All of Douglas Fairbanks' silent-era swashbucklers are wonderful, but unquestionably the greatest of them all is The Thief of Bagdad (1924). Director Raoul Walsh and art designer William Cameron Menzies spent over two million dollars (topping the previous record set by Robin Hood) to build gigantic sets and design intricate special effects to tell the story of a strapping pickpocket who falls in love with a princess and must bring back the most priceless object he can find to win her hand. The immense space -- both vertical and horizontal -- in this film finally seemed enough to contain Fairbanks' sheer gusto. He really has room to stretch out here. Not to mention the amazing sequences in which he flies on a magic carpet and battles a huge dragon. Anna May Wong nearly steals the picture from him in her few scenes as a slinky, sexy handmaiden.
Kino's 2004 DVD improves on Image Entertainment's previous disc with its excellent orchestral score by the Mont Alto Orchestra, plus a host of extras: an introduction by Orson Welles, 20 minutes of outtakes, images from the souvenir booklet, and clips from two earlier silent films Paul Leni's Waxworks and Georges Melies' Arabian Nights, which clearly inspired Fairbanks.
Kino Lorber released a Blu-ray with a new 4K restoration in 2026. The film is more detailed now and still gorgeous, but it's also tinted, and there's a denseness to it that made me miss the simpler black-and-white transfer from the DVD. This release includes a commentary track by film historian Anthony Slide, the aforementioned Welles intro and outtakes, special effects test footage, and an optional six-minute musical prelude. The score, by Mortimer Wilson and performed by the Frankfurt Radio Symphony, is new, but like the Mont Alto score on the DVD, it was adapted from the original 1924 music. This score comes in 5.1 and 2.0 audio mixes, both excellent. Highly Recommended.
