The Thief Of Bagdad (1924)

So I did something this past weekend that I don't often do: Watch a silent movie.  Don't get me wrong, I'm always up for a classic film.  I just happen to prefer classic films that have spoken dialog.  But I had seen several other adaptions of  'The Thief of Bagdad' - most notably the 1940 version (There's also an Italian version from 1961, but that's barely recognizable as the same story) - so I decided to give the original 1924 version a shot.

Even if you haven't seen any adaption of 'The Thief of Bagdad' you'll probably find the story a bit familiar.  Possibly because it pulls so much inspiration by 1001 Arabian Nights, and possibly because every movie adaption of Arabian Nights that came after 'Thief of Bagdad' seems to pull inspiration from 'Thief of Bagdad'.  Disney's 'Aladdin' for example, probably has as much or more in common with the 1924 and 1940 versions of 'Thief of Bagdad' than it does with the original fairy tale of Aladdin.

Our story starts with a happy-go-lucky thief (played by Douglas Fairbanks) who seems to steal for the fun of it, and also enjoys outrunning or outwitting his pursuers.  The beginning of this movie is actually really funny with visual humor style that's just shy of slapstick.  For example, in one scene he escapes his pursuers by running over the backs of people kneeling in prayer.  Each one is startled, and they all look up at him as he jumps on their backs.  It's well timed and choreographed, and lots of fun to watch.  I know there are silent comedies such as the Charlie Chaplin films, but I guess prior to this point I've mostly just watched horror films like 'Phantom of the Opera' (1925) and German Expressionist films such as 'Metropolis' (1927).

After stealing a magic rope that enables him to scale any wall, the Thief returns to his hideout to show the rope to his buddy - who is an elderly thief.  The two make plans to scale the palace wall and make off with the royal jewels.

Meanwhile the evil ruler of the Mongols decides he wants to take over Bagdad.  He devises a plan to disguise himself as a suitor to the Princess of Bagdad and smuggle his army past the walls disguised a porters bringing gifts.  The whole 'Bad guy is trying to marry the Princess so he can take control of the Kingdom' thing is something we've seen hundreds of times before, but it's refreshing in this story that he doesn't actually want to marry the princess - at least not at first.  He unfortunately decides he wants to marry her later on in the story.

That night our hero and his buddy use the magic rope to sneak into the palace.  It just so happens that all the loot is kept in the Princess' royal bedchambers.  The Thief falls in love with the Princess at first sight - so much so that he forgets all about robbing the place.  Unfortunately he is confronted by one of the Princess' servant girls - who just so happens to be a mongol.  He holds her at knife point until he can make good his escape.  When his buddy asks if he found the treasure he responds with 'The greatest treasure of all!' and shows him one of the Princess' slippers which he stole.  The thief's friend is understandably perplexed by our Hero's sudden love of shoes, but he eventually realizes that the Thief is in love.

So he does what any good friend would do: Suggest that our hero sneak into the palace, drug the princess, and then kidnap her.  Because that's how you get a girl to like you, apparently.  So our hero goes to the marketplace, steals clothes that make him look like royalty, and enters the palace disguised as a suitor.

Meanwhile the princess has her fortune told to help her decide which suitor to pick.  There's some sort of mumbo-jumbo prophecy about 'The first one to touch the rose bush' is the one the princess should marry.

So the suitors all arrive, and the princess, because she's a horrible person, judges each one by there looks.  She doesn't like the way the first one scowls, the second one is too fat, and the third one - the bad guy - looks too evil.  And of course she falls for our hero at first sight.

Amusingly enough, one of the suitors - the fat one - is referred to as 'The Prince of Persia.'  This isn't the Prince of Persia!

THIS, my friends, is the Prince of Persia!

So the Mongolian servant girl tips the Bad Guy off about the magic rose bush.  He's about to touch it, but he's stung by a bee instead.  And because this movie is basically slapstick the bee also spooks our hero's horse and he rather predictably falls off onto the rose bush, fulfilling the prophecy.  After that he's all set to kidnap the princess, but she decides to cut out the middle man of the whole Stockholm Syndrome thing and confesses her love for him.  She chooses the Thief to be her husband, and he is so overcome with guilt that he tells her the truth: He's not really a Prince.

She's okay with this, but unfortunately the Mongolian servant girl recognizes him and blows his cover in front of the Caliph of Bagdad.  Now the Thief is once again a hunted man, but the Princess bribes the guards and sneaks him outside the palace walls.

The Caliph demands that she choose a REAL prince to marry from the three remaining suitors.  She sends them off on a wild goose chase: whoever finds and brings back the rarest treasure in the world is the one she will marry.  This kicks off the second half of the movie, and it's a loose adaption of the Arabian Nights story 'The Three Princes and the Princess Nouronnihar'.  The one finds a magic carpet, the next finds a magic crystal that can show the owner whatever they want to see, and the third - in this case the villain - finds an apple that can cure any ailment.  The villain then sends one of his spies back to the palace to poison the princess so she will declare his gift the greatest as it is the only one that can save her life.

Meanwhile our hero goes on a quest of his own, and he will face many perils some of which feature better special effects than others.  A cavern filled with flames is pretty believable.  The giant bat and spider puppets?  Not so much.  He is also tempted by underwater sirens, but remembers his love for the princess just in time and escapes.  He finds a winged horse - either inspired by the Arabian Nights tale of the Flying Mechanical Horse or the Pegasus from Greek mythology - and uses it to find a castle in the clouds and a box filled with magic dust that becomes whatever the owner desires.

So the other suitors discover that Princess is dying after looking into the magic crystal.  They use the magic carpet to fly back to the palace, and then the Bad Guy uses the magic apple to save the Princess' life (which he endangered by the way, so it doesn't really count).  He insists that she marry him as his gift is the rarest.  She finds a loophole however: The carpet and the crystal were just as important to saving her life as the magic apple.

Enraged, the bad guy decides that he will take the city by force after all, and summons his army that had infiltrated the Bagdad earlier.  Our hero is returning from his epic quest, and he learns that the Mongolian army has taken Bagdad.  He creates an army of his own using the box full of magic sand, and rushes to save the day.  But he be in time to stop the Mongolian prince from carrying the Princess off on the magic carpet?  That is the question.

This is definitely worth a watch, but I'd suggest saving it for a lazy afternoon as it is two and a half hours long.  It clearly had a big influence on adventure and fantasy movies, and if you're an Arabian Nights fan you should enjoy this early adaption.  The film is now public domain and can be enjoyed free of cost on Youtube.com or Archive.org.

-Geekboy