George Fry

It is very hard to choose a favorite British film. I grew up in the forties/ fifties when there were so many fabulous films exploding out after the war. I loved all the Archers films and have recently purchased them on D.V.D. They stand up pretty well, particularly Colonal Blimp, I Know Where I'm Going, and The Red Shoes. Roger Livesey was a great chap.
But The Thief of Baghdad came out when I was ten years old. It has had a lating impression and still is worth watching today in spite of the advances in film magic. There is an elegance about it which so many later films on a similar theme are sadly lacking. Conrad Veidt has got to be the screen villain par excellance.
I was fascinated to learn recently that Michael Powell worked on it. Maybe that's why it has that same magic that have all his films.

penfold

I didn't see it until I was in my thirties, so I reacted differently to it.....but a year or so ago I was on a train to London, sat opposite a middle-aged gentleman, writing. His mobile goes off, and he speaks fluent russian in a fantastic bass-baritone....straight out of central casting. I didn't check his boots for snow. Anyway, you get talking; he's a translater, came to Britain in the 70's. I say I'm off to the NFT to see The Thief of Bagdad.....he gets very excited....he remembers the film well, though he hasn't seen it since he was a small boy....peering through the canvas walls of a large tent, a mobile cinema show for the people of his small village in Turkmenistan, in the middle of nowhere basically. I suggest he comes along to the screening, but he grins and says 'No, no, I have such wonderful memories of it, I should hate to be disappointed now'....
I wish I'd seen it as a kid......

Bit of a Bay Window, what??

Steve Crook

When Michael Powell went to Moscow to do the Pavlova film that he was peripherally involved in, he was feted for his involvement in ToB. It was apparently very well remembered and well loved

Steve

TimR

What a magical film this is. It is one of the only films that capture what it is like to read a children's book - wonderfully imaginative and intelligent. The color on the DVD is brilliantly clear and vivid.

dremble wedge

Conversely, the only time I ever saw it was as a kid and I didn't like it at all.

Just didn't measure up to anything by Ray Harryhausen, but I'll probably have different thoughts on a (belated) second viewing...

CaptainWaggett

Would it persuade you to try again if I told you that Leslie Phillips and Cleo Laine are both extras?

dremble wedge

Leslie yes, Cleo no

billy bentley

I'm hoping to take the family Monday night to a one off screening in NYC, But tickets do not go on sale until two hours before the show !

Steve Crook

Ray Harryhausen talks about how much he admires it and how much it inspired him in an interview on the Criterion DVD. The same piece also interviews Dennis Muren, and Craig Barron

Steve

Steve Crook

She doesn't sing in it if that's what is putting you off. She was only 13 and played an urchin in the market scene, along with her sister and brother. Leslie Philips was just 15 or 16.

Glynis Johns is in there as well

Steve

Gary D.

I second this, but I thought all the Korda London Films were elegant, more so than most Hollywood-produced films. It's been a while, but I think Alexander Korda had to wait until after the war to finish this film.

Conrad Veidt might have been most people's idea of Nazihood personified, but he wasn't, and whenever he played a Nazi--and he always did a superb jou--his characterization was never to show any possible good side to the Nazis.

moonfleet

"Thief of Bagdad" is the first film with M.Powell involved in that I saw, I just love it.....the genius appearing on the beach, the automats, the magnificents settings for the palace, streets of Bagdad.....and Sabu at his best ( better than in "The Jungle Book" which I recently saw...)

Moon.

"Very difficult !" "Craazy!"

Steve Crook

Was the Genie a genius?
Or do you mean that Abu was a genius to trick him back into the bottle?

They use the spelling "Djinn" in the cast list. But they also spell Bagdad in the old way, without the 'h'. It's now usually called Baghdad

Steve

moonfleet

Ah, Steve, what shall I do without you !!

Of course, it's a Genie ( and he is not a genius, as the wise boy made him going back to the bottle !!)

Moon.

"Very difficult !" "Craazy!"

whitstablejim

"THE THIEF OF BAGDAD" This is one film that I realy enjoyed, Sabu with the Genie and then with the spiders web, a wonderful film, one of my favourites.