Thief Of Bagdad

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Thief Of Bagdad
Topic Started: Oct 13 2005, 04:14 AM (1,668 Views)
riddlerider	Jun 16 2008, 05:54 PM Post #31
Balcony Gang, Foist Class Posts: 799 Group: Members Member #68 Joined: November 26, 2005	Oh, c'mon, Frank, how can you not love a movie that contains the line, "Welcome to the land of legend, where all things are possible when seen through the eyes of youth"? That should be every Balconeer's salutation. It's the kind of sentiment that allows us to be forgiving of cowboy stars whose six-shooters never need reloading, and of Republic serial heroes whose hats never come off during fistfights, and of Warner Brothers/Busby Berkeley stage-show extravaganzas that consume more floor space than any three Broadway theatres put together.



mort bakaprevski	Jun 16 2008, 06:37 PM Post #32
Soony Roony! Posts: 1,433 Group: Members Member #73 Joined: January 1, 2006	Frank Hale Jun 16 2008, 03:12 PM I did really enjoy Sabu as the dog, however. Too bad Sabu the dog isn't still alive. I'd urge him to bite you... on the fetlock, yet!!
	“You’ve got to take the bitter with the sour.”


Frank Hale	Jun 17 2008, 10:30 AM Post #33
Balcony Gang, Foist Class Posts: 828 Group: Members Member #59 Joined: October 6, 2005	L Well, really, fellows, since the Great Gravy (quotable NYT darling) seems to agree with me (see above), I don’t see how I could be wrong on this issue. Let’s just say that dog and I can both spot a false coin!



Laughing Gravy	Aug 6 2008, 03:59 PM Post #34
Revered in the UK Posts: 11,073 Group: Admin Member #1 Joined: August 31, 2005	Roger Ebert on this film, and on special effects "back in the day"... http://blogs.suntimes.com/ebert/2008/08/th...of_effects.html



Chandu	Oct 25 2008, 09:55 AM Post #35
Knowledge Seeker and rascal at large Posts: 10,276 Group: Members Member #297 Joined: October 19, 2007	I watched this last night thanks to seeing it recommended here. Otherwise, I'd have never taken the time. A fun film and well done too, especially considering the technology available at the time and it's having been begun in England and finished in Hollywood, due to the outbreak of WW II. I was particularly amused at the scarlet Depends the genie wears.
	Not plane, nor bird, nor even frog. It's just little ol' me...


igsjr	Oct 25 2008, 07:31 PM Post #36
Nostalgia blogger Posts: 1,228 Group: Members Member #40 Joined: September 7, 2005	I still like the Doug Fairbanks version best.
	"Life is in color--but black-and-white is more realistic..." -- Samuel Fuller, director So many DVDs...so little time...


Black Tiger	Oct 25 2008, 11:08 PM Post #37
Charter Member Posts: 1,814 Group: Members Member #50 Joined: September 15, 2005	The Doug Fairbanks version is great, but so is this one. One of Conrad Veidt's most demonic performances (Vind! Vind!)



Zodiac	Oct 28 2008, 04:47 PM Post #38
Balcony Gang, Foist Class Posts: 174 Group: Members Member #334 Joined: January 17, 2008	Movies like this are appreciated by people like us only in light of their first exposure to the movie. Growing up in New York Thief was played on WOR and WPIX on most holidays and some weekends. When you first see this movie with the eyes on an 8 year old-it is wonderful. I too did not realize it was in color- what a surprise the first time I saw it in color. Wow. I think there are films we enjoy intellectually and there are those that are purely visceral - fun , for absolutely no good reason



muswell	Feb 2 2009, 02:01 AM Post #39
Balcony Baby Posts: 1 Group: Members Member #497 Joined: July 6, 2008	I am from London England and I first saw this movie on TV when the whole London Films back catalogue was screened on Sunday afternoons, I was about 10. I still remember those films vividly although some of them like " Knight Without Armour" and "Catherine the Great" seem to have been forgotten by most. I was particularly impressed with the films that had a fantasy element,"The Man who could work Miracles", "Things to Come", Jungle Book" and the jewel in the crown "Thief of Bagdad". I was completely immersed in it from the get go. Over the years I have watched it more times than I can count on TV in the theatre where I discovered it was in sumptuous Technicolor for a time I owned a 16mm tech print and still have an off air DVD although it shows so often on a TV Film channel that I rarely need an extra fix. At film school I was tutored by Charles Chilton who is credited as Editor on the film ( but became a noted Director of note). Definitely ranks alongside "King Kong" as one of my favourites. N.B. Kong was shown on TV at about the same time in a version which included the scenes "restored" in recent years. Don't know what the magic ingredient of this film was, Michael Powells later films although they often had fantastic scenes never had the fun of this one. It really is unique. I also love the Douglas Fairbanks film but the first cut is always the deepest. Sadly my wife hates the film as she cant take Sabu! Oh well her loss. Edited by muswell, Feb 2 2009, 02:03 AM.



panzer the great & terrible	Feb 4 2009, 08:21 PM Post #40
Mouth Breather Posts: 10,354 Group: Members Member #13 Joined: September 3, 2005	Sabu ain't for the ladies, as he would be the first to point out. Welcome, Muswell: always glad to meet a fellow Knight Without Armor fan.
	We Wear Short Shorts Flying Purple People Eater


Laughing Gravy	May 8 2009, 06:05 AM Post #41
Revered in the UK Posts: 11,073 Group: Admin Member #1 Joined: August 31, 2005	Roger Ebert adds Thief of Bagdad to his "Great Films" collection: http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090506/REVIEWS08/905069995



Black Tiger	May 8 2009, 02:05 PM Post #42
Charter Member Posts: 1,814 Group: Members Member #50 Joined: September 15, 2005	Rightly so!



CliffClaven	May 9 2009, 10:42 AM Post #43
Balcony Gang, Foist Class Posts: 231 Group: Members Member #712 Joined: March 30, 2009	Is it my imagination, or are there a lot more Arabian Nights films than there are of European tales (whether actual fairy tales like Snow White or pastiches like The Court Jester)? Maybe they were cheaper -- tents and California desert instead of castles and villages in non-redwood forests. And the girls could show a lot more leg. Off the top of my head, with help from IMDB: -- Arabian Nights (Okay Universal programmer with Shemp Howard as Sinbad) -- Ali Baba and the 40 Thieves (another Universal programmer) -- Captain Sindbad (Guy Williams and a blond Arab princess. Feels like Irwin Allen, but actually shot in Germany) -- Ali Baba Goes to Town (Eddie Cantor with a lot of gags about presidential elections. Also Raymond Scott's quintet "playing" one of Scott's tunes on fake instruments) -- Siren of Bagdad (Paul Henried as sort of a lounge lizard magician upstaged by Hans Conried) -- Wizard of Baghdad (Lame vehicle for Dick Shawn as a genie, who did a lot better outside the movies (except for The Producers)) -- 1001 Arabian Nights (Not-quite-there Mr. Magoo feature) -- Ray Harryhausen's Sinbad movies (Interesting that there's zero plot or actor connection between any of the three) -- Popeye's Arabian Nights "featurettes" (For some reason the Fleischer Brothers always turned to the Arabian Nights when they got ambitious with Popeye. Their only other "featurettes" were a good but rushed Raggedy Ann and a padded-out comedy about a raven selling vacuum cleaners) -- Lost in a Harem and Harem Scarem (Abbott & Costello and Elvis. Not technically fantasies, but in the neighborhood)



panzer the great & terrible	May 10 2009, 08:20 PM Post #44
Mouth Breather Posts: 10,354 Group: Members Member #13 Joined: September 3, 2005	Oh, there are more. One of my best friends growing up was a Lebanese (read Syrian) kid, and his Mom took us to every middle eastern fantasy movie that came out, and that was a more than once a month thing. She was enthralled with them, and of course we were enchanted to gobble popcorn and swill Cokes: she was as generous as Arabs often are. I don't remember the titles -- there were at least a hundred of 'em -- but they were all in color and all fun, and I think the name of Sam Katzman was associated with more than a few. Happy afternoons that introduced me to major performers like Walter Slezak, Hans Conreid, and Conrad Veidt. Edited by panzer the great & terrible, May 10 2009, 08:22 PM.
	We Wear Short Shorts Flying Purple People Eater


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