The thief of Baghdad (1940)

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Movie
German title The thief of Baghdad
Original title The Thief of Baghdad
Country of production Great Britain
original language English
Publishing year 1940
length 102 minutes
Age rating FSK 6
Rod
Director Ludwig Berger ,
Michael Powell ,
Tim Whelan
script Lajos Biró ,
Miles Malleson
production Alexander Korda ,
Zoltan Korda ,
William Cameron Menzies
music Miklós Rózsa
camera Georges Périnal
cut Charles Crichton
occupation
synchronization

The Thief of Baghdad (original title: The Thief of Bagdad ) is a fantasy and adventure film in technicolor produced by Alexander Korda in Great Britain in 1940. At the same time, this film is also a fairy tale film based on themes from the Arabian Nights . The production time lasted over two years, also because of the Second World War. The film is considered a milestone in the genre and impresses with its elaborate special effects , which have been awarded an Oscar .

action

A blind young man is approached on the street by a strange woman who invites him into her house and promises him food. In the woman's house, the blind man tells the woman his life story: As Caliph Ahmad, he ruled over the city of Baghdad , but actually his great vizier Jaffar ran the business and brutally oppressed the people. One day, Ahmad went to the streets of Baghdad in disguise at night to find out what people thought of him. His vizier sets a trap for him and has him declared crazy. He ends up in prison and gets to know the juvenile thief Abu. Both are to be executed the next morning. With the help of Abu they manage to escape to Basra .

Basra is ruled by a sultan to whom his toys are more important than his people. Jealously he hides and veils his beautiful daughter from every man and therefore has everyone killed who sees her. One day, Ahmad sees the princess by chance and immediately falls in love with her. He secretly sneaks into the palace garden and hides in a tree. There he meets the princess, who immediately falls in love with him. The next day, Jaffar, who has meanwhile made himself Caliph of Baghdad, appears in Basra and gives the Sultan a new toy, a flying horse. In return, the sultan's daughter is said to be his wife. However, the princess detests Jaffar and flees the palace disguised on her horse. Meanwhile, Ahmad and Abu are captured in the garden and brought before the sultan. Jaffar feels threatened and therefore uses his magical abilities. He takes Ahmad's eyesight and turns Abu into a dog. The princess is captured by a slave dealer and sold to the sultan. When she enters the palace, she falls into a deep sleep from which she can only be awakened by the presence of Ahmad.

This is where the story of the blind Ahmad to the strange woman ends, although he has no idea that it is Jaffar's agent Halima. Ahmad is led to the princess by Halima and released her from her sleep. The princess is horrified to discover that her lover is now blind. Jaffar kidnaps the awakened Sultan's daughter on a ship, sails away, discovers the enchanted Abu as a dog on board and has him thrown into the ocean. Jaffar reveals to the princess that the curse of Ahmad's blindness can only be broken the moment she lets him hug her. In her deep love for Ahmad, the princess lets this happen without emotion through the excited Jaffar. Ahmad, who is telling stories as a beggar in the harbor, suddenly gets bright eyes, which appears to his listeners, who notice this, to be the greatest miracle. The blackness in front of his eyes gives way to a short haze of fog and he can suddenly see again. The dog Abu, who swam ashore, is getting his human form again, shaking himself dripping wet, still the leash around his neck.

Ahmad, who recognizes these events and their significance, pursues the hated magician with Abu in a small sailing boat. Meanwhile, Jaffar conjures up a storm that destroys their boat. Both are separated: Abu is washed up on a lonely beach. There he redeems a huge genie from a bottle washed up on the beach, which he unwittingly opens. He was locked in the bottle and banned for 2000 years. At first, the giant jinn wants to crush Abu like an insect, but he lures him back into the bottle with a trick and only lets him out again after the jinn swears to him in the name of the ruler of all spirits not to harm him, and he also wants Abu on top of that fulfill three wishes. The starved Abu gets sausages as his first wish, as his mother used to make, then the Djinn flies him to a palace on the highest peak of the highest mountain in the world. There the all-seeing eye, a magic crystal, is kept. Abu defeats a monster spider and gets the crystal. In this he sees how Ahmad climbs in a rugged mountain range and lets the jinn take him there as a second wish.

To escape the influence of Jaffar, the princess seeks the help of her father, the Sultan of Basra. The Sultan is then presented by Jaffar with the magic toy of a silver dancer who resembles Halima - and a little later he is stabbed by the toy. Ahmad and Abu see in the crystal how Jaffar uses a magical blue rose to make the princess forget Ahmad and fall in love with Jaffar. Ahmad curses his life, gets into an argument with Abu, who carelessly wishes him to Baghdad. The Djinn promptly fulfills this wish and, now finally free, flies away laughing loudly.

Abu remains horrified in the mountains. Furious, he breaks the all-seeing eye. The mountains stagger, rocks tumble down, Abu too falls horrified into a swirling abyss. The landscape changes, a tent camp appears to him, in it very old wise men who reveal to him that they have waited for him twice for 2000 years because he is the child who is open to the miracle and thus they will one day die out of grief the wickedness of men turned to hard stone, brought back to life. Abu is visibly touched, but explains that he is just a little thief, now the boy finds out from the wise old men that he is the chosen one. They give him a magical crossbow , the Bow of Justice, whose arrows never miss their target when shot down in the fight against injustice. However, the leader of the wise men would like to keep the magic carpet to himself in order to be brought to paradise by him one day. Abu asks God for forgiveness and steals the carpet to save his friend. The wise old man watches the last theft of Abu, secretly and with a knowing smile, so that the prophecy in the faith of the oppressed people in the Savior may come true.

Ahmad has arrived in Baghdad. His love leads the princess to remember him, but both are sentenced to death by Jaffar. Shortly before the public execution, according to popular legend, Abu appears on the carpet:

“One day a boy will come out of the blue of the sky and he will be the lowest of the lowly and will sit on a cloud and the cloud will be like a wonderful carpet under him! And from the top of heaven he will kill the tyrant with the arrow of righteousness! "

It is dire need, Ahmad is already being dragged onto the execution block. First, Abu shoots the executioner, who is already drawing his sword, with a crossbow shot. The people recognize in him their savior and a spontaneous and successful revolt against Jaffar's reign of terror takes place. He tries to escape on the flying mechanical horse, but is killed by Abu with a shot with the crossbow and the arrow of justice.

Ahmad and the princess want to get married, and Ahmad announces to his people that he will make Abu a vizier and send him to the best schools. This is too much for Abu, he jumps on his magic carpet and says goodbye by flying towards his next adventure.

backgrounds

Producer Alexander Korda (1920)

Alexander Korda produced The Thief of Baghdad with his film production company London Films for the US film distributor United Artists . As early as 1924, silent film icon Douglas Fairbanks had celebrated a worldwide success with a film of the same title , which was also based on legends from the Arabian Nights . Korda found the title so appealing that he sat next to Fairbanks at a London banquet in 1938 and bought the rights from him. The plot of the two films is loosely similar. A significant difference is that the figure of the thief from the Fairbanks version was split up into the two different characters Abu and Ahmad.

The shooting was accompanied by many difficulties. When recordings were to begin in the Korda brothers' Denham Studios in spring 1939, there was no script that could meet the demands that Alexander Korda placed on his film. Miles Malleson , who also played the Sultan and had some scriptwriting experience, took on the task of rewriting the script.

The renowned German Ludwig Berger , who had made a name for himself in numerous films at home and abroad , was initially employed as the director . But it quickly became clear that Berger's and Korda's artistic views diverged widely. Berger wanted a black and white film with an atmosphere similar to a chamber play and dense, Korda wanted a spectacular, epic film. Since Berger could not be released from the contract, the young, ambitious Briton Michael Powell and the American film veteran Tim Whelan were brought in as co-directors, which further strained the already strained budget. In addition to the directors Berger, Powell and Whelan mentioned in the opening credits, Alexander Korda, his brother Zoltan and co-producer William Cameron Menzies also sat on the director's chair, at least for a short time. In addition to his work as a co-producer, Menzies was also responsible for the production design , which he had also designed for the 1924 Fairbanks version.

The music was also a point of contention. Korda had committed Miklos Rozsa to compose the music, Berger wanted Oscar Straus and initially prevailed. While Straus was composing in distant France, Korda let Rozsa continue to write, secretly. It was only when both results were available that Berger could be convinced that Rozsa was the right choice.

There were problems within the cast as well, as three of the five leading actors, with the exception of Conrad Veidt - who was Korda's first choice for the villain role - and Rex Ingram , were very young and inexperienced. John Justin reported decades later: “At the time we were shooting“ The Thief of Baghdad ”, my first film, [...] I didn't know where up and down was (“ couldn't tell my ass from my elbow ”) , and from a production side, the film was a nightmare. Connie [Conrad Veidt] saved me from madness. I quickly realized that if I entrusted him with my problems - he asked me constantly if everything was fine when we had a scene together - everything was done quickly, as if magic involved. " The title role of the thief took the 15 -year-old Indian Sabu , who became famous in 1937 through the Korda production Elefanten-Boy . In smaller roles, Hay Petrie plays as the astrologer of Jaffar, Robert Greig as a pedestrian in Basra, Adelaide Hall as the singer in the princess’s garden, Glynis Johns as one of the princess’s friends and Leslie Phillips as a street boy in Baghdad.

The Thief of Baghdad is believed to be the first film to use blue screen technology . When the studio recordings were finally largely completed in autumn 1939, there was another, dramatic interruption on September 3: Great Britain entered the Second World War . All work on The Thief of Baghdad was stopped so that the propaganda film The Lion Has Wings could be made. And all plans to shoot the outdoor shots in Africa were suddenly ruined. Work could not be resumed until 1940. Korda decided to go to the USA for the exterior shots, and shipped the team and entourage to America, where the exterior shots were shot against the backdrop of the Grand Canyon , Bryce Canyon and the Painted Desert .

After two years of turbulent filming, three directors named in the opening credits, numerous smaller and larger problems, “The Thief of Baghdad” was finally able to celebrate its world premiere on December 5, 1940 in the Radio City Music Hall in New York in front of an enthusiastic audience and critics.

synchronization

The dubbed version was created for the German cinema premiere on August 4, 1949. Hans F. Wilhelm was responsible for the dialogue script and dialogue direction.

role actor Dubbing voice
Grand Vizier Jaffar Conrad Veidt Ernst Wilhelm Borchert
Abu Sabu Michael Günther
princess June Duprez Bettina Schön
Ahmad John Justin Klaus Schwarzkopf
Djinn Rex Ingram Werner Segtrop
Sultan of Basra Miles Malleson Martin Rosen
The old fairy tale king Morton Rare Walter Werner
Halima, Jaffar's servant / silver maiden Mary Morris Maria Landrock
Businessman donating money Bruce Winston Erich Poremski
astrologer Hay Petrie Gerd Prager
Singer in the garden of the princess Adelaide Hall Carola Goerlich
Jailer Roy Emerton Manfred Meurer
Folk legend narrator Allan Jeayes Otto Krone

reception

The Thief of Baghdad opened in cinemas to almost exclusively positive reviews. Bosley Crowther wrote in the New York Times on December 6, 1940 that it was "next to Fantasia the most seductive and miraculous" of the year. The great color scenes alone would make the film great entertainment, but the set design, the special effects and the performance are also convincing. The good reviews continue to this day: At Rotten Tomatoes , The Thief of Baghdad , based on 25 film reviews, has a positive balance of 100% with an average rating of 8.9 points.

"Joke, fantasy, action and - for the time - brilliant tricks in a timeless fairy tale film that captured the magic of the 1001 nights excellently."

- Lexicon of international film

“This 1940 movie is one of the great entertainments. He elevates the heart. (...) Although the film has had so many directors (including Michael Powell, two Kordas and Menzies), it seems to be the work of a vision, apparently Korda's. It remains one of the greatest fantasy films, on par with The Wizard of Oz . To see one of these films is to see how the cinema wrapped up any technical art it learned in the 1930s and used it to create magical visions. Today, when dizzying CGI effects, the queasy cam and hectic editing sequences are moving the cinema more towards video games, one experiences the beauty of Thief of Baghdad with sadness. "

- Roger Ebert , 2009

At the end of the 1980s, The Thief of Baghdad was restored , in which Martin Scorsese was also involved. It was the first Powell and Pressburger film that he saw in black and white on television at the time, and it had a lasting impact on it. Scorsese writes in his foreword to Powell and Pressburger's biography Arrows of Desire : “It took me a long time to realize that all filmmakers of my generation remembered the Thief of Baghdad as a formative influence. If you mention the film to Francis Ford Coppola today, he will immediately start singing Sabu's song from the film: "I want to be a sailor, you can't understand it!" ".

Awards

Oscar

The film went to the 1941 Academy Awards with four nominations and won three of the coveted awards:

Another nomination fell into the category:

further awards

DVD release

  • The thief of Baghdad . EMS GmbH 2004

Soundtrack

  • Miklós Rózsa: The Thief of Baghdad. Motion Picture Score , on which: The Thief of Bagdad & The Jungle Book . Colosseum, Nuremberg 1990, sound carrier no. CST 34.8044 - New recording of the film music by the Nuremberg Symphony Orchestra under the direction of the composer
  • The Thief of Baghdad . World Premiere Recording of the Complete Film Score. Prometheus Records / Tadlow Music, 2016. Sound carrier no. XPCD179. Re-recording of the complete film music. City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra & Chorus. Conductor: Nic Raine.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Release certificate for The Thief of Baghdad . Voluntary self-regulation of the film industry , July 2012 (PDF; test number: 83 V V).
  2. ^ The Thief of Baghdad (1940). Retrieved October 27, 2017 .
  3. ^ The Thief of Baghdad (1940). Retrieved October 27, 2017 .
  4. ^ The Thief of Baghdad (1940). Retrieved October 27, 2017 .
  5. ^ The Thief of Baghdad (1940) - Ludwig Berger, Michael Powell, Tim Whelan, Sr. | Review | AllMovie. Retrieved October 27, 2017 .
  6. ^ Miklós Rózsa and The Thief of Baghdad. Retrieved October 27, 2017 .
  7. ^ The Thief of Baghdad (1940). Retrieved October 27, 2017 .
  8. ↑ John Justin in an interview with Les Hammer, quoted in "Nocturne", the journal of the "Conrad Veidt Society"
  9. ^ The Thief of Baghdad (1940). Retrieved October 27, 2017 .
  10. ^ The Thief of Baghdad (1940). Retrieved October 27, 2017 .
  11. ^ The Thief of Baghdad (1940). Retrieved October 27, 2017 .
  12. ^ The Thief of Baghdad (1940) - Ludwig Berger, Michael Powell, Tim Whelan, Sr. | Review | AllMovie. Retrieved October 27, 2017 .
  13. ^ The Thief of Baghdad (1940): Release Dates. Retrieved October 27, 2017 .
  14. ↑ German synchronous index: German synchronous index | Movies | The thief of Baghdad. Retrieved October 27, 2017 .
  15. ^ Movie Review; 'The Thief of Bagdad,' a Delightful Fairy Tale, at the Music Hall - 'Lady With Red Hair,' at the Palace - NYTimes.com. Retrieved October 27, 2017 (English).
  16. ↑ The Thief of Baghdad at Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved October 27, 2017 (English).
  17. ↑ The Thief of Baghdad. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed December 22, 2014 .Template: LdiF / Maintenance / Access used 
  18. ^ Roger Ebert: The Thief of Bagdad Movie Review (1940) | Roger Ebert. Retrieved October 27, 2017 (English).
  19. ↑ Christie, Ian: Arrows of Desire. London, 1994, p. XVI.