Il ladro di Bagdad

This film has something in it that everyone would enjoy if they just allow themselves to be taken by it. If you have the chance to see it, simply sit there with a snack & beverage and let the film bring you into the land of 1001 Arabian Nights. The music is almost hypnotic, as the theme plays all through the background. The colors and scenery are breathtakingly beautiful. I enjoyed this film when I was a boy. It took me 20 years to find it on a video cassette and expected to be a little disappointed. I wasn't. It was all that I had remembered and more. See this one with your kids!

Even though this film would understandably be considered juvenile by many (and I very much enjoyed it as a child), I still, as a middle-aged adult, like it very much. (I can't say this for many other things I liked as a child.)

If one watches it with "fairy tale" in mind, that goes a long way in preventing adult over-criticism.

One of the movie books (Maltin) says it is "occasionally atmospheric." I definitely agree.

Also, it has a pretty musical theme that repeats.

A favorite film of mine.

--Mark M Racine, WI, US(A)

I would second almost everything written in previous comments. I too saw it as a young boy and it stuck with me, along with other fantasies of the period like those from Ray Harryhausen. I recently started looking for it on ebay where I found it's out of print and never released on DVD; of course there are some used VHS copies available, some going for what seem like inflated prices. A previous comment stated that MGM has the distribution rights so I sent a message to them through their website (www.mgm.com) asking for the film's release on DVD. Anyone feeling the same should try it as well, it may help get results.

I remember how great I found this movie when I first saw it as a child. Entertaining, inviting, beautifully scored and visually exciting, it was a good surprise for me, a muscle-movies fan then.

I found Steve Reeves could show something else than his stunning muscles. He gives this time a very lighthearted performance - surprisingly, I guess, for his legions of fans - a step ahead of his habitual towering figure and dark persona. He shows, maybe for the one and only time, that he could create a character that goes beyond himself, in this case, Karim, the Thief of Bagdad. Convincingly, this is the point. In excellent, slimmer shape, smiling, it was Steve Reeves in his apex, in a delightful, colorful movie.

This is a very lovable movie, and I rate it as the best in his career, if you put the seminal 'Hercules' aside as 'hors-concours'.

Although not as impressive as the Powell/Berger/Whelan/Korda version (1940),this might be the only movie in which Steve Reeves is not relegated to muscle man routine,rather recalling some parts of Errol Flynn .His thief is actually almost a romantic hero ,half Arabian Nights half fairy tale in which the man of common birth has to suffer great hardships before marrying a princess.And the princess ,the gorgeous Georgia Moll,makes Karim's task worthwhile.The genie of the lamp (of the bottle) is present.My favorite sequence is that of the treacherous lady who tries to make Karim turn to stone,which proves that Steve Reeves' characters can be smart too.