The Thief of Bagdad (1940)

☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆

The Thief of Bagdad (1940) – M. Powell & L. Berger & T. Whelan

This version of the oft-told tale, the one featuring Sabu, is my favourite.  Amon and I watched it last night and, although the plot involves a flashback at the start, he handled it fine and was rapt throughout.  King Ahmad (John Justin) is tricked and imprisoned by evil magician Jaffar (Conrad Veidt) who has been acting as his grand vizier – he escapes with the help of Abu (Sabu), the titular thief, who helps him to meet a beautiful princess (June Duprez) who Jaffar also desires.  When they are again captured, Ahmad is blinded and Abu turned into a dog.  The rest of the story tells how they are transformed back into themselves, rescue the princess, and defeat Jaffar.  Along the way, they encounter a djinni in a bottle, fight a giant spider to steal the all-seeing eye, visit some ancient holy men and steal their magic carpet, and have numerous other adventures.  Having just watched a number of Ray Harryhausen films, I feared that Amon might find the special effects here too primitive (they are all done with models and superimposition, not stop-motion animation) but he was completely engrossed with the story (only remarking that the flying djinni seemed plastic).  I also found the film, with its fast-moving series of episodes and exuberant performance from Sabu, to be completely enjoyable. Highly recommended!