The Thief of Bagdad (1940) (1940) poster
1940 · adventure · fantasy

The Thief of Bagdad (1940)

Directed by Ludwig Berger, Michael Powell, Tim Whelan1h 47m1940
ElsewhereTMDB7.1296
  • cosy
  • brisk
  • intense
  • inventive
  • redemptive
Movie DNA

Cosy, kinetic, measured adventure / fantasy, inventive in texture. Redemptive, mid-stakes, measured, hand-scored across twelve axes of taste.

How every film is hand-scored →

When Prince Ahmad is blinded and cast out of Bagdad by the nefarious Jaffar, he joins forces with the scrappy thief Abu to win back his royal place, as well as the heart of a beautiful princess.

Our read · The Thief of Bagdad (1940) (1940) reads as a cosy, kinetic, inventive adventure · fantasy entry — measured in intensity, mid-stakes in scope, measured in temperature, redemptive in outlook. Hand-scored on twelve axes of taste — mood, pacing, weirdness, hope, stakes, humour, reality, density, warmth, auteur, intensity, and era — with a derived palette drawn from its dominant cinematography.

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The shape of The Thief of Bagdad

Tonight, this looks like

What watching it is actually like.

You want colorful Arabian Nights adventure with flying carpets, heroes and wonders.

ends triumphantyou’ll feel glowing aftergrabs you earlygrips by minute 5attention 3/5breezes by
Date nightWith friendsSoloWith parentsKids around

Skip it tonightYou want gritty realism, slow burn or modern cynicism.

If The Thief of Bagdad is your film
The 7th Voyage of Sinbad (1958)
Ray Harryhausen fantasy quest and spectacle
(stop-motion monsters vs practical effects)
Jason and the Argonauts (1963)
mythic heroic quest with dazzling effects
(Greek myths vs Arabian Nights)
Arabian Nights (1942)
exotic Technicolor fantasy adventure
(less influential or effects-focused)
DNA · twelve axes

The reading.

Each axis is hand-scored — not derived from votes or genre averages. The marker shows where this film sits; the gradient fill uses the film's own cinematography palette.

Mood · HeavyCosy
Pacing · Slow-burnKinetic
Intensity · GentleExtreme
Weirdness · ConventionalSurreal
Hope · NihilisticRedemptive
Stakes · IntimateEpic
Humour · NoneBroad
Reality · GroundedFantastical
Density · SparseTwisty
Warmth · ColdTender
Auteur · TransparentSignature
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