starring Conrad Veidt, Sabu, June Duprez, John Justin
directed by Ludwig Berger, Michael Powell, Tim Whelan
107 minutes
Jaffar (Conrad Veidt), the Grand Vizier, tricks Ahmad (John Justin), the king. Ahmad is forced to flee Bagdad or face execution. Ahmad is accompanied by Abu (Sabu), a thief. Ahmad and Abu make their way to Basra where Ahmad meets and falls in love with a princess (June Duprez), the daughter of the Sultan of Basra.
Jaffar visits Basra. He offers the sultan a magical flying horse if exchange for his daughter. The sultan agrees to the offer. The princess flees rather than marry Jaffar. Ahmad and Abu are caught by the sultan's guards. Jaffar uses magic to blind Ahmad and transform Abu into a dog and then throws them .
The princess is eventually found but she falls into a deep sleep. She can only be awakened by her true love. Jaffar tricks Ahmad into helping him awaken the princess and then throws him out.
There's more to the story but what I've described is enough to set things up.
Most of the extras in this movie are people of color but three of the four leads are not. Sabu, the only one of the leads who is a person of color, comes from India, not Iraq.
I don't recall exactly when I first watched this movie but it must have been 40-45 years ago. It must be about four decades since I last watched it. I didn't remember much of it going in but there were a number of scenes that I recalled when they occurred.
Abu is the hero of this story, Ahmad is not although it is Ahmad's story that for the most part drives the plot. Conrad Veidt, received top billing. I think that the only other movie I have seen him in was sadly one of his last, Casablanca (1942). Rex Ingram, who played the Djinn was also in one of my favorite war films, Sahara (1943).
All the performances are good to great. I would put Conrad Veidt's and Sabu's performances ahead of the other leads.
This film must have influenced Aladdin (1992) and possibly other films.
Roger Ebert compares this film favorably to The Wizard of Oz (1939) and I can see why. Both are early technicolor films that have elements of fantastic adventures in them.
This was fun to watch again. I don't think I would be quite so forgiving or interested in watching it if I didn't have fond memories of watching it when I was much younger, at a time when it didn't even occur to me to think that there was anything wrong with having White actors play people of color. Definitely worth a watch if you have never seen it before or if you haven't seen it in a long time.
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