The Thief of Bagdad (1924)

The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

The acting is good, and the firecracker script has some excellent ideas.

for many of its viewers, it remains unique. yesterday, in the period of early years of childhood, today, in the era of 3D, this "Thief of Bagdad" has not term of comparison. sure, one of the basic motifs is Douglas Fairbanks. and the seductive story, and the Oriental impeccable architecture and the special effects. in one word - its fantastic freshness. because it has the virtues who are out of contemporary examples of success. maybe a coherent , charming story and the naivety and the surprising eroticism and the science to build a story in each detail. maybe the princes and the princess and the flavors of Bagdad are causes of a special emotion when I see it again. because it is magic. and this does it a real fantastic film.

This movie is a masterpiece.This was movie,but i enjoyed it as much as any modern film.Douglas Fairbanks made a wonderful role.The whole movie was so interesting.effects and everything.i like everything about this movie.this is a silent movie masterpiece.In the scenes with the giant ape, the guards are played by children. When the ape is out of sight the guards are played by adults. It was done to make the normal-sized ape appear bigger,this was funny scene too.For the scenes in the underwater mermaid kingdom, Douglas Fairbanks had the cameras shoot through a curtain of thin gauze, to give the illusion that the Thief was swimming underwater. The mermaid kingdom scenes were then tinted blue in post-production.One of best movies,i recommend it to everyone.

The thief of Bagdad can easily be one of the most enjoyable and easy silent movies that I have seen. Not once have i been tempted to make a pause or to improvise a dub on the characters using funny voices (..okay i did do it a couple of times). Apart of the central 20 minutes the whole movie is quite fast-paced filled with gags, amazing costumes and stunning scenarios.Douglas Fairbanks is just THE actor for this kind of movie. Flamboyant, athletic, awesome smile typical of an overconfident reckless man who knows he is smarter than average.. he is the perfect hero for this story. The special effects used are admirable for the time. You just keep wondering how the hell did they do that in 1924, the genius behind some of the cinematography is praiseworthy, just look at the underwater scenes (this part was very exciting for me, CGI just took the fun out of guessing how did they do this or that effect). The costumes are quite funky, which was new for me to see in these kind of movies. Seriously, the costumes are so cool, everyone looks ready for their Saturday night disco or ninja parade. And the scenography.. seeing the underwater city and the city of Baghdad during the golden age just made me want to get a time machine and go see it myself. On the other side of the coin, the film drowns in orientalist commonplace stereotypes. The ancient arabic centre of culture is represented with the typical magical-dreamy architecture which is quintessential in orientalist productions (for the record, orientalism = western representation of eastern cultures) and the parallels with Disney's Aladdin come very easy for the young viewer. The Mongols are represented as a sort of mash-up between opium-café thugs from imperial china, and weird Japanese ninja-samurai, not exactly the mongols that you would expect given their nomad history etc..One special mention goes to the christianization of Islam. The one guy which role is to be a spiritual guide to the thief doesn't fail to show how good things and happiness must be earned through hard-work and sacrifice; in doing so he shapes the perfect Christian American citizen, a man now adverse to cheating and shortcuts, ready to pursue his American Dream by undertaking a near-impossible quest to get the princess of his dreams, showing that purity and determination will get him his happiness! GO American WAY! But in the end, is it a bad thing? Does orientalism offend the history of the middle east? Maybe nowadays it would, but what would the Hollywood people know in 1924 of how did the mongols look like, or whether golden-age Bagdad had penis-shaped towers or not. Besides, this version of Arabia is the coolest and most creative one I've seen, even for today's standards. Recommend 10/10!

The acrobatic skill and charisma of Douglas Fairbanks fits well with the magnificent sets and magical special effects of this timeless romantic fantasy, but all the histrionic mugging and florid over-emoting only makes the silent epic look sadly dated when seen today. Thankfully the title role of the penniless thief who becomes a prince doesn't demand much acting prowess, allowing Fairbanks plenty of opportunities to express himself physically: jumping over walls, battling fierce supernatural creatures, riding his valiant steed over desert sands, and so forth. To win the hand of a beautiful princess he must embark on a quest to find the most wondrous object on Earth, and after triumphing over every adversity the two lovers are last seen floating away into the Arabian night on their flying carpet. The moral of story is spelled out in the twinkling stars overhead: Happiness Must Be Earned, and who can argue with that?