Movie Notes: The Thief of Baghdad

The Thief of Bagdad (1940)
Directors: Michael Powell, Ludwig Berger, Tim Whelan

This is a remake of the 1924 silent version, but the story is completely rewritten.  In fact, it has more in common with a famous Disney animated movie of my childhood than it has with the Douglas Fairbanks adventure.  It includes a toy-loving sultan, a wily thief and lovable sidekick named Abu, an all powerful but silly genie, and an evil vizier named Jaffar intent on stealing away the toy-loving sultan's daughter.

This is not a perfect film.  Ahmad, the romantic male lead, is dull and uninteresting.  So is the princess in whom he is interested.  However, Sabu plays the titular character Abu to perfection.  He brings energy and life to the whole movie and is a joy to watch.

At the end, the movie springs a philosophical reflection that justifies the whole exercise in spectacle and nonsense in a vein of thought that  reminded me pleasantly of Winnie-the-Pooh or Peter Pan.