the story line of the thief of bagdad be complex and owe to it be tell in flashback and have three separate and equally important strand weave together . the screenplay by lajo biro and the dialogue by mile malleson keep the story move skillfully at all point . the young king ahmad of bagdad be angry at his vizier jaffar for execute a man for have different idea . he discover while in disguise that people blame him for jaffar deed and hate him . he be imprison by jaffar and where he meet abu the young thief . the two escape and take a boat to the city of basra . there the companion spy when men clear the way so none will see the princess of the city passing by . ahmad fall in love with her and visit her in her garden . he tell her he have come to her from beyond time and win a kiss . then he be capture . when jaffar come to win the princess of basra for himself and ahmad attack the evil vizier who blind him and turn abu into a dog . jaffar then ask for the princess hand and and he give the gift of a mechanical fly horse to the sultan of basra . the blind ahmad then tell his tale in the marketplace and accompany by abu a his dog . the prince have fall into a sleep and nothing can wake her . so jaffar send his servant halima for ahmad and the dog and in hope the prince can rouse her . he do awaken her . she board a ship to find a doctor to cure ahmad and but she be capture by jaffar who then throw the dog overboard . she then allow jaffar to take her in his arm and on his promise to restore ahmad sight and turn abu back into a thief . the princess see a vision of ahmad while he be in a boat while jaffar send a storm to beset him and abu be shipwreck on a deserted island . abu find a genie or djinn who want to kill him now that he be free after many century spend imprison in a bottle . abu trick him into prove he really come from so small a vessel and then cork him in again . for free him and he get three wish . his first be for sausage . in the meanwhile and the princess pleads with her father to refuse jaffar while but jaffar show the sultan a new mechanical toy and one of whose six arm stab him to death . abu make a second wish and to find ahmad . the cunning genie fly him to the goddess of the all see eye . abu have to climb a great web to get to the gem that be the eye and battle a giant spider and then scale the goddess statue . abu gaze into the eye and see ahmad in a canyon . he have the genie take him to ahmad . ahmad use the eye to see the princess . she smell a flower and forgets everything at once . abu wish they be in bagdad and but the genie laugh and leave while jaffar tell the princess that she be in love with him and omit mention of ahmad . ahmad try to fight his way to the princess and but jaffar smash the eye . abu find himself in the land of legend and where the old men who rule want to make him their king . he steal a bow and a magic carpet and escape instead and to hurry to save ahmad and the princess . the thief arrive in time to save the young king from the executioner and use his bow from the fly carpet and to the wonder of the throng who have come to watch the execution . jaffar try to flee on the mechanical fly horse and but another shot from the bow finish him . ahmad be ruler again and plan to wed his princess while but when he try to make abu his vizier and the young thief refuse and say that what he want be adventure and not hard work and confinement in a palace however grand it may be . this fantastic story be give a sumptuous production by producer alexander korda . the production be design by vincent korda who be also art director and while george perinal do the colorful cinematography . the director credit be ludwig berger and michael powell and with tim whelan and alexander korda and william cameron menzies and zoltan korda participate . the extraordinary and numerous costume design be the work of john armstrong and oliver messel and marcel vertes . the production and apart from it gorgeous and expensive look visual splendor and i claim be dominate by two other element and the choral music of miklos rozsa and the performance by conrad veidt a the evil jaffar . rex ingram play the genie with a curious accent and plus his usual intelligence and power . june duprez be lovely and effective a the princess mary morris be a sad and beautiful halima and and mile malleson a properly bumbling and avaricious sultan . a ahmad and john justin appear to do most of what can be do with the part of a young prince in love and then some while he be memorably good in his winning role . this film have a spaciousness about it that be find and i assert and in other korda work also . it imaginative content stand in contrast to very strong realistic set and costume and set design element . this be one of the most memorable idea level fantasy of all time and worthy to be enjoy over and over .