Blu-ray Review: Awe-Inspiring ‘The Thief of Bagdad’ Gets Superior Release

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CHICAGO – Audiences cry for many reasons other than sadness. They cry tears of joy, of amusement, of recognition…and of awe. When an artist manages to pull off a groundbreaking technical achievement never before brought to the big screen (or the stage, for that matter), it can elicit a response of overwhelming astonishment. Of course, in the age of digital overkill, such reactions are as rare as original scripts.

Watching Cohen Media Group’s unmissable Blu-ray release of Raoul Walsh’s 1924 masterpiece, “The Thief of Bagdad,” was an experience akin to witnessing the Broadway production of Julie Taymor’s “The Lion King” (which I was lucky enough to catch on a high school trip). The ingenious props and fluid choreography that allowed towering animals to suddenly materialize onstage during the opening “Circle of Life” number caused me to bawl out of sheer exhilaration, and the final, incredible moments of Walsh’s picture had the same effect on me. When a magic carpet lifts off the ground, carrying actual actors into the heavens as countless extras wave from the earth below, it’s impossible for one’s jaw not to drop. After nearly 90 years, the effect is still utterly convincing.

HollywoodChicago.com Blu-ray Rating: 5.0/5.0
Blu-ray Rating: 5.0/5.0

That is the slam-bang finish of Walsh’s epic fantasy, which keeps the viewer captivated for the entirety of its two-and-a-half hour running time. The cheerful exuberance and athleticism of star Douglas Fairbanks (not to mention his perfectly manicured mustache) clearly must have served as an inspiration for Jean Dujardin’s silent film celebrity in “The Artist.” Loosely based on “One Thousand and One Nights,” the film casts Fairbanks as a swashbuckling thief who falls instantly in love with the Caliph of Bagdad’s regal daughter (Julanne Johnston). To viewers who grew up with Disney cartoons, the plot will merely resemble “Aladdin” sans the genie, as Fairbanks poses as a prince to woo Johnston from her other suitors, including the scheming Prince of the Mongols (played by Sôjin, a dead ringer for Jafar). Some set-pieces still manage to deliver big laughs, as Fairbanks invites the viewer to share in his joy of getting away with the seemingly impossible. Art director William Cameron Menzies supplies the viewer with an abundance of visual marvels, such as a cavernous ballroom filled with monstrous jellyfish-shaped chandeliers. Each enticing title card (my favorite being “The Old Man of the Midnight Sea”) raises the bar for the next visionary sequence, and Walsh’s tirelessly inventive team of artists never fail to deliver the goods. From bloodthirsty monsters to pre-“Potter” invisibility cloaks, this film offers enough fantastical spectacle to fill an entire cave of wonders.

The Thief of Bagdad was released on Blu-ray and DVD on February 19th, 2013.
The Thief of Bagdad was released on Blu-ray and DVD on February 19th, 2013.
Photo credit: Cohen Media Group

Though Walsh’s film is already available in a variety of other formats, and received an A-grade DVD release from Kino Lorber in 2004, Cohen Media Group is the first company to put this picture on Blu-ray, and the upgrade is enormous. An excellent 2K restoration of two 35mm negatives keeps the color tints and tones of the original release prints intact, while bringing arresting clarity to the towering, meticulously detailed sets. Instead of merely accompanying the images with nonstop sound, the immensely enjoyable music performed by the Philharmonic Orchestra (under the conduction of composer Carl Davis) is impeccably married to the emotions in each frame, while seamlessly blending in passages of Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov’s “Orientalia.”

Special features include a richly insightful audio commentary track from film historian and Fairbanks biographer Jeffrey Vance, who divulges everything from the film’s precise production cost and uncredited crew members to the iconic actor’s utilization of pantomime and ballet. As for the magic carpet scenes, they were largely influenced by similar sequences in Fritz Lang’s 1921 classic, “Destiny,” though Vance intentionally avoids exploring the mechanics of Walsh’s effects in order to preserve their mystery. However, in a 17-minute featurette assembling trivia with behind-the-scenes stills from Charles Warrington, Vance does present the viewer with a closer look at how the flying carpet was brought to life. The “carpet” holding the actors was suspended in the air by a crane and attached to six steel wires, which somehow remain invisible in much of the footage. This is a case where learning the breakdown of the magic trick only increases one’s awe of the magician.

‘The Thief of Bagdad’ is released by Cohen Media Group and stars Douglas Fairbanks, Julanne Johnston, Sôjin, Anna May Wong, Snitz Edwards and Charles Belcher. It was written by Lotta Woods and directed by Raoul Walsh. It was released on February 19th, 2013. It is not rated.

HollywoodChicago.com staff writer Matt Fagerholm

By MATT FAGERHOLM
Staff Writer
HollywoodChicago.com
matt@hollywoodchicago.com

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