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