{"id":7568,"date":"2010-08-12T03:03:32","date_gmt":"2010-08-12T02:03:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.johncoulthart.com\/feuilleton\/?p=7568"},"modified":"2010-10-14T16:30:32","modified_gmt":"2010-10-14T15:30:32","slug":"the-thief-of-bagdad","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.johncoulthart.com\/feuilleton\/2010\/08\/12\/the-thief-of-bagdad\/","title":{"rendered":"The Thief of Bagdad"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"thief2.jpg\"<\/a><\/p>\n

It’s the poster for the 1924 film version<\/a> we’re concerning ourselves with here, not the more popular 1940 adaptation<\/a> directed by Michael Powell. Both films are great but I have a special affection for Raoul Walsh’s silent version and this poster design has long been a favourite for the way it manages to condense the film’s blend of storybook graphics and Art Deco exotica. I’d wondered for years who was responsible for this design; according to various poster sites it’s the work of the film’s art director Anton Grot<\/a> (1884\u20131974). This is one of several variations (there another here<\/a> and one here<\/a>) and there’s also a less interesting design<\/a> which is far more typical of the period.<\/p>\n

I often recommend the 1924 Thief of Bagdad<\/em> as an introduction to silent cinema, especially if you can find a decent print. Fairbanks’ production had William Cameron Menzies<\/a> as production designer and his sets are enormous Arabian Nights<\/em> confections replete with minarets, onion domes and filigree screens<\/a> like something from an Edmund Dulac<\/a> illustration. Fairbanks gives a tremendously athletic performance and the marvellous Anna May Wong<\/a> plays a Mongolian slave girl. There’s a lengthy description of the film’s production here<\/a> while you can find a copy of the entire film at the Internet Archive<\/a> although it really ought to be seen in a version which isn’t blighted by a company logo throughout.<\/p>\n

Previously on { feuilleton }
\n\u2022 More Arabian Nights<\/a>
\n\u2022 Edward William Lane\u2019s Arabian Nights Entertainments<\/a>
\n\u2022 Alla Nazimova\u2019s Salom\u00e9<\/a>
\n\u2022 Metropolis posters<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It’s the poster for the 1924 film version we’re concerning ourselves with here, not the more popular 1940 adaptation directed by Michael Powell. Both films are great but I have a special affection for Raoul Walsh’s silent version and this poster design has long been a favourite for the way it manages to condense the … Continue reading “The Thief of Bagdad”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[2,4,21,7,48],"tags":[785,1622,1619,285,277,1621,286,279,354,1618,123,1620],"class_list":["post-7568","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-art","category-design","category-fantasy","category-film","category-illustrators","tag-alla-nazimova","tag-anna-may-wong","tag-anton-grot","tag-arabian-nights","tag-art-deco","tag-douglas-fairbanks-sr","tag-edmund-dulac","tag-edward-william-lane","tag-michael-powell","tag-raoul-walsh","tag-salome","tag-william-cameron-menzies"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pq7rV-1Y4","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.johncoulthart.com\/feuilleton\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7568","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.johncoulthart.com\/feuilleton\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.johncoulthart.com\/feuilleton\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.johncoulthart.com\/feuilleton\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.johncoulthart.com\/feuilleton\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7568"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.johncoulthart.com\/feuilleton\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7568\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.johncoulthart.com\/feuilleton\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7568"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.johncoulthart.com\/feuilleton\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7568"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.johncoulthart.com\/feuilleton\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7568"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}