Review of The Thief of Bagdad (1924) by Peter H — 29 Jan 2011

THE THIEF OF BAGDAD [1924]: this is by far one of the most spectacular films of silent cinema, THE THEIF OF BAGDAD is a silent visual treat with its mixture of its stunning and jaw-dropping sets, neat and dated SFX, costumes and its imaginative take upon one of the tales in the Arabian nights. This film came about when swashbuckling star Douglas Fairbanks needed to follow up his hit ROBIN HOOD [1922] with spectacular sets and stunts by Fairbanks. So the best follow up was this dream like fantasy swashbuckler THE THIEF OF BAGDAD, which was to become one of the most spectacular films of the silent era and a major film for Fairbanks.

THE PLOTLINE: Set in an Ancient fairytale Bagdad, the film opens with what appears to be a father telling his child under star filled sky that "Happiness must be earned" , which sets up the tale of the happy-go-lucky thief Ahmend who steals anything that his heart desires like food right up to things like a length of magic rope. One night Ahmend and his associate scale the place walls with the magic rope in search of treasure instead Ahmend falls for the Princess of Bagdad asleep in her chamber. Ahmend then fells the palace with his associate and the pair returns the following morning to woo the princess in disguise as royalty along with other royal suitors including an evil Mongol prince who starts secretly building up an army inside the walls of Bagdad. When the princess chooses Ahmend and is reviled to be a common thief, the once happy-go-lucky thief escapes certain death. Now the three reaming suitors are told to find the rarest treasure by the 7th Moon. Each of the royal suitors goes off to find various treasures like the magic apple, the magic carpet and a magic orb.

Meanwhile Ahmend goes off to find an even more rear treasure a magic treasure chest which can only be found by travelling to various places like the valley of dragons, the old man and the midnight sea, the abode of the winged horse for example. But after Ahmed's many quests, his real and most challenging quest is to save Bagdad from the clutches of the evil Mongol prince.

The Thief of Bagdad is just one stunning silent film, much like the other great spectacles of the era like THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA [1925], Fritz Lang's METROPOLLIS [1927], and D.W Griffith's INTOLERANCE: LOVES STRUGGLE THROUGH OUT THE AGES [1916]. Much like those films this film has the stunning sets, hundreds of thousand extras in stunning costumes amazing set pieces and the power to be still stunning well over 90 to 80 years after they were made. Ok the SFX have dated in this but what hasn't date is this films dream like sets of an Ancient fairy tale Bagdad. The other minor notable thing is Fairbanks' aerobatic stunt work ok his stunts are no wear near as dangerous as Buster Keaton's ones in THE GENERAL [1927], but Fairbanks was a bit of a jack of all trade with producing starring and even scripting this film under a false name.

Overall this film holds up visually and is still a neat dream-like fantasy sceptical l of silent cinema. In fact this film defined what a fantasy epic could and should be my rating is a solid 100%.