A Film Canon

 

 

Like The Wizard Of Oz, The Thief Of Bagdad reflects the rise of Disney, featuring a child protagonist (Sabu), a universe in which adults are simply strange, frequently malign, children, their objects so many twisted toys, and a series of explanatory musical numbers. For this reason, the acting is categorically two-dimensional, as is the narrative, which substantively departs from that of Walsh's original, and reflects the large number of credited and uncredited directors, as well as the dual shooting schedules, in its dearth of subplots, awkward framing structures, and general lack of continuity; a clumsy pastiche of the Arabian Nights. Despite these flaws, however, it exhibits a persistent commitment to spectacle, suggesting that its artistic vision is ultimately that of producer Alexander Korda, aided by Vincent Korda's production design and art direction. Unlike previous Technicolour films, this spectacle is organised around cool pastels, rather than primary colours - and, more specifically, around mauve-turquoise, rather than deep red - suffusing everything with a sparkling veil that identifies the audience with a covert female gaze, and clarifies Prince Ahmed (John Justin) as the real object of desire, as evinced in the attention paid to his delicately made-up face. This aesthetic is thematised in various ways, most poetically in the dilemma of the blue rose, but most pervasively in the prophetic prominence of the early evening sky, as well as its surrogate - the light blue backdrop that serves as a canvas for most scenes. More generally, Korda makes repeated references to the sublimity of visual experience - and it is these that provide what little narrative structure exists - from the Princess (June Duprex), who is prohibited from being seen under pain of death, to Ahmed's blindness, whose cure allows him to re-experience the film's opening images, and, finally, the "all-seeing eye", figuratively interchangeable with Jaffar's (Conrad Veidt) crystal ball, all of which simultaneously provide a pretext for a series of impressive special effects.