'Thief of Baghdad' precursor to 'Aladdin' By JEFFREY WESTHOFF The Northwest Herald After seeing Disney's "Aladdin" this weekend (or being turned away from the theater because the show is sold out), why not rent the film that inspired much of the new animated film? Of the four versions of "The Thief of Baghdad," the second is the most popular. Produced in 1940 by On Video England's legendary filmmaker Alexander Korda, "Thief" remains the greatest fantasy film ever made - "Aladdin" notwithstanding. The script is a hodgepodge of elements from the Arabian Nights. It's got it all: flying carpet, genie, beautiful princess, handsome hero, wily thief, wicked vizier, giant idol, enchanted gemstone, a horse that gallops across the sky, sword fights, chases through bazaars, a battle with a king-sized spider and on and on. Part of the film's greatness is how it that seems perfectly natural. Only "The Blue Rose of Forgetfulness" pushes things - nowadays it sounds too much like the basis of a Monty Python sketch. The young Indian actor Sabu plays the the title character, Abu. He helps return Ahmad (John Justin), the deposed king of Baghdad, to his throne after Ahmad's power is usurped by his duplicitous adviser Jaffar (Conrad Veidt, as one of the all-time great screen villains). Things get complicated when Ahmad falls for the princess of a neighboring kingdom (June Deprez). Her father the sultan has, upon penalty of death, forbidden any man from setting eyes upon her until her suitor has been chosen. Naturally, this makes her irresistible to Ahmad, and his love becomes an urgent mission when the sultan pick Jaffar as the princess' groom-to-be. (The film hardly strikes an early blow for feminism: The princess has no name, just "Princess.") "Thief of Baghdad" is as magical as its subject matter. An early Technicolor film, it layers the screen in lush hues in a celebra- combines these many gimmicks in a way tion of color rare for tion. Some of the special effects seem hokey today, but this film was the "Star Wars" of its time, and some of the effects, particularly the flying horse and giant spider, still hold up. The black-robed Veidt simply exudes villainy. One of his scenes features a shadow trick that Francis Ford Coppola duplicates in his current "Bram Stoker's Dracula." After Veidt, the film's other memorable performance belongs to Rex Ingram as the gargantuan, blustery genie. His is a genie who exalts in his freedom once Abu releases him from the bottle and makes it clear he isn't too thrilled with this "three wishes" deal. Once the genie grants wish No. 3, he flies off never to return, leaving : an unfortunate hole in the rest of the film. Produced in England, "The Thief of Baghdad" owes as much to the British tradition of "schoolboy literature" as it does to the Arabian Nights. Its imagination for adventure never ceases to thrill. Only the "Star Wars" films have matched this film's wonder, but not its sheer romance.
