In prison, Ahmad meets the young thief Abu, who arranges their escape. The Arabian Nights tale of a thief (Roddy McDowall), a prince (Kabir Bedi) and a caliph's (Peter Ustinov) daughter includes a genie and a magic carpet. 1961 100m Movie. One of the most imaginative of all silent movies, this 2K restoration is a spectacular Arabian Nights adventure. That night, he sneaks into the palace of the caliph using a magic rope he stole during ritual prayers. "The Thief Of Baghdad" is a 1924 novel by Achmed Abdullah, and has been transformed into several adapted versions of epic films starring a wide range of well-knowns such as Douglas Fairbanks (1924), Steve Reeves (1961), Conrad Veidt (1940), and others, even an animated version or two, and the films range anywhere from 1924 to an endless future of remakes, and is even available as a board game. The Mongol asks the Indian to check whether the princess has waited for them. "[7], Ahmed robs as he pleases in the city of Bagdad. The Thief of Bagdad is in the public domain and many cheap, unrestored black-and-white copies have been issued on VHS and DVD. The Thief of Bagdad ( German: Die Diebin von Bagdad) is a 1952 West German musical comedy film directed by Karel Lamac and starring Theo Lingen, Paul Kemp, Sonja Ziemann and Rudolf Prack. [12] Like the sultan of the earlier film, Disney's Sultan is obsessed with toys. Sabu. Georges Périnal, credited as George Perinal, won the Academy Award for Cinematography, Vincent Korda for Art Direction, and Lawrence W. Butler and Jack Whitney for Special Effects[3] (marking the first use of the "manual bluescreen technique"[4]). Thief. The Mongol prince is about to have one of his men kill him when the Mongol slave suggests he escape with the princess on the flying carpet. Three princes arrive, seeking her hand in marriage (and the future inheritance of the city). The plot is simple, the characters accessible and the story elements mix fantasy and reality very nicely. A British and French co-production, the film was released theatrically, except for the United States where it debuted on television. The Princess, tricked into boarding a ship, where she is met by Jaffar, who tells her that she can cure Ahmad's blindness only by allowing Jaffar to embrace her. Larry Butler invented the first proper chroma key process for the special effects scenes in this film, a variation on the existing "traveling matte" process. With his second wish, Abu is reunited with Ahmad. Adventure. In 1996, the film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant". A number of Indian Hindi-language films, were made under the titles of: Baghdad Ka Chor (The Thief of Baghdad) in 1934, 1946, 1955; Baghdad Gaja Donga (Thief of Baghdad) in 1968; and Thief of Baghdad in 1969 and 1977. [10], Fairbanks sought to make an epic. The princess's Mongol slave discovers him and alerts the guards, but he gets away. The superb visual design, spectacle, imaginative splendor, and visual effects, along with his bravura performance (leading a cast of literally thousands), all contribute to making this his masterpiece. The Fox Film Corporation, 1915-1935: A History and Filmography, Aubrey Solomon, p 61, "Complete National Film Registry Listing | Film Registry | National Film Preservation Board | Programs at the Library of Congress | Library of Congress", "AFI Crowns Top 10 Films in 10 Classic Genres. Korda had intended to cast Vivien Leigh as the Princess, but she went to Hollywood to be with Laurence Olivier.[6]. "The Thief of Bagdad" is representative of the era in which it was written: excellent use of language and a focus on (largely) light-hearted action that keeps the reader turning pages. It is not a remake of the 1940 film of the same name, but a comedy about the magic tricks of a female thief in Old Baghdad. Abu is given a magic crossbow as a reward, but he also steals the king's magic carpet and flies on it to Bagdad. Then the Mongol uses the apple to cure her. Conrad Veidt. 2020 92m Movie. Identity Thief. At the palace, though, she falls into a deep sleep and cannot be awakened. English. STARRING. Fairbanks considered this to be the favorite of his films, according to his son. TV-G. The Thief of Baghdad is a 1978 fantasy film directed by Clive Donner and starring Roddy MacDowall and Kabir Bedi. Abu awakes alone on a deserted beach, where he finds a bottle and opens it, releasing an enormous genie intent on killing the boy. The Mongol slave tells her countryman of the prophecy, but before he can touch the rose-tree, Ahmed's startled horse tosses its rider into it. The villain Jafar is named after Jaffar, himself named after the historical (but not evil) vizier Ja'far ibn Yahya, who served Harun ar-Rashid. The Thief Of Baghdad Heartthrob Douglas Fairbanks writes and stars in this silent adventure fantasy about a dashing thief who wins a princess. SS 1 EPS 6 TV. Overal pastelkleurtjes die geweldig vloeken en ook de effecten die in 1940 zo inoverend waren, zijn ondertussen helaas gedateerd. When he conjures up a large army with his powder, the Mongol soldiers flee. [6], In June 2008, the American Film Institute revealed its 10 Top 10, the 10 best films in 10 "classic" American film genres. The villain Jafar is named after Jaffar, himself named after the historical (but not evil) vizier Ja'far ibn Yahya, who served Harun ar-Rashid In 1996, the film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".[2][3]. 1924 149m Movie. The Thief of Baghdad. Freely adapted from One Thousand and One Nights, it tells the story of a thief who falls in love with the daughter of the Caliph of Baghdad. The Prince of Persia video game franchise also shares similar characteristics with the film.[14]. The eccentric Second World War soldier Jack Churchill also had an uncredited part. One major change is crucial: In the silent film, the thief and the romantic lead were one and the same, played by Fairbanks. 1 hr 46 min. The film stars child actor Sabu, Conrad Veidt, John Justin, and June Duprez. That night, following ancient custom, the princess chooses Ahmed for her husband. Jaffar then has him arrested and seizes the throne. She submits, and the spells are lifted from both Ahmad and Abu. [6] Lavishly staged on a Hollywood studio set, at a reputed cost of $1,135,654.65,[11] The Thief of Bagdad was one of the most expensive films of the 1920s. The Thief of Bagdad is now widely considered one of the great silent films and Fairbanks's greatest work. Abu, though, tricks the genie into submitting to him and granting him three wishes. The Thief of Bagdad. 2003 108m Movie. Entertainment (UK) in 2014. [6] The film, strong on special effects of the period (flying carpet, magic rope and fearsome monsters) and featuring massive Arabian-style sets, also proved to be a stepping stone for Anna May Wong, who portrayed a treacherous Mongol slave. [16] Kino International reissued the DVD in 2004, this time with a longer, improved print and chamber ensemble score. The Prince of the Indies obtains a magic crystal ball from the eye of a giant idol, which shows whatever he wants to see, while the Persian prince buys a flying carpet. It is a story that combines several of the Arabian Night tales like the Genie in the magic lamp, the flying carpet, the all seeing eye, etc. HD. A number of Indian Hindi-language films, were made under the titles of: Baghdad Ka Chor (The Thief of Baghdad) in 1934, 1946, 1955; Baghdad Gaja Donga (Thief of Baghdad) in 1968; and Thief of Baghdad in 1969 and 1977. The Good Thief. Although it was a remake of a 1924 silent film starring Douglas Fairbanks, this film has been highly influential on later movies based on The Book of One Thousand and One Nights setting. As said, it has been around for many years and most people will have seen it at some time or other but it’s unlikely that they will have experienced it in Blu-ray definition. In despair, Ahmed turns to the holy man. 1h 42m Articles. Thief. The Princess is promised in marriage to Jaffar by her father, the toy-obsessed Sultan of Basra, in exchange for a mechanical flying horse. For example, the Disney film Aladdin borrows freely from it, particularly the characters of the evil Vizier and the Sultan, both drawn with a marked similarity to the characters in The Thief of Bagdad. Ahmed liberates the city and rescues the princess, using his cloak of invisibility to get through the Mongols guarding their prince. HD. Fairbanks' meticulous attention to detail,[12] as well as a complex visual imagery, required the use of state-of-the-art special effects, featuring a magic rope, a flying horse, a flying carpet and full-scale palace sets. All thoughts of plunder are forgotten when he sees the sleeping princess, the caliph's daughter. Miklós Rózsa was also nominated for Original Music Score, a first for a British film at the Academy Awards.[5]. Crowther praised "its truly magnificent color" and the performances of all five main actors. 1940 film by Ludwig Berger, Alexander Korda, Michael Powell, William Cameron Menzies, Zoltan Korda, Tim Whelan, List of films with a 100% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, "The 13th Academy Awards (1941) Nominees and Winners", "Working Knowledge: Blue Screens—Leap of Faith", Foster on Film – Fantasy: The Thief of Bagdad, "The Thief of Bagdad Blu-ray (United Kingdom)", The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night, The Thousand-and-Second Tale of Scheherazade, Two Years Eight Months and Twenty-Eight Nights, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=The_Thief_of_Bagdad_(1940_film)&oldid=1018573507, Films directed by William Cameron Menzies, Films that won the Best Visual Effects Academy Award, Films whose art director won the Best Art Direction Academy Award, Films whose cinematographer won the Best Cinematography Academy Award, Films based on One Thousand and One Nights, Articles with unsourced statements from August 2018, Wikipedia articles with WorldCat-VIAF identifiers, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, This page was last edited on 18 April 2021, at 19:59. Her loyal slave shows her Ahmed in the crystal ball, so the princess convinces her father to deliberate carefully on his future son-in-law. Actor Douglas Fairbanks Snitz Edwards Charles Belcher Julanne Johnston Addeddate 2020-12-05 20:34:15 Closed captioning no Director Raoul Walsh External-identifier urn:imdb:tt0015400 urn:rottentomatoes:1028714-thief_of_bagdad He tells the thief to become a prince, revealing to him the peril-fraught path to a great treasure. The princess watches anxiously as first the glowering Prince of the Indies, then the obese Prince of Persia and finally the Prince of the Mongols pass by the rose-tree. Prince Ahmad is the rightful King of Bagdad but he has been blinded and cast out as a beggar. Producer Alexander Korda, after a search for a director, chose German filmmaker Ludwig Berger in early 1939, but by the early summer became dissatisfied with Berger's overall conception of the movie—which was too small-scale and intimate—and, specifically, the score that Berger proposed to use. When the Thief of Baghdad (Douglas Fairbanks) sneaks into a royal palace, he discovers and instantly falls in love with a beautiful princess (Snitz Edwards). Multiple Oscar-winner The Thief of Bagdad (1940) is a magical, atmospheric, epic. After polling over 1,500 people from the creative community, The Thief of Bagdad was acknowledged as the ninth best film in the fantasy genre.[13][14]. [5] Along with his earlier Robin Hood (1922), the film marked Fairbanks's transformation from genial comedy to a career in "swashbuckling" roles. Although this production is a remake of the 1924 version, the two films have differences: the most significant is that the thief and the prince are separate characters in the 1940 version. The next day is the princess's birthday. When the caliph insists she select another husband, her loyal slave advises her to delay. 1978 Technical Specs. Another of the princess's slaves foretells that she will marry the man who first touches a rose-tree in her garden. Wanting to know more about his people, Ahmad is tricked by Jaffar, his evil Grand Vizier, into going in disguise into the city. Kids & Family. Fantasy. This film later influenced the creation of the Malay film Abu Hassan Penchuri ("Abu Hassan the Thief", 1955) which was based in Baghdad. [15] Baghdad Thirudan, a 1960 Indian Tamil-language film by T. P. Sundaram, was directly remade from the 1924 version. Freely adapted from One Thousand and One Nights, it tells the story of a thief who falls in love with the daughter of the Caliph of Baghdad. The film was released on VHS by The Samuel Goldwyn Company. The Thief of Bagdad is an old movie starring Sabu. Sabu plays the heroic little thief who saves the day. The Mongol prince chooses not to wait, unleashing his secret army that night and capturing Bagdad. DIRECTOR. The Thief of Bagdad is een Britse avonturenfilm uit 1940 onder regie van Ludwig Berger, Michael Powell en Tim Whelan.