The Thief of Baghdad is a
Silent Movie from 1924 loosely based on stories from
One Thousand And One Nights.It is about a
thief from Bagdad who falls in love with the daughter of the Caliph, and pretends to be a prince in order to marry her. He subsequently goes on adventures to find a treasure in order to prove his worthiness.
It starred Douglas Fairbanks Senior (who also produced the movie and co-wrote the script), and was directed by
Raoul Walsh. Not to be confused with the
1940 remake.
Tropes appearing in this film include:
- Arabian Nights Days
- Crystal Ball
- Distressed Damsel: The love interest.
- Enthralling Siren: The hero comes across a few of these in one of the trials he has to face. He's tempted... but then he looks at his beloved's ring, and snaps out of it.
- Heel Faith Turn: The hero eventually realises what an asshole he's been in halfway through the movie, and goes to the city mosque for guidance from the imam he had scorned earlier in the film. Fortunately for him, the imam is a Good Shepherd (okay, maybe not quite in the modern sense, but he still counts!)
- The Hero's Journey
- Earn Your Happy Ending: "Happiness must be earned" is directly stated to be the moral of the story.
- Flying Carpet
- Loveable Rogue: Well, he doesn't seem much like this at the very beginning; he uses one of the daily salah
to steal a merchant's wares, pops into a mosque specifically to tell the imam that he - the thief, that is - is better than Allah. Luckily, he sees the Princess soon after, and when he realises that she's not another item to be stolen away he becomes a better person for it. - No Name Given: None of the characters - except for Ahmed - actually have a first name, and are known simply by their roles in the story.
- Silent Movie: Considered one of the classics of the medium by fans of old adventure movies.
- Yellow Peril: The "Mongol" characters, all of which are villains.
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