The Thief of Bagdad (1940)

A remake of the 1924 Douglas Fairbanks-starring film (also in the festival’s program!), but also a completely new Technicolor fantasy which captured the imagination of generations of viewers. Betrayed by a magician (Conrad Veidt), the young king of Baghdad (John Justin) with the help of a thief (Sabu) attempts to regain his throne – but before that can happen the protagonists face a series of dangerous adventures. The Thief of Bagdad, produced by Hungarian-born Alexander Korda, is a daring fantasy based on Arabian motifs, and a classic family film. You can find echoes of this version both in George Lucas’ Star Wars and Disney’s Aladdin, but Korda’s work, filled with trick photography and special effects, invited the war-weary audience on a magic carpet ride: it offered an experience of lightness and admiration for the world, an escapist journey beyond the boundaries of reality.

Sebastian Smoliński