The Thief of Bagdad (1940)

Calificación de los usuarios:

7.8/10   

Directors:

Ludwig Berger
Michael Powell

Escritores:

Miles Malleson (screenplay)
Lajos Biró (scenario)

Fecha de Lanzamiento:

25 diciembre 1940 (USA)

Género:

Aventura | Familia | Fantasía

Frase comercial:

One Thousand and One Sights from One Thousand and One Nights

Plot:

Prince Ahmad is the rightful King of Bagdad but he has been blinded and cast out as a beggar. Now a...

Plot Keywords:

Flying | Princess | Magic | Flying Carpet | Thief

Premios:

Won 3 Oscars. Another 1 nomination

Comentarios de los usuarios:

Still a Solidly Wonderful Fantasy After Sixty-Plus Years

US TV Schedule:

Sun. July 5

10:00 AM

TCM

Reparto

Conrad Veidt	...	Jaffar
Sabu	...	Abu
June Duprez	...	Princess
John Justin	...	Ahmad
Rex Ingram	...	Djinn
Miles Malleson	...	Sultan
Morton Selten	...	The Old King
Mary Morris	...	Halima
Bruce Winston	...	The Merchant
Hay Petrie	...	Astrologer
Adelaide Hall	...	Singer
Roy Emerton	...	Jailer
Allan Jeayes	...	The Story Teller

También conocida como:

The Thief of Bagdad: An Arabian Fantasy in Technicolor (UK) (complete title)
El ladrón de Bagdad (Spain) [es]
El ladron de Bagdad (Mexico) [es]

Duración:

106 min

País:

UK

Idioma:

Inglés

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Relación de Aspecto:

1.37 : 1

Sonido:

Mono (Western Electric Mirrophonic Recording)

Clasificación:

UK:U | USA:Approved (certificate #02749) | West Germany:6 | Australia:PG (TV rating) | Australia:G | Finland:K-8 | Sweden:Btl | Canada:PG (Ontario)

Locaciones de Filmación:

Denham Studios, Denham, Buckinghamshire, England, UK

Compañía:

London Film Productions

Trivialidades:

When filming began in the USA, the stricter US censorship codes were applied. One of the most obvious differences between the scenes shot in the UK and those filmed in the USA is that the tops of the actresses' costumes were buttoned up all the way to satisfy the Hays Office. That kind of clue makes it easier to identify the US-shot scenes than trying to spot differences in the sets.

Errores:

Anacronismos: Abu throws tomatoes at his pursuers as he flees though Baghdad. These would have been unknown on Arabia at this time as they originated in the Americas.

Citas:

Doctor: But she loves the blind man.
Jaffar: Do you call the lisping of two children in the garden love? Love she has yet to learn. But I'm here to teach her.

Conexiones de Película:

Apareció en War Stories (2006) (TV)

Banda de Sonido:

I Want To Be A Sailor

Still a Solidly Wonderful Fantasy After Sixty-Plus Years

The story of the boy thief of Bagdad (as it was once spelled) has attracted filmmakers from Raoul Walsh in 1924, who starred Douglas Fairbanks in the first, silent, rendering of "Thief of Bagdad," to less imposing, more recent attempts. The best, however, remains 1940's version which for its time was a startling, magical panoply of top quality special effects. Those effects still work their charm.

No less than six directors are listed for the technicolor movie which starred Sabu as the boy thief, Abu, John Justin as the dreamily in love deposed monarch, Ahmad and June Duprez as the lovely princess sought by Ahmad and pursued by the evil vizier, Jaffar, played by a sinister Conrad Veidt. The giant genie is ably acted by Rex Ingram.

Ahmad is treacherously deposed by Jaffar and when later arrested by that traitorous serpent, he and the boy, Abu, suffer what are clearly incapacitating fates. Ahmad is rendered blind and Abu becomes a lovable mutt. Their adventures through the gaily decorated Hollywood backlots are fun but the special effects make this film work.

Two men were responsible for everything from a magic flying carpet to the gargantuan genie who pops out of a bottle with a tornado-like black swirl: Lawrence W. Butler and Tom Howard. (Howard, incidentally, did the special effects for the 1961 version of this film. Both men had long and distinguished careers in technical wizardry.)

Duprez is outstandingly lovely while little called on for serious acting. Justin's Ahmad projects a driven but dreamy romanticism untouched by erotic impulses. Sabu is really the central actor in many scenes and he's very good. For a movie meant for kids as well as adults there's a fair amount of violence but of the bloodless kind. Still, I don't think anyone under eight ought to see "Thief of Bagdad."

This film makes periodic appearances on TV but today my teenage son and I saw it in a theater with quite a few youngsters present. It was great to see computer-besotted kids in an affluent community respond with cheers and applause to special effects that must seem primitive to them.

"Thief of Bagdad" is a pre-war Hollywood classic from a time when strong production values often resulted in enduringly attractive and important releases. This is one of the best of its kind.

9/10.