Remarkable. Like a seven layered dream fevered fantasy. Apparently, this
film didn't do as well at the box office as hoped for with a budget that
was then the biggest ever. Perhaps there wasn't as much swashbuckling and
derring-do as people expected from Douglas Fairbanks after Robin Hood, The
Three Musketeers and Zorro. He was famous for his amazing stunts, high wire
acts and sword play. None that this film really offers. Instead, it is a
spectacular imaginative fantasy that explodes with creativity and energy.
It is a silent film of course - the version I saw has an endless stream of
music from Rimsky-Korsakov (Scheherazade mainly) - but many scenes are tinted
red or green or yellow.
The star of the film is really the production design from the legendary William
Cameron Menzies and the costumes by future director Mitchell Leisen. They
astonish and overwhelm everything else including Fairbanks and the story
taken from the Arabian Nights. Menzies created a design that was Arabic Fantastique
with strong elements of expressionism and a wild sensibility that feels like
Alice in Wonderland on drugs. Everything is grand, exaggerated, a feast for
the eyes. Giant walls, a gate that closes like a sharp fanged mouth, a gong
that needs five men to bang it, huge halls and winding stairs. There is so
much detail in the myriad of exotic costumes and decorations that the eye
can't really take it in. There are so many places where you could just stop
the film and snap a beautiful photo. Fairbanks produced this and had a hand
in every detail with Menzies and Leisen following through on his suggestions
and then director Raoul Walsh putting it all together. For 140 minutes
of non-stop wow. Right till the end when an incredible scene takes place
in which the Mongol troops reveal themselves from within the city and march
like Star Wars Storm Troopers, And for its time the special effects were
first rate - a flying carpet, an invisible coat, monsters, a flying horse.
The story itself is less effective. Fairbanks is the thief of Bagdad. A happy
scoundrel, a petty street thief with grand ambitions. The fabulous sets are
just a playground for him as he can climb into any place he wants and at
one time uses a magic rope to climb up. He wants bigger loot though and breaks
into the Palace to steal the gifts of three suitors for the hand of the Princess
(Julanne Johnston) but once he sees her sleeping in a giant luxurious bed
with her three female slaves in waiting, he decides he would rather have
her. One of her slaves is played by Anna May Wong who is an informer for
one of the suitors - the evil Mongol Prince (Japanese actor Sôjin Kamiyama
who later appeared in Seven Samurai and many other Japanese films as well
as American ones. Need to read up on him. He is great in this - almost insect
like at times). Anna May Wong doesn't have a large part but she is crucial
and looks fantastic.
Fairbanks pretends to be a Prince and be one of the suitors - and she falls
in love with him and when he is discovered (by Wong) she saves him. She gives
her suitors a challenge - in Seven Moons find me the rarest treasure in the
world. Off they go. So does Fairbanks. So this gives Menzies the opportunity
for more fantastic designs. At 140 minutes it is probably too long - I had
to take a break - but I am not sure what I would cut out. Maybe a bit of
Fairbanks who plays this with great gusto and broad expressions - at times
like ballet, at times a grand opera in his body movement and facial expressions.
But it fits into this film in which everything is bigger than life.
As a historical note - though the Mongols fail here in real life in 1258
they took Bagdad, killed nearly everyone inside and razed the city. At the
time Bagdad was considered one of the most advanced cities in the world with
a huge library of pretty much every work and scientists and artists from
all over the world. It was the Capital of the Abbasid Caliphate which ruled
much of the Muslim world. The film is interesting in how much respect it
pays to Islam with quotes from the Koran, a wise holy man, prayer and such.
Nice to see we weren't always Islamophobic. Not so nice to the Mongols though!
For burning the library a thousand curses! It is up on YouTube. Make sure
you watch the restored version.
