The Thief of Bagdad

Our DVD Price: £6.99 RRP: £9.99 Save £3.00 (30%)   special offer Classic Adventures - from £5.99! click for details Availability This product should be despatched within 4 days.  This product will be dispatched from Guernsey. Delivery times   Earn 30 Bonus Points when you buy this product. More info

Film Description

Probably the best film of its genre, telling of a small boy who experiences a series of magical adventures. 'The screen's most irresistible fantasy adventure: wonderful escapism, perfect family viewing and a bone fide British classic.'

Film Information

Technical Details

Film Media

6 Stills

View Stills

Reviews & Articles

Share your thoughts and opinions - write a review

Review by anon on 27th February 2003

This is a beautiful film, my son woke early one morning over christmas and this film was on the TV. He is only 5 years old, but he was mesmerized. Sabu was a very gifted young actor. What happened to him?

View more reviews by anon

Review by anon on 20th May 2000

possibly the best film EVER>>>...

View more reviews by anon

Review by Alex Davidson on 1st May 2006

Has ever a film been so much fun? Six directors, including Michael Powell and Alexander Korda, worked on this vibrant remake of the Douglas Fairbanks silent classic, in which a betrayed King and a street thief (Sabu) work together to end the reign of the treacherous Jafar (the ever-glaring Conrad Veidt) in Baghdad. (Modern viewers may do a double-take at the jolly depiction of Iraq's capital city and Basra, given the current climate.)
The film deservedly won three Oscars for its tremendous visuals - Georges Périnal's bright Technicolour photography infuses every frame with excitement, and even the static shots dance with life. The special effects immortalise some delightful set pieces - the flying carpet, the soaring clockwork horse and, of course, Rex Ingrams' appearance as the enormous genie in the bottle are legendary cinematic moments. There is also one sequence of supreme menace, when Miles Malleson's lovable (if morally dubious) sultan is given a sinister dancing doll by the evil Jafar.
John Justin and June Duprez make for dashing romantic leads, and Veidt twirls his moustache with gusto, but this is really Sabu's show. Aged just 16, his exuberance and mischief are vital to the film's success, and his scenes with the bullish, cackling genie are a delight. His acrobatic ability is highlighted in the many action sequences, particularly when he does battle with a huge spider, swinging through the giant web over a pool of deadly squid. He also gets the biggest laugh in the film's last scene. This fantasy is one of the great family films, an escapist British classic, and its long-delayed appearance on DVD is cause for celebration.
Alex Davidson

View more reviews by Alex Davidson

Browse all Film Reviews

Article - "The Life and Spirit of Michael Powell" by Ray Durgnat
Thursday 7th March 2002

Powell's bestknown films are spectacular, sensual, fanciful. The others are quiet, retiring, almost secretive. Even, disappointing; until odd details tease your mind, and gradually the simplicity reveals its depths.


Born 1905, Powell was a country boy ...  View article in full

Article - "Powell and Pressburger?s A Canterbury Tale" by Lawrence Freiesleben
Tuesday 23rd March 2004

After the notorious reception that greeted Michael Powell’s Peeping Tom in 1960, one reviewer asserting it should be flushed down the nearest available sewer, Powell’s storm-tossed reputation seemed finally wrecked. For the rest of his life Powell (1905-1990),...  View article in full

Collections & Lists

This film is part of the following Customer Film Lists

Call it An Old Man's Whim by David Driver

Discovery at Marigot Bay by Moviemail

For Discovery Comments.

MovieMail Top 100 Best-Sellers of All-Time by MovieMail

This is your list: the 100 films you've bought the most of in the 10 years of MovieMail's existence. There are some surprise entries and some glaring omissions – but it’s all true, and, frankly, you’ve got very good taste! It’s such a good list that we're going to make it a permanent fixture on our website and to celebrate the launch we’ve slashed many of the prices on these wonderful films. Enjoy!

MovieMail's Bestsellers Of 2006 by MovieMail

The films that MovieMail customers bought in the greatest quantities.

Oscars Winners - Great films, up to 70% off by MovieMail

This year, MovieMail has decided to dispense with the standard list of award-winners, and lift the curtain on some of the lesser-known categories in which many rare and exciting films reside.
The following movies were singled out for important aspects of the film-making craft and, we think, are the titles which glister brightest in Uncle Oscar's auric eye.

Create your own Film List!

Customers who bought this also bought...

Recommendations from fellow customers

The Leopard

by Luchino Visconti

Seven Samurai

by Akira Kurosawa

Breathless (Godard, 1959)

by Jean-Luc Godard

La Regle du Jeu

by Jean Renoir

Yojimbo

by Akira Kurosawa

Other films by...

More films starring Conrad Veidt

The Cabinet Of Dr Caligari

by Robert Wiene

Dark Journey

by Victor Saville

The John Barrymore Collection

by Archie Mayo

View more >

More films starring Sabu

The Jungle Book (Korda, 1942)

by Zoltan Korda

Elephant Boy

by Zoltan Korda / Robert Flaherty

View more >

More films starring June Duprez

The Four Feathers (1939)

by Zoltan Korda

And Then There Were None

by Rene Clair

View more >

More films starring John Justin

View more >

For questions or assistance, call us on (+44) 0844 776 0900 or email on enquiries@moviemail-online.co.uk

© 2004-2007 MovieMail, Ltd., All Rights Reserved. Find out more about MovieMail