I happened to see The Thief Of Bagdad on a VHS that had a narration by Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. He said that of all the films that his father did this was the junior Fairbanks's favorite. Although the senior Fairbanks in closeups might have looked a little long in the tooth to be playing the young thief who wooed and won a princess, he hadn't lost a bit of athleticism that his films were known for.
The Tales of the Arabian Nights was the inspiration for this The Thief Of Bagdad and the more familiar sound version that Alexander Korda produced and shot here in the USA as well due to wartime conditions in Great Britain. Here Douglas Fairbanks essentially plays both parts of the two heroes that Sabu and John Justin play in the Korda version. Fairbanks is the professional thief who can steal just about anything, big or small. When he steals a magic rope and climbs into the Caliph's Palace and beholds the sight of the princess Julanne Johnston, there will be no other woman for him.
But the Bagdad Caliphate is not an upwardly mobile society, not for the poor, but honest and not for a criminal. Still he tries to pass himself off as a prince and he's in competition with three other princes for her hand.
One of them, Japanese actor Rojin is the Mongol prince and if he can't woo the Caliphate in alliance, he'll steal the kingdom with his army which he starts infiltrating in Bagdad. Fairbanks ultimately can't go through with the deception though he charms the princess. She sneaks him out of the palace before what happens to upwardly mobile aspirants in that society happens to Fairbanks.
But holy man Charles Belcher says that Fairbanks has a future with the princess and he's put through a lot of tests before he can wed. And of course in typical bravura Fairbanks style, he puts the Mongols to flight with an army created out of nowhere.
By this time Fairbanks, Mary Pickford, Charlie Chaplin, and D.W. Griffith had gotten United Artists up and running as the production company for their films which it was primarily doing in those early days. Producer Fairbanks spared no expense in creating the sets for The Thief Of Bagdad, the sets look like something Cecil B. DeMille or D.W. Griffith might have done. I wouldn't be surprised if Griffith took an unofficial hand here.
The sets were created of course by young William Cameron Menzies in one of his earliest films, costumes by Mitchell Leisen, and the director was Raoul Walsh, all of them getting big boosts in their careers from Douglas Fairbanks. With all that legendary talent in its salad days no wonder The Thief Of Bagdad holds up as well as it does today.
I also must comment on the orchestrations of themes of Rimsky-Korsakov by the London Symphony Orchestra. Theater organs are usually good for silent films, but this one really calls for an orchestra so vast is the sweep of this silent classic.
At two and half hours plus, The Thief Of Bagdad runs longer than most silent films did by far. Still even today it casts a spell over the viewer.
The Tales of the Arabian Nights was the inspiration for this The Thief Of Bagdad and the more familiar sound version that Alexander Korda produced and shot here in the USA as well due to wartime conditions in Great Britain. Here Douglas Fairbanks essentially plays both parts of the two heroes that Sabu and John Justin play in the Korda version. Fairbanks is the professional thief who can steal just about anything, big or small. When he steals a magic rope and climbs into the Caliph's Palace and beholds the sight of the princess Julanne Johnston, there will be no other woman for him.
But the Bagdad Caliphate is not an upwardly mobile society, not for the poor, but honest and not for a criminal. Still he tries to pass himself off as a prince and he's in competition with three other princes for her hand.
One of them, Japanese actor Rojin is the Mongol prince and if he can't woo the Caliphate in alliance, he'll steal the kingdom with his army which he starts infiltrating in Bagdad. Fairbanks ultimately can't go through with the deception though he charms the princess. She sneaks him out of the palace before what happens to upwardly mobile aspirants in that society happens to Fairbanks.
But holy man Charles Belcher says that Fairbanks has a future with the princess and he's put through a lot of tests before he can wed. And of course in typical bravura Fairbanks style, he puts the Mongols to flight with an army created out of nowhere.
By this time Fairbanks, Mary Pickford, Charlie Chaplin, and D.W. Griffith had gotten United Artists up and running as the production company for their films which it was primarily doing in those early days. Producer Fairbanks spared no expense in creating the sets for The Thief Of Bagdad, the sets look like something Cecil B. DeMille or D.W. Griffith might have done. I wouldn't be surprised if Griffith took an unofficial hand here.
The sets were created of course by young William Cameron Menzies in one of his earliest films, costumes by Mitchell Leisen, and the director was Raoul Walsh, all of them getting big boosts in their careers from Douglas Fairbanks. With all that legendary talent in its salad days no wonder The Thief Of Bagdad holds up as well as it does today.
I also must comment on the orchestrations of themes of Rimsky-Korsakov by the London Symphony Orchestra. Theater organs are usually good for silent films, but this one really calls for an orchestra so vast is the sweep of this silent classic.
At two and half hours plus, The Thief Of Bagdad runs longer than most silent films did by far. Still even today it casts a spell over the viewer.