The Thief of Bagdad (1924)

One marvel after another

Borrowing extensively from ballet this masterpiece tells its story as if you were at the back of a theater and unable to hear the actors on the stage (and yet they are aware of your presence, play specifically to your pleasure) and so nearly every movement and gesture is played BIG, even the sets are BIG ...so that little ol' you at the back understand it all. In the midst of all the grandeur Douglas Fairbanks, a dance wunderkind, every move screaming youth and vigor and finesse (you quickly understand that here is the guy who invented parkour, as there is no set piece, no furniture, no expanse, that this guy doesn't see as a personal challenge to leap over). There's a story here too, something about rising above your station, seizing the day, etc., etc., and there's the American racist penchant in evidence but mostly a old school tale told the old school way. Enjoyable.

silent "thief of bagdad" is raoul walsh's lush classic with original swashbuckler douglas fairbanks in the imaginatively turbulent exotic land of arab...it is intertwined with the bizarre outlandishness of persia, india, china as well as the essence of arab under intepretation of the primary stage of hollywood aesthetism. the visuality is mythically expressionistic thrived with every stroke of riotous imageries, such as the prophetic magic crystal upon the pupil of indian buddha with multiple hands, the swirling marine palace with mermaids, the flaming caves within the moon and the mongol eccentric courtesies.....of course, it also includes the cameos of the first chinese american hollywood star, anna may wong as the undercover mongolian slavegirl who doublecrosses the princess. inevitablly chineses are the ultimate villains douglas fairbanks have to confront then conquer. fairbanks stars as the title role, theif of bagdad, who is a frivolous but resourceful man abiding upon the life philosophy of grasping everything he wants at once...an incorrigible crook who lives for his own pleasure...he enjoys his unrepetant thieveries until his arms are set upon the fair chaste princess of bagdad, so he gotta earn himself a honour of prince by seeking the rarest treasure on earth seperately with his competitors: princes of persia, india, and mongol...how shall he overwhelm the persian flying carpet, indian crystal ball and mongolian healing golden apple? eventually chinese mongols are the evil ones who entrap the princess then besiege bagdad with insidious ambush...the odd thing is mongols are all dressed in the constumes of merchurian dynasty in the last century of china as if it's whimsical pastiche of silent hollywood with all the background extravagenza which functions highly upon human endeavor in the age without CGI...the result might be blatantly exposable but still a granduer visual feast....most of all, our athletic swashbuckler douglas fairbanks is flamboyantly dashing enough to live up as the fearless romantic hero. "theif of bagdad" is somehow the best exemplification of the so called "american orientialism" with a distorted image upon the east by dismissing it as "primitive, slavish, exotic, manipulative, and amoral," particularly upon china. arab, persia, india and china are all "orient" by the ancient definition of the occident, so " the more eastern the more twisted" would be the principle to comply. personally, as what i mentioned before upon "the shanghai gesture," at least being "primitive, slavish, exotic, manipulative, and amoral" is still uncompromisingly edgy with its luring characteristics. so far, the coolest asian hollywood star to me is still anna may wong with her quirky orientalness blended in the sensuality which populates in 20s~40s.