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Review

The Thief of Bagdad

Director

Raoul Walsh

Year

1924

Rating

Reviewed by

Gon Curiel a.k.a. Groucho

Review date

Wednesday, October 15, 2003

A picaresque small-time thief (Douglas Fairbanks) chances for glory as he pretends he’s a Prince in order to kidnap the Princess (Julanne Johnston) and make a lot of money. Once inside the palace, however, he hopelessly falls in love with her, as she with him. Now determined to fight for her love, he sets to earn it by bringing the rarest object from faraway lands, in a competition with other Princes (real ones, though) who want to marry the Princess as well.

Each Prince searches for strange objects, gathering such things as a magic carpet and a magic ball, but the evil Mongol Prince (Sojin) is not willing to play fair. Will the thief be able to outdo his adversaries and actually get the Princess without being a real Prince? With magic and sincerity on his side, he just as well might…

This fantastic early movie version of the Arabian Nights tale works amazingly, in part because of its infinitely imaginative design, in part for its unlimited sense of awe, in part for its leading man and his undeniable grace. It goes on for too long, that’s a fact, but it’s never really boring, and there’s always something around the corner to surprise us even more. It’s a true marvel.

Fairbanks, as stated before, couldn’t be more gracious, in fact more than usually, though as likable as ever. Sojin is also great, as is Mathilde Comont, a woman playing the lazy Prince of Persia.

William Cameron Menzies deserves a paragraph of his own for his production design, though the entire work of make-believe of this film deserves applause.

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