the story of the boy thief of bagdad ( a it be once spell ) have attract filmmaker from raoul walsh in 1924 and who star douglas fairbanks in the first and silent and rendering of thief of bagdad and to less impose and more recent attempt . the best and however and remain 1940 version which for it time be a startling and magical panoply of top quality special effect . those effect still work their charm . no less than six director be list for the technicolor movie which star sabu a the boy thief and abu and john justin a the dreamily in love depose monarch and ahmad and june duprez a the lovely princess seek by ahmad and pursue by the evil vizier and jaffar and play by a sinister conrad veidt . the giant genie be ably act by rex ingram . ahmad be treacherously depose by jaffar and when later arrest by that traitorous serpent and he and the boy and abu and suffer what be clearly incapacitate fate . ahmad be render blind and abu become a lovable mutt . their adventure through the gaily decorate hollywood backlots be fun but the special effect make this film work . two men be responsible for everything from a magic fly carpet to the gargantuan genie who pop out of a bottle with a tornado like black swirl represent lawrence w. butler and tom howard . ( howard and incidentally and do the special effect for the 1961 version of this film . both men have long and distinguished career in technical wizardry . ) duprez be outstandingly lovely while little call on for serious act . justin ahmad project a driven but dreamy romanticism untouched by erotic impulse . sabu be really the central actor in many scene and he very good . for a movie meant for kid as well a adult there a fair amount of violence but of the bloodless kind . still and i do not think anyone under eight ought to see thief of bagdad . this film make periodic appearance on tv but today my teenage son and i saw it in a theater with quite a few youngster present . it be great to see computer besotted kid in an affluent community respond with cheer and applause to special effect that must seem primitive to them . thief of bagdad be a pre war hollywood classic from a time when strong production value often result in enduringly attractive and important release . this be one of the best of it kind . positive .