| Thief of Bagdad | |
|---|---|
 | |
|
Real Name |
Ahmed |
|
First Appearance |
The Thief of Bagdad (1924) |
|
Original Publisher |
United Artists |
|
Created by |
Douglas Fairbanks and Achmed Abdullah |
Origin[]
Ahmed steals as he pleases in the city of Bagdad. Wandering into a mosque, he tells the holy man he disdains his religion; his philosophy is, "What I want, I take."
That night, he sneaks into the palace of the caliph using a magic rope he stole during ritual prayers. All thoughts of plunder are forgotten when he sees the sleeping princess, the caliph's daughter. The princess's Mongol slave alerts the guards, but he gets away.
When his associate reminds the disconsolate Ahmed that a bygone thief once stole another princess during the reign of Haroun al-Rashid, Ahmed sets out to do the same. The next day is the princess's birthday. Three princes arrive, seeking her hand in marriage (and the future inheritance of the city). Another of the princess's slaves foretells that she will marry the man who first touches a rose-tree in her garden. The princess watches anxiously as first the glowering Prince of the Indies, then the obese Prince of Persia and finally the Prince of the Mongols pass by the rose-tree. The mere sight of the Mongol fills the princess with fear, but when Ahmed appears (disguised in stolen garments as a suitor), she is delighted. The Mongol slave tells her countryman of the prophecy, but before he can touch the rose-tree, Ahmed's startled horse tosses its rider into it.
That night, following ancient custom, the princess chooses Ahmed for her husband. Out of love, Ahmed gives up his plan to abduct her and confesses all to her in private. The Mongol prince learns from his spy, the princess's Mongol slave, that Ahmed is a common thief and informs the caliph. Ahmed is lashed mercilessly, and the caliph orders he be torn apart by a giant ape, but the princess has the guards bribed to let him go. When the caliph insists she select another husband, her loyal slave advises her to delay. She asks that the princes each bring her a gift after "seven moons"; she will marry the one who brings her the rarest. In despair, Ahmed turns to the holy man. He tells the thief to become a prince, revealing to him the peril-fraught path to a great treasure.
The Prince of the Indies obtains a magic crystal ball from the eye of a giant idol, which shows whatever he wants to see, while the Persian prince buys a flying carpet. The Mongol prince leaves behind his henchman, telling him to organize the soldiers he will send to Bagdad disguised as porters. (The potentate has sought all along to take the city; the beautiful princess is only an added incentive.) After he lays his hands on a magic golden apple which has the power to cure anything, even death, he sends word to the Mongol slave to poison the princess. After many adventures, Ahmed gains a cloak of invisibility and a small chest of magic powder which turns into whatever he wishes when he sprinkles it. He races back to the city.
The three princes meet as agreed at a caravanserai before returning to Bagdad. The Mongol asks the Indian to check whether the princess has waited for them. They discover that she is near death, and ride the flying carpet to reach her. Then the Mongol uses the apple to cure her. The suitors argue over which gift is rarest, but the princess points out that without any one gift, the remaining two would have been useless in saving her. Her loyal slave shows her Ahmed in the crystal ball, so the princess convinces her father to deliberate carefully on his future son-in-law. The Mongol prince chooses not to wait, unleashing his secret army that night and capturing Bagdad.
Ahmed arrives at the city gate, shut and defended by Mongols. When he conjures up a large army with his powder, the Mongol soldiers flee. The Mongol prince is about to have one of his soldiers kill him when the Mongol slave suggests he escape with the princess on the flying carpet. Ahmed liberates the city and rescues the princess, using his cloak of invisibility to get through the Mongols guarding their prince. In gratitude, the caliph gives his daughter to him in marriage.
Public Domain Appearances[]
Film Appearances[]
- The Thief of Bagdad (1924)
Public Domain Literary Appearances[]
- The Thief of Bagdad (novelization) (1924)
Public Domain Comic Appearances[]
- Super Comics #21-22
Notes[]
- In the 1924 novelization, written by Achmed Abdullah, one of the film's screenwriters, the story of The Thief of Bagdad is given proper names, clearer motivations, and a more detailed setting than the film version. While Douglas Fairbanks' film focuses on spectacular visuals and keeps many characters anonymous—such as "the princess" and "the caliph",—the book introduces figures with identities and defined dramatic roles, such as Princess Zobeid, her malicious companion Hassan el-Toork (nicknamed Bird-of-Evil), and Caliph Abu Ayub. One highlight is the appearance of the character Tagi Kahn, a cruel and greedy merchant who does not exist in the film and is an exclusive creation of the novel. The name of the Prince of the Mongols, Cham Shang, is not mentioned in the novelization; ironically, he is only the second character to have a name in the film, the other being Ahmed himself.
- The comic book adaptation illustrated by Erwin Hess, published in Super Comics #21–22 (1940), was commissioned to promote the Technicolor film The Thief of Bagdad, but it ironically deviates from the movie’s plot and instead draws more directly from Achmed Abdullah’s 1924 novel. The Technicolor film splits the protagonist into two characters — Ahmad, the deposed king, and Abu (played by Sabu Dastagir, famous for Elephant Boy and Mowgli) The comic preserves Ahmed as the sole protagonist. It also revives character names from the novel, such as Princess Zobeid, the sinister Hassan el-Toork (Bird-of-Evil), and the greedy merchant Tagi Kahn, who in the comic is reimagined as the princess’s cruel uncle and captor.
- Super Comics #22 stated that the story would continue in future editions, but no continuation was ever published.
- The 1940 film stands out for its fantastic elements inspired by One Thousand and One Nights, the collection of tales narrated by Scheherazade, including a genie and a and a villain named Jafar, predated the villains of Disney's Aladdin and the Prince of Persia videogame franchise.