Save your money for something good and enjoyable

Memorable, crazy movie

Good concept, poorly executed.

I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

With so much incredible talent gathered together for this film, it must have left audiences of the 40s and 50's spellbound and breathless!Directorial greats (several!) weave an endless trail of eye popping treats throughout a well written screenplay. This fantasy adventure is crammed with colour and movement of the more intelligent kind. Completed within two continents, after a great deal of difficulty ~ during a time when the world was embroiled in the stupidity of WW11 ~ this film still offers an abundance of thrills. Audiences used to looking at today's C.G.A. may find the special effects lacking, but hey, this is pioneering movie making of the best caliber. Look, and see where Harryhausen got much of his inspiration (and copied some characters I'm sure) Look, at the magnificent visual design, striking sets, fluid camera, and glowing 3 strip Technicolor (no color ever looked as good as this and it never faded). Names like William Cameron Menzies, Michael Powell --too many to name-- created one of the first all time great Arabian stunners...But wait there's more! This work features one of the most impressive of all Miklos Rozsa's music scores....dare I ask if he ever bettered it??Can't overlook a marvelous cast, remarkable Dog, Oscar winning photography of Georges Perinal and Osmond Borradaile, topped off with Rex Ingram's damned scary Genie ~ even more physically menacing than Conrad Veidt's terrific Jaffar. It could be said that this set-the-scene for so many fantasies that followed... The re-issue print I was kindly given by a good friend (The Korda Collection series from Magna Pacific) is a little unkempt, with much neg dirt left to show as white dots on the image and yet, while not a digitally re-mastered DVD transfer, the image is thankfully quite sharply focused. I see that Criterion (and maybe another) may have given this masterpiece a serious clean up, so shop around before buying. Highly recommended to all appreciators of classic cinematic milestones... Young, Old, and Indifferent! KenR...............

This was an entertaining 1940's adventure movie based upon one of the stories of the Arabian Nights (though I have not read that particular book). It is a story about the king of Bagdad who is usurped by his vizier and forced to flee for his life. In doing so he meets up with a young thief and together they go on an adventure to restore the king to his throne and to rescue the king's beloved from the clutches of the evil vizier.As mentioned, I found this movie entertaining, and for an adventure movie it has everything from evil sorcerers to genies to flying carpets. However, it is very noticeable that the makers of this movie had no idea about the intricacies of Islamic culture during the golden age. One notices that most of the main characters look American, and the females have their hair arranged as if they were 1940's Americans. For purists this would most likely put them off the movie, however if one can get past the discrepancies (and of course the 1940's special effects) then as a movie it is not bad.

First, though fictional, scenes from "The Thief of Baghdad" such as a public beheading are actually truer to the old (and current) Middle East and less slavish to political correctness than supposedly well-researched contemporary movies like "Kingdom of Heaven." Second, images of a genie materializing from smoke, flying horses, flying carpets, and a man residing underwater are dated visual effects by today's standards, but are clever, imaginative, and groundbreaking for 1940. "The Thief of Baghdad" no doubt set the stage for swashbuckling special effect successors like "Sinbad the Sailor," "Clash of the Titans," and "The Golden Voyage of Sinbad." Third, this movie has good guys versus bad guys (Ahmad & Abu vs. Jaffar), romance (Ahmad & the princess), humor (the battle of wits between Abu and the genie), and a series of mini-adventures within the larger adventure. It's a good formula for popcorn & fun. Recommmended.

This is simply one of my favorite fantasy films of all time. Not many movies are so magical, so charming and so imaginative as this. I can clearly see the influence of this movie in many movies that came later, but not many of them were as good as this one. "The Thief of Bagdad" had everything that you could want from a fantasy films: An exciting, unpredictable story, charming and likable characters, and an incredible, beautiful atmosphere and incredible visuals (That still look pretty good)I wish there were more movies like this. I would give this movie eleven stars if I could. I highly recommend it to anyone!