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| Jerry Saravia... |
 Posted: Mon Oct 19, 2009 1:50 pm |
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THE THIEF OF BAGDAD (1940)
Reviewed by Jerry Saravia
RATING: Three stars and a half
I remember seeing "The Thief of Bagdad" when I was a kid and I
marvelled at the sights of a magic carpet, a giant 70-foot genie, the
eyes of Jaffar, the flying mechanical horse, and essentially the
colorful world of an Arabian Nights fantasy brought to life. Seeing it
so many years later (and mistakenly thinking that the genie was a blue-
skinned one), "The Thief of Bagdad" is a marvelous feast for the eyes
and the ears yet and one that must be savored, yet some casting and
minor editing in the first quarter mark might have helped.
King Ahmad (John Justin) has become a blind man with a dog who is seen
peddling in the streets. Prince Jaffar (Conrad Veidt) has blinded
Ahmad yet needs his help in awakening the princess Jaffar hopes to
marry, known simply as the Princess (June Duprez). King Ahmad obliges
and tells Jaffar's enslaved women of how he became blind and how the
dog was once Abu (Sabu), the prince of thieves belonging to a family
of thieves. Their adventures involved everything one loves seeing in a
fantasy, including tidal waves, magic carpet rides, the giant flying
genie (Rex Ingram) who can only grant three wishes, last-minute rescue
attempts including saving someone from a beheading, a goddess with six
arms, a Tibetan temple that contains the All-Seeing-Eye in ruby form
and a series of booby traps, the shadow cast on the wall of Jaffar
acting independently as Jaffar works his evil magic, and much more.
My major quibble is the opening exposition which drags the action a
little. I confess that I wanted to see the sense of magic and wonder I
recall seeing in my youth, and my anxiety kept wanting the tale to get
started. I do not mind seeing Jaffar and those penetrating eyes, but
when he confesses his love for the princess, I got a little bored. It
could be that June Duprez is too anemic on screen (Vivien Leigh was
originally cast but had to drop out due to a little film called "Gone
With the Wind." Imagine how much more striking those scenes would've
been with Leigh). The introduction to King Ahmad as played by Justin
also strikes me as off-kilter - Justin has little charisma and is
about as animated as a cold bowl of soup. Duprez and Justin bring the
movie to a slight halt whenever they appear.
"The Thief of Badgad" was originally made in 1924 in a delightful film
with Douglas Fairbanks, Sr. with Fairbanks playing the thief and a
prince as a composite (and the one version I saw had the aptly used
"Scheherazade" music by Rimsky-Korsakov). This version was produced by
Hungarian producer Alexander Korda and had almost six directors
involved, including Michael Powell, Ludwig Berger, William Cameron
Menzies and even Korda himself took the reins. Normally this would
spell a production in trouble but the results are far better than
expected.
But when we get to finally see Sabu on screen as Abu (he is changed
into a dog by Jaffar as we see in the opening), the screen becomes
electric and tantalizing. I just marvel at Abu's escape from street
vendors as he steals cooked fish and jumps up and down rooftops with
the greatest of ease, or the way he tricks the genie to get back in
his bottle. Sabu brings a sense of joy and enthusiasm to the role -
you just know he is ready to burst into action. So with Sabu and the
penetrating, angry eyes of Jaffar and the witty Rex Ingram as the
laughing genie whose laugh is so powerful that inside a canyon it can
break down rock formations, I was hooked and swept away by the grandly
entertaining and sheer awesome spectacle of "The Thief of Bagdad."
For more reviews, check out JERRY AT THE MOVIES at:
http://www.geocities.com/faustus_08520/Jerry_at_the_Movies.html
BIO on the author of this page at:
http://www.geocities.com/faustus_08520/index.html
Email me at Faust668 at (no spam) msn.com or at faustus_08520 at (no spam) yahoo.com |
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