Alexander Korda's The Thief of Bagdad is a straight forward a fairy tale, a relic of a bygone era. Hollywood has no interest in making simple fairy tales, they either inject them with steroids by turning their protagonist into a sword wielding bad ass, or they infuse them with irony by constantly having characters make asides to the camera. If The Thief of Bagdad were to be remade, no doubt the character of Ahmad would be transformed from a gaunt, ineffective protagonist into an ass kicking, muscle bound man of action. There would be action scene piled upon a action scene, and the movie would end with Ahmad, on a magic carpet, chasing the evil Jaffar, on his flying mechanic horse, across the skies of Bagdad. The character of Abu, if he survived the adaptation, would be relegated to comedy relief and that's about it. The Thief of Bagdad itself was a remake of the 1924 Douglas Fairbanks film of the same name. Fairbanks stars as a Ahmed, a thief that lives a rather leisurely
This is a blog that is devoted entirely to film analysis. I tend to analyze movies in a historical context. What were the cultural trends at the time? Why was the rationale behind the movie? I also tend to write about lesser-known movies, as there really isn't much more that can be said about most mainstream movies. I hope you enjoy!!!