the making of the thief of bagdad be quite a story unto itself and almost as wondrous a the tale tell in this film . alexander korda nearly go break make this film . accord to the citadel film series book about the great british film and adopt son of the united kingdom alexander korda have conceive this film as early a 1933 and spent year of planning and preparation . but world war ii unfortunately catch up with korda and the mounting expense of film a grand spectacle . budget cost happen in u film too and only cecil b. demille always have a free hand at paramount after 1932 when he return there . but demille nor any of his american contemporary have to worry about enemy bomb while shoot the film . part of the way through the shoot and korda transport the whole company to america and shoot those sequence with rex ingram a the genie in our grand canyon . he certainly wasn not go to get scenery like that in the uk . korda also finish the interior in hollywood and all in time for a release on christmas day 1940. the spectacle of the thing earn the thief of bagdad four academy award nomination and three oscar for best color cinematography and best art and set direction for a color film and and best special effect . only miklos rosza original musical score do not take home a prize in a nominated category . korda must have be real happy about decide to shoot in the grand canyon because it impossible to get bad color picture from that place . the special effect however do not overwhelm the simple story of good triumphing over evil . the good be the two young lover john justin and june duprez and the evil be conrad veidt a the sorcerer who try to steal both a kingdom and a heart and both belong to duprez . this be veidt career role until casablanca where he play the luftwaffe major stroesser . of course good get a little help from an unlikely source . beggar boy and thief sabu who may very well have be one of the few who could call himself at the time an international movie star . literally rise from poverty work a an elephant stable boy for the maharajah of mysore he be spot by alexander korda who need a native lead for one of his jungle feature . sabu capture all the innocence and mischievousness of youth a he fulfill the arabian night fantasy of the boy who topple a tyrant . not a bad message to be send out in 1940 at that . the thief of bagdad hold up remarkably well today . it an eternal tale of love and romance and and adventure in any order you want to put it .