The Thief of Bagdad

IMDB
First time viewed: No
Current Release: No
Watched With: Myself

I this I was the lone kid in 1992 who was more anxious to see this film again rather than the Disney cartoon Aladdin. That could be more to do with the fact that there was a real search involved in trying to find a copy of the film, which I assumed was also called Aladdin because it was the same story, whereas the cartoon was plastered onto every surface anywhere you looked.

It wasn't until a few years back that I was reading up on Sabu, who I must have watched at least one a week in the best version of Jungle Book and realised that the film I had been searching for all those years back was called The Thief of Bagdad and was not quite the same story although they have in common many of the same elements.

What this film has which the cartoon lacks is:
1. Sabu. He's just the most loveable scamp ever. And...
2. A giant spider battle over a pool with a giant octopus. That's to two of my favourite giant creatures together!

Watching this now I am really in love with the way they create such epic looking shots in the old ratio. The design of all the temples and the shots are all to accommodate the taller frame and it is really beautifully composed. You don't need widescreen to look epic.

Love the effects. Love the Miklós Rózsa score, especially that creepy music for the mechanical lady that kills the king. This is a remake of the silent version with Douglas Fairbanks, which I have never seen, but I have read many people prefer that version to this. I'll have to seek that out.

But this was that unattainable film from my childhood, the one that I saw one lazy Sunday afternoon on tv at my grandmother's house, the one that no-one in my class believed a live action version of Aladdin existed. The dvd transfer I have is not the greatest, but at least I can definitely state that the film exists and it is damn great entertainment.