The thief of Baghdad
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| Original title | The thief of Baghdad |
| Country of production | Germany |
| original language | German |
| Publishing year | 1952 |
| length | 89 minutes |
| Age rating | FSK 0 |
| Rod | |
| Director | Carl Lamac |
| script | Gustav Kampendonk |
| production |
Fritz Kirchhoff for Pontus-Film, Hamburg |
| music | Lotar Olias |
| camera | Willy Winterstein |
| cut | Rosemarie Weinert |
| occupation | |
| |
The Thief of Baghdad is a German hit film by Carl Lamac from 1952 .
action
It is not easy for Caliph Omar. He is a weak ruler whom the servants dance on the nose. In the marriage, Mrs. Suleika wears her pants and allocates so little money to her husband that he cannot even bribe the eunuchs who guard his harem. Without money, however, he will not be allowed into his harem and will be frustrated. One day Suleika reveals to him that she is expecting Prince Ali to visit. He has just crossed the state border and is in an area where the king of the highwaymen Ahmed is up to mischief. Suleika sends guards to take Ali safely to the Baghdad palace. Meanwhile, Ali has a prestige problem, his camel, which he brought as a gift, died on the trip. He lets look for a beautiful woman to give to the caliph for his harem. The choice of his guards falls on Fatme, who can sing and dance beautifully, but deprives her audience. Fatme moves around with the juggler and magician Ibrahim, who is currently looking for a rejuvenating charm. The magic word that he utters, however, leads to a change of form for him and Fatme. It is now in her body, while Fatme finds herself in the old body of Ibrahim. Ibrahim in the form of Fatme is kidnapped by Ali's men. A little later, Achmed assaulted Ali and found the supposed young woman whom he spontaneously wanted to seduce. Ibrahim steals an earring from him and then escapes. He and Fatme get to Baghdad, where they can lift the spell.
Meanwhile, Ahmed has assumed Ali's identity, as he wanted to come to the caliph's palace anyway to steal the state treasure. He moves into Baghdad with his gang members Hajji and Ommar and feigns great interest in front of the elderly caliph. In the end, it is Hajji who wants to find out about the state treasury from Suleika through violent flirting. Fatme had recently stolen a valuable garment from Suleika and has been pursued by the palace guards ever since. By chance she got into the palace and became part of a dance performance. The guards recognize in her the thief, Akhmed the young woman with whom he fell in love in the desert off Baghdad, and Caliph Omar in turn a potential new addition to his harem. After the performance is over, Fatme is first intercepted by Achmed, who is surprised that the young woman never wants to see him. Shortly afterwards, Fatme is captured by the palace guards. Suleika wants to sentence her to a heavy sentence, but Fatme can soften her sentence because she reveals a magic spell to the caliph that is supposed to make men fall in love with her. In reality it is the spell that puts you in another body. Fatme goes to jail normally and Achmed promises to free her.
Caliph Omar has used a trick to gain access to his harem, but ends up outside the palace via a trick door. Here he meets Ibrahim, who has so far looked in vain for Fatme. He slips into Omar's body by spell and searches for her in the palace. His suddenly self-confident and determined demeanor earns him respect for his servants. However, he does not find Fatme and a little later exchanges bodies with the caliph again. Back in the palace, he is pleased that his subordinates suddenly respect him. Again, Hajji and Suleika have swapped bodies rather involuntarily, but Hajji can penetrate the palace's secret treasure chambers with Achmed and Ommar. At some point Fatme manages to escape and she joins the trio. However, the robbery of the treasure fails and the trio is arrested. Fatme now learns that Achmed is no prince at all, just an ordinary criminal. Achmed is arrested and sentenced to death. The caliph gives Fatme the choice of saving Ahmed's life with consent to the marriage, and Fatme agrees. The wedding with the caliph begins a little later, but he still wants to have Achmed and Hajji executed. Both manage to overpower the guards and smuggle Fatme out of the palace. She and Achmed become a couple and Ibrahim, who has always loved Fatme, gives her up.
production
The Thief of Baghdad was the last production by Carl Lamac, who died a few months later. The film was made in the studios of the Junge Film-Union in Bendestorf . The production costs amounted to DM 930,000. In order to obtain security for the film in the form of the federal deficiency guarantee , Die Diebin von Baghdad had to be presented to Frankfurter Revisions- und Treuhand-GmbH. After their appraisal, the latter criticized numerous dialogues and scenes in the film which could be related to the present and which included criticism of the tax system, among other things. In order to receive the federal deficiency guarantee for the film, producer Fritz Kirchhoff had all the scenes in question removed from the film. In the opening credits, however, he built a picture in which a woman in the form of the Statue of Liberty , but in an oriental costume, cuts off a letter of the title with scissors - a reference to the forced cuts in the film. On April 10, 1952, The Thief of Baghdad had its premiere in the Zeil film theater in Frankfurt am Main .
The costumes were created by Paul Seltenhammer , the film construction was done by Heinrich Beisenherz and Alfred Bütow . Production management was in the hands of Gustav Kampendonk and Werner Fischer.
In the film, Gisela Deege , Toni Auler , Gert Reinholm , Ernst Bredow and Rolf Arco dance , the latter also being responsible for the choreography of the film.
Lotar Olias wrote the film music and Kurt Schwabach wrote the lyrics . The choir singing in the film comes from the Sunshine Quartet . Harry Hermann conducts it, the NWDR orchestra plays. Gerhard Gregor can be heard on the Hammond organ . Different songs are sung several times:
- Sonja Ziemann: We rock our way through life very gently (waltz)
- Sonja Ziemann and Rudolf Prack: You are love (Foxtrot)
- Theo Lingen and the Peheiros: I'll only dance this tango with you! (Tango)
- Fita Benkhoff; Liselotte Malkowsky and the Sunshine Quartet: A Thousand and One Nights (Slow Waltz)
- Gustav von Meyerinck: Aladin
criticism
The film was advertised by the distributor as “a fabulously modern comedy revue in the style of 'Thousand and One Nights'”. The contemporary Hamburg critics called The Thief of Baghdad the "most unsuccessful film of the month".
For the film service , The Thief of Baghdad was "old-fashioned clothes, settled in the milieu of the '1001 Nights' stories, which suffer from a clear lack of humor and taste."
Web links
- The thief of Baghdad in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- The thief of Baghdad at filmportal.de
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Eleven sheikhs . In: Der Spiegel , No. 17, 1952, p. 29.
- ^ Alfred Bauer : German feature film Almanach. Volume 2: 1946-1955 , pp. 247 f.
- ↑ The Thief of Baghdad , Illustrierte Film-Bühne, No. 1527, p. 4.
- ↑ The German Mind . In: Der Spiegel , No. 36, 1952, p. 33.
- ↑ The Thief of Baghdad. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed March 2, 2017 .