The Thief of Bagdad is a 1940 British fantasy adventure film produced by the Korda brothers. The film had six directors including Michael Powell, Ludwig Berger, and Tim Whalen who were credited. The Thief of Bagdad starred John Justin, Sabu, June Duprez, and Conrad Veidt.
Directors: Michael Powell, Ludwig Berger, and Tim Whalen (with Alexander Korda, Zoltan Korda, and William Cameron Menzies)
Production Company: London Films
Distributor: United Artists
Cast: Conrad Veidt, Sabu, June Duprez, John Justin, Rex Ingram, Mary Morris
US Box Office: $2,500,000 ($99,700,000 adjusted for inflation)
Film Format: Technicolor
Genre: Fantasy, Adventure, Family
Release Date: December 5, 1940 (US), December 25, 1940 (UK)
Plot Summary: In the ancient Middle East, Prince Ahmad (John Justin) of Bagdad is betrayed and imprisoned by his evil vizier Jaffar (Conrad Veidt). Ahmad meet up with Abu (Sabu), a young thief, who helps him escape. Ahmad falls in love with a beautiful Princess (June Duprez) and he and Abu go on a fantastical adventure to save her from Jaffar and to restore him to his throne with the help of a powerful Genie (Rex Ingram).
Production: In the late 1930s, producer Alexander Korda began working on a remake of the David Fairbanks fantasy adventure film The Thief of Bagdad (1924). Fairbanks owned the rights to the original film, so in 1938 Korda negotiated with him over dinner for the rights to remake the film. Both films were inspired by stories from One Thousand and One Nights, a collection of Middle Eastern folktales. The initial script for The Thief of Bagdad was written by Lajos Biro and Miles Malleson, though the script would be considerably modified throughout production.
Indian child actor Sabu Dasgatier (usually just credited as his first name “Sabu”) was cast as the thief Ali. He had previously appeared in Korda’s film The Drum (1938). Jon Hall was originally considered for the part of Ahmad, but he was under contract with Universal, so Korda cast British stage actor John Justin in the role instead. The Thief of Bagdad was Justin’s first film. Vivien Leigh was considered for the role of the Princess, but she moved to Hollywood around the time of the film’s production, so June Duprez was cast. She had previously starred in Korda’s film The Four Feathers (1939). Korda cast Conrad Veidt, a German actor known for playing sinister characters, as the villain Jaffar. He had originally wanted to cast Henry Fonda in the role (because he thought that Fonda had the right look for the villain), but Fonda was unavailable at the time, so he picked Veidt instead.
Filming on The Thief of Bagdad began in early Spring of 1939. Alexander Korda initially hired German director Ludwig Berger to direct the film. However, Korda soon became disappointed with Berger’s work on the film: he thought that Berger was making the film too small-scale and too intimate, particularly the score that Berger was devising with Austrian composer Oscar Straus. Korda brought in British director Michael Powell (who later became well known for his work co-directing with Emeric Pressberger) to reshoot some scenes, and also brought in Hungarian composer Miklos Rozsa to replace Straus. Berger eventually quit the project, and Korda fully replaced him with Powell. Korda also brought in a third director, Tim Whelan, to help augment Powell’s work, specifically in the action sequences.
Once World War II began in September of 1939, production was temporarily halted so that Korda could direct that patriotic documentary The Lion Has Wings for the British government. Production on The Thief of Bagdad resumed in the Spring of 1940, and Korda decided to move the entire production over to the United States, which was a safer location during the Blitz. Powell stayed in England, so Alexander Korda, his brother Zoltan, and William Cameron Menzies co-directed the remaining scenes of the film that still needed to be shot. Several of the England-shot scenes of Sabu interacting with other actors had to be reshot for continuity reasons as Sabu had grown three inches since the film’s initial 1939 production.
Many of the interior scenes in the British-filmed portion of the film were shot at Denham Film Studios in Buckinghamshire, England. The beach scenes where Abu meets the Genie were shot on location at Sennen Cove, Kynance Cove, and Gunwalloe in Cornwall, England. The scenes with Ahmad, Abu, and the Genie in the mountains were shot on location at the Grand Canyon in Arizona after the production had moved to the United States. Additional location shooting for the desert scenes was also done in Monument Valley and the Hopi Indian Reservation in Arizona. Interior scenes in the US-filmed portion of The Thief of Bagdad were shot at United Artists Studios in Los Angeles.
Fun Facts and Trivia: The Sultan of Basra is played by Miles Malleson, who was also one of the film’s screenwriters. Conrad Veidt’s performance as Jaffar in The Thief of Bagdad was one of the performances that inspired Christopher Lee, who was eighteen years old at the time, to become an actor. Interestingly, Lee met Veidt on a golf course the day after he first saw the movie. Early in production, The Thief of Bagdad was intended to be a musical. The finished film includes a few songs (mostly sung by Sabu) but is not a musical for the most part. Several more songs were written, and some were even recorded for the film. For example there is a surviving recording of Rex Ingram singing as the Genie, which was not included in the final film.
Sabu starred in two films (both produced by Alexander Korda) that were based on books that would later be adapted as animated films by the Walt Disney Corporation: The Thief of Bagdad and Rudyard Kipling’s The Jungle Book (1942). One Thousand and One Nights would later be loosely adapted as Aladdin (1992). The 1894 Rudyard Kipling novel The Jungle Book would later be adapted as The Jungle Book (1967).
Reception: The Thief of Bagdad released at the end of 1940 in both the United States and the United Kingdom. Despite its troubled production and high budget, The Thief of Bagdad was a financial success. The film did fairly well in the US, but was not massively successful at the box office like the original 1924 version had been. However, The Thief of Bagdad still managed to become Korda’s highest grossing film in the United States at the time of its release. The film was more successful in western Europe, and in France in particular where it was the seventh highest grossing film of the year.
The Thief of Bagdad received generally positive reviews when it released. The staff at Variety gave the film a positive review. They complimented the film’s technicolor cinematography and its general “eye-appealing spectacle.” The New York Times critic Bosley Crowther was also impressed by the film. He compared The Thief of Bagdad to Disney’s Fantasia (1940), praised the film’s technicolor and the performances of the cast. Although it is somewhat forgotten today, The Thief of Bagdad has also received positive reviews in retrospect. Roger Ebert strongly praised the film, arguing that it was on par with The Wizard of Oz, and included it on his list of “Great Movies.”
Oscars: The Thief of Bagdad was nominated for four Oscars at the 13th Academy Awards ceremony: Best Original Score (Miklos Rozsa), Best Art Direction-Color (Vincent Korda), Best Cinematography-Color (Georges Perinal), and Best Special Effects (Lawrence W Butler for Photographic effects and Jack Whitney for Sound effects). The film won three of the Oscars: Best Art Direction-Color, Best Cinematography-Color, and Best Special Effects. The Thief of Bagdad was the first British film to have been nominated for Best Original Score. It was also the first film to have won three awards while not being nominated for Best Picture.
Why You Should See It: The Thief of Bagdad is a pretty good fantasy adventure film. The movie has some strange moments, but is also very charming and imaginative. Some of the cast members in the film give really good performances. Conrad Veidt is a standout, he gives a perfectly sinister performance as Jaffar. Sabu is also good, he gives a likeable performance. The special effects in the film are charming, and are very impressive by 1940s standards. The film’s color cinematography looks great and the film is very impressive in its scope. The Thief of Bagdad isn’t perfect, but it is mostly likeable and is important as an early big-budget fantasy adventure film.