Watch The Thief of Bagdad For Free

One of my all time favorites.

Just what I expected

If you don't like this, we can't be friends.

When a movie has you begging for it to end not even half way through it's pure crap. We've all seen this movie and this characters millions of times, nothing new in it. Don't waste your time.

With so much incredible talent gathered together for this film, it must have left audiences of the 40s and 50's spellbound and breathless!Directorial greats (several!) weave an endless trail of eye popping treats throughout a well written screenplay. This fantasy adventure is crammed with colour and movement of the more intelligent kind. Completed within two continents, after a great deal of difficulty ~ during a time when the world was embroiled in the stupidity of WW11 ~ this film still offers an abundance of thrills. Audiences used to looking at today's C.G.A. may find the special effects lacking, but hey, this is pioneering movie making of the best caliber. Look, and see where Harryhausen got much of his inspiration (and copied some characters I'm sure) Look, at the magnificent visual design, striking sets, fluid camera, and glowing 3 strip Technicolor (no color ever looked as good as this and it never faded). Names like William Cameron Menzies, Michael Powell --too many to name-- created one of the first all time great Arabian stunners...But wait there's more! This work features one of the most impressive of all Miklos Rozsa's music scores....dare I ask if he ever bettered it??Can't overlook a marvelous cast, remarkable Dog, Oscar winning photography of Georges Perinal and Osmond Borradaile, topped off with Rex Ingram's damned scary Genie ~ even more physically menacing than Conrad Veidt's terrific Jaffar. It could be said that this set-the-scene for so many fantasies that followed... The re-issue print I was kindly given by a good friend (The Korda Collection series from Magna Pacific) is a little unkempt, with much neg dirt left to show as white dots on the image and yet, while not a digitally re-mastered DVD transfer, the image is thankfully quite sharply focused. I see that Criterion (and maybe another) may have given this masterpiece a serious clean up, so shop around before buying. Highly recommended to all appreciators of classic cinematic milestones... Young, Old, and Indifferent! KenR...............

This was an entertaining 1940's adventure movie based upon one of the stories of the Arabian Nights (though I have not read that particular book). It is a story about the king of Bagdad who is usurped by his vizier and forced to flee for his life. In doing so he meets up with a young thief and together they go on an adventure to restore the king to his throne and to rescue the king's beloved from the clutches of the evil vizier.As mentioned, I found this movie entertaining, and for an adventure movie it has everything from evil sorcerers to genies to flying carpets. However, it is very noticeable that the makers of this movie had no idea about the intricacies of Islamic culture during the golden age. One notices that most of the main characters look American, and the females have their hair arranged as if they were 1940's Americans. For purists this would most likely put them off the movie, however if one can get past the discrepancies (and of course the 1940's special effects) then as a movie it is not bad.

The story about how this film came to be made is almost as interesting as the film itself. Thief of Baghdad was a break-through film in many ways. British director Alex Korda put everything on the line for this film. Technicolor was new, and no one knew what could be done with color including the inventors of Technicolor. Korda placed his future in the hands of a young man who had dropped out of Burbank High School, Larry Butler. Butler was a budding genius who went on to make many important films over the next 30 years. He went to work with Korda after working in his father's special effects shop in Los Angeles, one of the first special effects workshops in Hollywood.For the Thief of Baghdad, he developed the "traveling matte" and the "blue screen." The effects first appeared in this film and have become ubiquitous in films ever since. Every special effects film since this one has made use of the visual techniques developed by Larry Butler. Butler won the Oscar for this 1940 film, and he was nominated again and again for his many achievements in special effects. Korda's bet on Butler paid off, as this film is generally considered to be a landmark in the history of film-making.

Co-directed by Ludwig Berger, Michael Powell and Tim Whelen (along with three uncredited co-workers, Alexander Korda, Zoltan Korda and William Cameron Menzies), this lavish fantasy-adventure tells the tale of blind beggar Ahmad (John Justin), who spins a yarn about his life as king before the evil current king Jafar (Conrad Veidt), usurped his place and left him desolate. The story is told in flash backs, and follows his story beginning with his incarceration by jafar, where he meets Abu (Sabu). They escape and go on a quest to regain Ahmad's' rightful place as king.Filmed in technicolor, the sumptuous visuals are exacerbated by the stark, beautiful colours. It has been hailed by the likes of Martin Scorsese and Francis Ford Coppola as a masterpiece. It is a very beautiful fantasy. It reminded me of a contemporary travelogue, that shows its mystical, exotic landscapes for an untraveled spectator - although, this is clearly fantasy environments, and was not filmed on any locations except for sets. It also reminded me of the fantasy films of my childhood such as the Sinbad and Jason and the Argonauts adventures, sans Harryhausens fantastic monsters. The simple tale of redemption and fundamental achievement against evil is a story over told. However, with the cinematography and set pieces, this film is pure unadulterated delight. It genuinely is the perfect Sunday afternoon movie. (Although John Justin's diction and general performance does begin to grate).www.the-wrath-of-blog.blogspot.com