The Thief of Bagdad poster & wallpaper

Conrad Veidt, Fita Benkhoff, John Justin

Prince Ahmad is the rightful King of Bagdad but he has been blinded and cast out as a beggar. Now a captive of the wicked Grand Vizier Jaffar he is cast into a dungeon where he meets Abu, the best thi...( read more  read more... )ef in all Bagdad. Together they escape and set about a series of adventures that involve a Djinni in a bottle, a mechanical flying horse, an all-seeing magic jewel, a flying carpet and a beautiful princess.

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Unrated, 1 hr. 46 min.

Directed by: Ludwig Berger, Michael Powell

Release Date: December 25, 1940

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DVD Release Date: December 3, 2002

Stats: 182 reviews

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Flixster Reviews (182)

  • her69eyes
    April 15, 2009
    her69eyes
    "The Thief of Bagdad" is a strange film to see in your twenties. Although it's one of the most influential special effects features of all time, it's now terribly ancient and at times even laughable. That being said, however, it's charm has not deteriorated at all. I found myself...( read more) smiling, cheering, laughing (whether with or at the film), and simply immersing myself into a campy world of giant spiders, monstrous genies, and mechanical flying horses. As an adventure story this more than holds up, and it is still just as captivating as any other fantasy film of our generation. Is it silly to watch Arabian kings who look anything but Arabian, primitive blue screen editing that leaves a thick blue outline around our heroes, and a flying horse who is simply galloping on the air as if it were land? Well, yes. Once you invest in the film, however, the power of the imagination kicks in: the strings disappear and we're left with nothing but a majestic spectacle. This is filmmaking magic.

    The film begins in the middle of our story, where we meet an Arabian King, Ahmad (John Justin), who now lives as a blind begger. Ahmad tells his story: his evil adviser, Jaffar (Conrad Veidt), had tricked him into leaving his palace and was then placed in jail by authorities not aware of Ahmad's identity as the king. There he meets Abu (Sabu), a young adventurer. The two of them escape to Basra and meet the local princess (June Duprez), whom Ahmad immediately falls in love with. However, because Jaffar also has his sights set on the princess, he places a blindness curse on Ahmad and turns Abu into a dog. Still following?

    The film, at this point, largely shifts to another story entirely - the story of a shipwrecked Abu who must find his way back to Ahmad. He ends up on a beach where he finds a bottle. Once opened, a giant genie (Rex Ingram) emerges and attempts to kill him. Abu is able to trick the genie back into the bottle, and only lets him back out once the genie agrees to grant him three wishes. One of these wishes involves acquiring an all-seeing eye, which is located on the highest mountain, and guarded by a giant spider and weird reptile-people. How do they get to this mountain? The genie flies, of course! And so, once Abu finds Ahmad, he must go and rescue our hero, help him get the girl, bring justice to the land, and go on happily ever after.

    I loved this film. It's overstuffed, overlong, and extremely campy, however I can't recall the last time i've had so much fun watching a movie. As a 21-year-old, I watched the film as a child - I battled along with Abu as he fought the giant spider, and then soared along the sky on the back of a genie. The film is an antique, and none of it looks entirely convincing, but a more charming picture you're unlikely to find.

    "The Thief of Bagdad" was released last year by Criterion, and the disc comes packed with special features including a commentary by Martin Scorsese and Francis Ford Coppola. It's certainly a film worthy of the space it'll take on your shelf. I'd highly recommend seeking this one out.
  • pier007
    December 28, 2007
    pier007
    Amazingly imaginative adventure of colorful, epic proportions. a blast if you haven't lost you inner child.
  • groaningbitch
    December 1, 2007
    groaningbitch
    the best vintage flick ever made upon the theme of arabian nights, and it integrates several mythical tales such as the most well-known "djinin in the bottle" into one kaleiscopic story of sinister magician, conspiracies, pure first love, and junvenile adventurousness which is a...( read more)ppropriate appetizer for minor audience. despite some techniques might be primitively edited, but the visuality has enough fodder of eye candy to be intriguingly dreamy.

    the best creative device would be the murderous lutist siren with mutiple hands, such a feast for the sight, and the nuance of the exotic cosmetic design is admirable tinted with allure of mystica. it's the story of a legendarily chivalric thief who rescues bagdad with the stolen flying carpet and the allah-conferred arrows of justice. some king with ingenuin-alike male beauty falls head over heels in love with a princess who has the eyes as fair as the moon.(maybe a bit exaggerated term, if so, this role probably should be played by other actress prettier than fita benkhoff.) it's an escapistic fairy tale of ancient arabianism, plentiful of flat characters such as the king and princess who live for the eternal quest of their one true love, sabu who lives for brotherhood and freedom, only jaffar, the evil vizier, is a round character played by the idiocyncratic conrad conveidt notorious for his role as the casablanca nazi who gets prosecuted by humprey bogart.

    "the thief of bagdad" is the perfect showcast for veidt to emit his smoldering sensuality simmering beneath the arabian hood who looks just gorgeously fit with his facial contour, vedit has the most mesmerizing blue eyes ever, enhanced by his virile thick eyebrows, especially as the camera draws near to the close-up of his pupils, you could sense the complicatedly tangled thouths wirling around his mind when he wonders if he would hypnotize the princess into loving him, eventually he chooses not to, then he utters with agony "i'm cursed because my eyes could only see you!"...jaffar is an egoistic opportunist who lives only for his own beneficiariness, a skepist on virtues who taunts the world right under his palm with his power of magicalness, who sneers at the whole universe thru his crystal ball with contempts....but he's a romantic steer, a man with enormously flaming passion to seize what he wants with relentless violence....jaffar seems far more sophisticated than the innocent-eyed rash ahmad...more polished with a shrewd grace of his own, and all the arabian constumes seem to exuberate a particular sense of exotic aura on veidt, and his remnant german accent is so properly tailored for this role....why can't the princess take a second glimpse at this interesting man with dark charisma?

    "the thief of bagdad" has the swashbuckler element which serves good retreat for audience who still enjoy the sheer dualistic duel of good and evil, and also exotically bizarre enough to further your wishes of escapism....may you immense your being in the transparently piercing pupils of conrad veidt! recluse among them then linger.
  • organgrinder136
    October 27, 2007
    organgrinder136
    appauling. greatest fantasy film ever made my bleeding arse! i feel like part of my life has been stolen. as bad as oceans 11... the remake
  • garyX
    April 3, 2007
    garyX
    The effects inevitably look very dated, but this old school swashbuckler still has some moments of magic, and Sabu is one of the few child stars I didn't want to strangle.
  • Dracula787
    October 8, 2009
    Dracula787
    This is a Technicolor adventure movie in the vein of Errol Flynn and Douglas Fairbanks. It has all of the problems of the time and genre, namely that it is unapologetically childish and simplistic. On the other hand, this has a certain fun spirit that?s hard to argue with. But...( read more) the thing this is really famous for are the special effects. Among the things to be found here are a giant genie, a flying horse, a giant tarantula, and magic carpet; all in full color. These effects are not particularly convincing, especially through today?s eyes, but when one keeps in mind that this was made twenty years before Ray Harryhousen came on the scene, their importance becomes clear. Also interesting is that Disney?s Aladdin liberally stole a lot of stuff from this movie like an irreverent genie, a turban wearing bad guy named Jaffar, and a comical sultan.
  • mysticviolet3
    August 9, 2009
    mysticviolet3
    a good film the special effects were pretty good for 1940
  • 339z
    August 9, 2009
    339z
    well umn just seen this movie 4 the 1st time n think that this is a good movie 2 watch.,...its got a good cast of actors/actressess thorughout this movie....i think that sabu, rex ingram, june duprez, conrad veidt, fita benkhoff, john justin play good roles/parts throughout this ...( read more)movie....i think that the director of this classic/drama/fantasy movie had done a good job of directing this movie because you never know what 2 expect throughout this movie....i think that this is a good movie 2 watch n its enjoyable 2 watch
  • DrStrangeblog
    July 3, 2009
    DrStrangeblog
    Eye-opening effects in 1961, razzable hammy acting by 2001.
  • mingsysar
    March 17, 2009
    mingsysar
    The inspiration for Disney's Aladdin.

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