THE THIEF OF BAGDAD is the lengthy silent version of the famous exotic adventure, with Douglas Fairbanks taking the title role. Seen today it's a rather slow and creaky affair, although not without interest; there's plenty to savour here, from the sets and the staging to the exotic characters and endless action. Truth be told, I enjoy the remake as it's less dated, but this film still packs a punch which is impressive given that I'm writing this review almost a hundred years after it was first released.

for many of its viewers, it remains unique. yesterday, in the period of early years of childhood, today, in the era of 3D, this "Thief of Bagdad" has not term of comparison. sure, one of the basic motifs is Douglas Fairbanks. and the seductive story, and the Oriental impeccable architecture and the special effects. in one word - its fantastic freshness. because it has the virtues who are out of contemporary examples of success. maybe a coherent , charming story and the naivety and the surprising eroticism and the science to build a story in each detail. maybe the princes and the princess and the flavors of Bagdad are causes of a special emotion when I see it again. because it is magic. and this does it a real fantastic film.

Lavish, incredible, beautiful, and creative cinema of the silent era. One of the best. Every scene is an outstanding, ostentatious, display of a glossy deco-style. This is a silent film that can be throughly enjoyed by those who normally shy away from the pre-sound era, because it is overwhelmingly a visual visit to an otherworld through fantastic set designs and dazzling special effects.There is a bit of hammy acting but it doesn't seem objectionable because it is overshadowed by the grandeur and scope of the production. The current video prints are beautiful and allow all the allure of the adventure to paint a pretty picture of a Fantasyland through the early Hollywood heyday of an industry feeling the strength of its powerful productions.

This is certainly one of the best examples of the greatness of the medium now called 'silent film.' There are truly wondrous moving images here, created by means of human actors, stage techniques, and primitive FX, made to tell a very satisfying mythic story. If you could add audible dialogue to this movie, it would only be a detriment. Douglas Fairbanks was the top heroic movie actor of his day, and he made this at the peak of his powers. He studied ballet for some months prior to the filming, and you can see the result in his leaps and other characteristic feats. There musical quality to his body movements that make the action sequences in this movie unlike anything else, and it goes well with the facial pantomime of the silent cinema. I saw a restored cut of this film on PBS TV in the late 1980's, with the original color tints and an orchestral soundtrack composed of rearranged bits of Rimsky-Korsekov's 'Scheherazade.' The Scheherazade material works perfectly with this material, not only because it helps establish the magical world in which our story transpires, but because it goes perfectly with Fairbanks' ballet-style action sequences. Also, Scheherazade is one of my all time favorite pieces of music. Over 20 years after seeing this film, Scheherazade still conjures up images from this film.The FX are not, of course, realistic by modern standards. But they nonetheless produce amazing and memorable moving images and have a magical or dreamlike quality that is better suited to this material than CGI. In fact, the primitive FX have a hand-crafted feel, complimenting the physicality of Fairbanks' performance and serving as a tonic to the rubbery CGI that contaminate so many modern films. This is a good movie to see if you think you have any potential of enjoying a silent movie, and/or if you are fond of fantasy and the mythic. Hopefully it will inspire you to noble things.