Thief Of Bagdad four Academy Award nominations and three Oscars for best color cinematography, best art&set direction for a color film, and best special effects. Only Miklos Rosza's original musical score did not take home a prize in a nominated category. Korda must have been real happy about deciding to shoot in the Grand Canyon because it's impossible to get bad color pictures from that place.

The special effects however do not overwhelm the simple story of good triumphing over evil. The good is the two young lovers John Justin and June Duprez and the evil is Conrad Veidt as the sorcerer who tries to steal both a kingdom and a heart, both belonging to Duprez. This was Veidt's career role until Casablanca where he played the Luftwaffe major Stroesser.

Of course good gets a little help from an unlikely source. Beggar boy and thief Sabu who may very well have been one of the few who could call himself at the time an international movie star. Literally rising from poverty working as an elephant stable boy for the Maharajah of Mysore he was spotted by Alexander Korda who needed a native lead for one of his jungle features. Sabu captures all the innocence and mischievousness of youth as he fulfills the Arabian Nights fantasy of the boy who topples a tyrant. Not a bad message to be sending out in 1940 at that.

The Thief Of Bagdad holds up remarkably well today. It's an eternal tale of love, romance, and adventure in any order you want to put it.

Most of the genre of "Arabian Nights" films were silly, cheesy, low-budget things, like "The Prince Who Was A Thief" starring Tony Curtis as an Arabian prince with a Brooklyn accent. This is an exception: A genuinely magical film, one of the best fantasy films ever made.

A beautiful film made in the most glowing of technicolors, it tells the simple story of a boy thief (Sabu) meeting a dethroned prince (the gorgeous John Justin), and helping him defeat the wonderfully evil usurper Conrad Veidt. Like "The Wizard of Oz" made the year before, the performances are so good that you believe in what you see on the screen. Flying carpets and horses, towering genies, dancing idols, it all seems perfectly believable and exiting. A classic.

This is an Oriental fantasy about ¨thousand and one Arabian nights¨ with plenty of incredible adventures , fantasy , witchery and wizardly. The malignant vizier Jaffar (magnificently played by Conrad Veidt) with powerful magic faculties imprisons the prince Ahamad of Bagdad (attractive John Justin) who loses his throne, he then escapes thanks to a little thief named Abu (sympathetic Sabu). They arrive in Basora where Ahamad and the charming princess (gorgeous June Duprez) fall in love . But prince and thief are haunted by Jaffar , Ahamd is turned blind and Abu is become a dog . The story accumulates several fantastic ingredients such as transformation of the starring , a flying mechanic horse , a magic bow , a flying carpet and of course the colossal genie (overacting by Rex Ingram) who gives three wishes to Sabu , the magic eye , the figure of goddess Kali with several hands , among others.

This remarkable picture ranks as one of the finest fantastic films of all time . Produced by London Fim's Alexander Korda and directed by the definitively credited Ludwing Berger , Michael Powell and Tim Whelan with a stunning screenplay by Lajos Biro and Miles Malleson also dialogue writer and actor as a Sultan fond to mechanic games . The WWII outbreak caused the paralyzing shooting , then the three Korda brothers and collaborators traveled USA continuing there the filming , in especial on location in Grand Canyon Colorado . The splendid visual and glimmer Technicolor cinematography , setting and FX provoked the achieving three Oscars : Production design by William Cameron Menzies and Vincent Korda , Cinematography by George Perinal and Special effects by Osmond Borradaile , though today are dated and being urgent a necessary remastering because of the colors are worn-out. Furthermore, one nomination for the evocative and oriental musical score by Miklos Rozsa . This vivid tale with immense doses of imagination will appeal to fantasy fans and cinema classic buffs.

The first time I saw this movie, I was blown away by it's sheer fantasy content. I am a fan of fantasy anyway, and for a film of this time (1940) I was impressed by Alexander Korda's ability to completely immerse one so completely in the story. I believe that during the war-time period these films were especially important for a lot of people in order to distract them, in a positive way, and allow them a brief respite from the harsh realities and depressing aspects of the war. I think that this film had probably fit the bill at that time and even nowadays, it does take you away from the everyday and allows you to indulge in a wonderful tale of fantasy, romance, magic, throughout. June Duprez was stunning and otherworldly in her looks and performance. John Justin played a wonderfully enchanting Ahmed, although I found Sabu's character a bit tedious at times, the rest of the movie, for it's time, was top-notch. A great escapist, put your feet up and enjoy the afternoon, movie. I give it a 7.8 out of 10.