The Thief of Bagdad

Released Mar 23, 1924

2h 35m

Fantasy

Adventure

List

97%

Tomatometer

67 Reviews

83%

Audience Score

1,000+ Ratings

A thief sneaks into a royal palace, where he sees and falls instantly in love with a beautiful princess. Pretending to be a prince, the thief woos the princess, who becomes enamored with him, but when guilt eats at him, the thief confesses to a holy man, who commands him to find a magic chest as penance. As he battles many obstacles to win the chest, the thief uses its powers to save Baghdad from a foreign invader and rescue his beloved.

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Critics Consensus

It requires some viewing commitment, but this beautifully assembled showcase for Douglas Fairbanks' acting offers some splendid treats for classic film fans.

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Edwin Schallert

Los Angeles Times

Never its like has been seen before; never its like will be viewed again for many a day. It is the first and the last, the magical height and the iridescent depth of fantasy.

Oct 22, 2022

Full Review

Jack Pulaski

Variety

Fairbanks as the thief gives a corking performance... Anna May Wong... proved herself to be a fine actress.

Oct 22, 2022

Full Review

Desmond MacCarthy

New Statesman

This is the kind of thing that the cinema, and only the cinema, can do.

Oct 21, 2022

Full Review

George Blaisdell

Exhibitor's Trade Review

As a spectacle The Thief of Bagdad is magnificently and thrillingly impressive. Almost it may be said it is pure magic.

Mar 16, 2023

Full Review

Star Staff

Washington Star

Two hours of superb diversion.

Oct 26, 2022

Full Review

Carl Sandburg

Chicago Daily News

Not only is it the best production which has come from Douglas Fairbanks in his extended motion picture career -- it is also one of the few sure film classics, one of the rare and surprising creations of the film world.

Oct 22, 2022

Full Review

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Leaburn O

It starts excellently but starts to drag towards the end. Still, it is pretty good stuff given it was filmed 99 years ago. Watched this classic silent film on Prime but also to be found on YouTube.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

11/11/23

Full Review

Alexander B

The middle of the film is a little boring but the beginning and ending are really a joy to watch. Some of the special effects are really impressive for the time it was made as well.

Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars

02/20/23

Full Review

Audience Member

This is an absolute spectacle of a film and is a relic of a bygone era of Hollywood filmmaking. Freely adapted from One Thousand and One Nights, it tells the story of a thief who falls in love with the daughter of the Caliph of Baghdad. The film features extraordinary special effects for the time (including a flying carpet, magic rope and fearsome monsters), and huge, lavish sets, the likes of which can never (and would never) be duplicated today. If you can, try and get a version scored with an adaptation of Rimsky-Korsakov's orchestral piece Scheherazade. It makes the experience all the more magical.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

02/23/23

Full Review

Ethan S

A long movie, but great, fantastical sets that meld the exotic crowd scenes of a D.W. Griffith picture with with fantastic whimsy, capped off with Douglas Fairbanks' ever-physical performance.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

01/25/22

Full Review

jordan m

I imagine this would've been my favorite movie and a tremendous spiritual experience had I watched this 100 years ago. From a technical perspective this is surely the absolute peak of the silent era with its practically unlimited budget, compelling plot, charismatic acrobat of a leading man, mind-boggling special effects & perfect usage of intertitles (progressing the scene instead of excessively providing dialogue that could've been pantomimed or inferred). Watching this in the 2020s the technical merits are still appreciable, but the ample runtime and the lack of an auteur director conflict with my preferred viewing experience when it comes to silent movies. There were no surprising or inventive camera angles like there were in The Lodger, the dense plot required hours of rapt attention lest I miss an intertitle and I went into this knowing there was an acclaimed remake with color and sound that I'd be watching soon, all of which combined to give me the impression that this movie was rather cold & soulless. It's still among the best silent films I've seen, but it didn't end up being my favorite.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

03/31/23

Full Review

William L

"Timeless" is a bit of a strong word; in the case of the Walsh classic The Thief of Bagdad, its age is certainly apparent, but so is the charm of this sweeping adventure film. Fairbanks was really the first to become a superstar off of leading-man charm, and his distinctive smile and swashbuckling personality is more than enough to carry the day despite the lack of dialogue. Substantial, whimsical, often large-scale sets fill out the entire runtime (the city gate of Bagdad, in four pieces with intersecting spikes, is particularly neat). Magic ropes, subaquatic spiders, and treasure hunts all brought to life by what were at the time cutting-edge special effects make this a classic take on the Arabian Nights (and not just a dated precursor to a Disney animated classic). If you are forced to watch a single representative of Fairbanks, The Thief of Bagdad would be a quality representative of all that defined him at his most influential. (4/5)

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

01/18/21

Full Review

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Raoul Walsh

Director

Douglas Fairbanks

The Thief of Bagdad

Snitz Edwards

His Evil Associate

Charles Belcher

The Holy Man

Julanne Johnston

The Princess

Sojin

The Mongol Prince

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Synopsis

A thief sneaks into a royal palace, where he sees and falls instantly in love with a beautiful princess. Pretending to be a prince, the thief woos the princess, who becomes enamored with him, but when guilt eats at him, the thief confesses to a holy man, who commands him to find a magic chest as penance. As he battles many obstacles to win the chest, the thief uses its powers to save Baghdad from a foreign invader and rescue his beloved.

Director: Raoul Walsh
Screenwriter: Douglas Fairbanks, Lotta Woods
Distributor: United Artists
Production Co: Douglas Fairbanks Pictures
Genre: Fantasy, Adventure
Release Date (Theaters): Mar 23, 1924, Wide
Release Date (Streaming): Jun 4, 2012
Runtime: 2h 35m
Aspect Ratio: Academy (1.33:1)

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