Douglas Fairbanks in "The Thief of Bagdad" (1924)

The story of a thief who falls in love with the daughter of the Caliph of Baghdad is the stuff of fairy tales.

Writer-producer-star Douglas Fairbanks Sr. took several of the "1001 Nights" tales as his starting point to fashion the story of this classic 1924 silent film as a showy vehicle for himself.

He plays the clever Thief of Bagdad, who has to use all his powers of wit and magic to win the hand of the beautiful Princess (Julanne Johnston), the daughter of the Caliph of Bagdad (Brandon Hurst), the most powerful man in the city. Despite the fact he’s a criminal, the Thief is permitted to compete for the hand of the Princess, undertaking a perilous task to prove himself worthy of her. The Thief sets off on a magical journey.

But, alas for The Thief, he's vying with another suitor, the duplicitous Mongol Prince (Sôjin Kamiyama), who is up to some dirty tricks. Snitz Edwards also appears as The Thief’s Evil Associate, with Anna May Wong as The Mongol Slave and Charles Belcher as The Holy Man.

A 1924 American silent epic swashbuckler film directed by Raoul Walsh, screenplay by Achmed Abdullah, scenario editor Lotta Woods, based on a story by Douglas Fairbanks (as Elton Thomas), freely adapted from "One Thousand and One Nights", cinematography by Arthur Edeson, costumes designed by Mitchell Leison, produced by & starring Douglas Fairbanks, co-starring Snitz Edwards, Charles Belcher, Julanne Johnston, Sôjin Kamiyama, Anna May Wong, Brandon Hurst, Tote Du Crow, and Noble Johnson. Screen debut appearance of David Sharpe. In some prints, Mathilde Comont is credited as M. Comont to keep her sex a secret. However, in several scenes in the film it is very obvious that the Persian Prince is being played by a woman.

Fairbanks sought to make an epic. Lavishly staged on a Hollywood studio set, this dazzler was one of the most expensive films of the 1920s, with sets bigger than those in D.W. Griffith's "Intolerance" (1916) and costumed crowd scenes to rival the enormous Italian spectacles of the day. The film's production spanned twenty-eight weeks. Fairbanks was already 41 years old when he made this film, which shows him to be in remarkable physical condition and performing impressively like an athlete.

Remade in 1940 with Conrad Veidt, Sabu, John Justin and June Duprez, and again in 1960 with muscleman Steve Reeves, and in 1978 with Roddy McDowall, Peter Ustinov and Terence Stamp. Fairbanks negotiated the licensing of the story for a 1940 remake in 1939, weeks before his sudden heart attack and death at the age of 56.

Director Raoul Walsh and art director William Cameron Menzies create the magical experience of a gorgeous fairy tale Bagdad. Menzies designed the production closely following the requirements laid down by Fairbanks, who acted as writer, producer and star. Fairbanks' meticulous attention to detail, as well as complex visual imagery, required the use of state-of-the-art special effects, featuring a magic rope, a flying horse, a flying carpet, and full-scale palace sets.

For the flying carpet effect, Douglas Fairbanks stood on a 3/4-inch thick sheet of steel attached to 16 piano wires and rigged to the top of a crane, which lifted him above the crowd. Walsh claimed to have dreamed up the magic-carpet illusion while watching a Los Angeles construction job, where he saw a steelworker riding a load of girders being hoisted up by a crane. Walsh set up a similar crane on a soundstage and it did the trick, supplemented by an overhead pulley, a carpet with steel straps woven through it, and plenty of thin wires. Suitable camera angles and editing maneuvers provided finishing touches.

For the early scene where the Thief leaps in and out of the giant clay pots in the marketplace, Douglas Fairbanks had small trampolines placed inside each pot, allowing him to bounce easily from pot to pot.

For the scenes in the underwater mermaid kingdom, Douglas Fairbanks had the cameras shoot through a curtain of thin gauze, to give the illusion that the Thief was swimming underwater. The mermaid kingdom scenes were then tinted blue in post-production. In the scenes with the giant ape, to make the normal-sized ape appear bigger, the guards are played by children. When the ape is out of sight, the guards are played by adults.

Babe Ruth, Walter Johnson and Anna Pavlova were among the celebrities who visited the set while this film, one of the most popular films of the silent era, was in production.

Ranked #9 on the American Film Institute's list of the 10 greatest films in the genre "Fantasy." Included among the "1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die", edited by Steven Schneider. In 1996, this costume epic was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant."

One of the high points of silent cinema, this timeless fantasy remains a spellbinding experience. Some of the purest joy the silent cinema can offer.