The Thief of Bagdad Reviews

This 1940 movie is one of the great entertainments. It lifts up the heart.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/4

Alexander Korda's opulent Arabian Nights fantasy suffers from pallid performances and frequently succumbs to kitsch, but it still casts its fragile spell.

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An enchanting, supremely mounted fable that deservedly won the techical Oscars in 1940, and still is most enjoyable today.

Full Review | Original Score: A-

The Thief of Bagdad is a colorful, lavish and eye-appealing spectacle.

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Treating cinema as a giant toy box, Korda resembles a child with an overactive imagination, giddily piling on every exotic and magical conceit the story can handle.

Full Review | Original Score: A

One of the best ever fantasy films.

Full Review | Original Score: A

it's impossible not to notice how much of the imagery we associate with "Arabian nights" -- genies, bottles, magic carpets, evil sultans -- comes directly from this film

Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/5

This lavish enterprise from producer Alexander Korda reveled in the brave new visual world that The Wizard of Oz explored only the year before.

Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/4

...like a Bollywood take on 1001 Arabian Nights.

Full Review | Original Score: 7/10

Despite some sluggish spots, the result is still dazzling, enough to enchant entirely new generations of dreamy children.

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A fable light on condescension but committed enough to the pleasure principle that the audience is served one giddy act of visual sorcery after another.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/4

A delightful hocus-pocus of colour, dashing adventure, and special effects.

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Not quite as charming or magical as the original…best are Abu's adventures with Ingram's baleful genie, whose meeting on the beach with Abu is an unforgettable highlight.

Full Review | Original Score: B

Sumptuous colorful fantasy. A true classic of the genre.

| Original Score: 5/5

A great classic fantasy for the whole family.

| Original Score: 5/5

Ranks next to Fantasia as the most beguiling and wondrous film of this troubled season.

Full Review | Original Score: 4.5/5

A childhood favorite....

| Original Score: 5/5

Perhaps the most splendid fantasy film ever made.

Full Review | Original Score: 5/5

...one of the most inspiring fantasies of all time.

| Original Score: 8/10

An all-time favorite, magical and wonderful. A great Rozsa score, one of his best. A treat from start to finsh.

| Original Score: 5/5