A Film Canon

 

 

The strongest Arabian Nights silent, The Thief Of Bagdad is divided into three fairly discrete acts. In the first, an Arabian everyman (Douglas Fairbanks) falls in love with the Caliph's daughter, and attempts to win her affections. Apart from being the only point at which Fairbanks' acrobatic charisma is fully exploited, these sequences exhibit a heterogeneity that suggests an incredible number of sets or, at least, an ingenious variety of camera angles. The second act tends to drag, partly because the action is almost entirely confined to the palace, and partly because Fairbanks is thwarted by the royal family, producing a melancholy that sits badly with an actor who works best as a mischievous, childish body. In the third act, the Caliph promises to wed his daughter to whichever suitor procures the greatest treasure, inspiring Fairbanks and three others to set off on a series of quests. Traversing a number of exotic landscapes - including foreign bazaars and temples, Valleys of Fire, Monsters and Enchanted Trees, the bottom of the ocean and, eventually, the heavens - their adventures provide a pretext for some innovative special effects, particularly superimposition. Although Walsh was inspired by Lang's portrayal of magic carpets in Destiny, he transcends his teacher by ensuring that his carpets remain opaque, rather than translucent, as well as including a number of spectacular point-of-view shots.