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Information
- Year
- 1940
- Runtime
- 106 min.
- Directors
- Michael Powell, Ludwig Berger, Tim Whelan
- Genres
- Romance, Adventure, Fantasy, Family
- Rating *
- 7.4
- Votes *
- 10,354
- Checks
- 3,081
- Favs
- 167
- Dislikes
- 34
- Favs/checks
- 5.4% (1:18)
- Favs/dislikes
- 5:1
Top comments
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Siskoid
1940's The Thief of Bagdad, though a remake of a 1924 silent film, stands out as the main source material for Disney's Aladdin, if only on account of the villain being a sorcerer called Jaffar. The movie nevertheless splits the Aladdin role in two, with John Justin playing the fallen prince who must save the kingdom and the princess, and Sabu as the thief who finds a genie in a bottle (a genie more green than blue, but same difference). As special effects spectaculars go, The Thief of Bagdad surprises with its cutting-edge use of chromakey, a technique that wouldn't be put into wide use for decades (and is far from perfected here), and provides a lot of neat fantastical images, at least eventually. The magic doesn't really kick in until the second act. Evoking later movies like the Sinbad film Harryhausen worked on, it stands as a fun enough fantasy family film, a storybook come to life in vivid Technicolor. The plot is all over the place, but in the best fairy tale way. 5 years 2 months ago -
geppetto
Sultan Jaffar (Conrad Veidt) is the most intelligent ,original ,stylish ,magical and greatest villian ever. 14 years 4 months ago -
deckard.
the movie considerably loses it pace during that drawn out djinn sequence, but all in all a good flick. but no way near better than the errol flynn version.
conrad veidt just owns btw. what an actor. 1 year 9 months ago
Friends
Login to see which of your friends have seen this movie!In 13 official lists
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This movie ranks #18 in Academy Award - Best Cinematography
Academy Award - Best Cin…
18 -
This movie ranks #98 in Harvard's Suggested Film Viewing: Narrative Films
Harvard's Suggested Film…
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This movie ranks #142 in BFI's 360 Classic Feature Films Project
BFI's 360 Classic Featur…
142 -
This movie ranks #147 in Butler's Fantasy Cinema: Impossible Worlds on Screen
Butler's Fantasy Cinema:…
147 -
This movie ranks #203 in Jonathan Rosenbaum's Essential Cinema
Jonathan Rosenbaum's Ess…
203 -
This movie ranks #226 in Halliwell's Top 1000: The Ultimate Movie Countdown
Halliwell's Top 1000: Th…
226 -
This movie ranks #246 in David Thomson's Have You Seen?
David Thomson's Have You…
246 -
This movie ranks #348 in Roger Ebert's Great Movies
Roger Ebert's Great Movi…
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This movie ranks #474 in The Criterion Collection
The Criterion Collection
474 -
This movie ranks #827 in TSPDT's 1,000 Greatest Films
TSPDT's 1,000 Greatest F…
827 -
This movie ranks #875 in The New York Times's Book of Movies
The New York Times's Boo…
875 -
This movie ranks #888 in The Guardian's 1000 Films to See Before You Die
The Guardian's 1000 Film…
888 -
This movie ranks #918 in Time Out's 1000 Films to Change Your Life
Time Out's 1000 Films to…
918