THE THIEF OF BAGDAD (1940) ** They spent some cash on this film and it shows. Even all these years later it's a good looking film, full of impressive props and sets and great attention to detail (the jewellery, the shoes!). The special effects are silly in that way I like (flying dolls), and many, but I imagine that they must have been fairly impressive for the time, too. Contemporary viewers may be slightly jaundiced by recent and improved re-telling of this tale; from here this old version seems a little too caught up in its own importance, lingering on scenes that would have had more clout.the immediate impact of the way things look is always positive, but it doesn't always hold up as well and the action moderates the effect, as opposed to detracts. There's nothing wrong with June Duprez as the princess, but Vivien Leigh was originally cast in the role and it's tempting to think that her presence would have rendered several of the scenes transcendent. She didn't do too bad in the gig she passed it up for either though, some Gone With the Wind thing with some guy with a little moustache. In her absence Sabu carries the charisma bit well, I can't join the chorus calling it a classic but it's not a bad afternoon.
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