Aladdin to Aladdin: The Long Shadow of The Thief of Bagdad (I)
I watched the silent version of The Thief of Bagdad this last week, as well as the workprint version of The Thief and the Cobbler. It's struck me in the past how there is a fairly direct lineage between many of these movies, but watching these two brought it back to my attention. The heredity goes Aladdin and his Wonderful Lamp (prose story) -> The Thief of Bagdad (1924) -> The Thief of Bagdad (1940) -> The Thief and the Cobbler, The Prince of Persia (video game) & Aladdin (Disney movie). First let's summarize the original tale, which originates among the earlier tales of The 1001 Nights/The Arabian Nights.
Aladdin is basically a Chinese layabout who lives with his mother. An African magician turns up, pretending to be the brother of Aladdin's father. He helps him out a bit, then asks him for assistance. The magician takes Aladdin out into the desert to a cave and tells him to proceed inside, ignoring all the fabulous riches and bringing back only the brass lamp he finds at the end. (The magician cannot go into the cave for unspecified reasons.) The magician gives him a ring that he says will protect him and Aladdin goes in. Aladdin refuses to hand over the lamp to the magician unless the magician lets him out of the cave first, so the magician abandons him. In his despair, Aladdin rubs the ring and unleashes the slave of the lamp, a genie, who sets him free. When he comes home to his mother, Aladdin explains everything. Rubbing the lamp, she unleashes the slave of the lamp, who can grant their every desire. Aladdin uses these powers to gain great wealth and comfort.
The daughter of the sultan is coming through town at a later point, and the streets are cleared. Aladdin spies on her and falls in love. His mother begs the sultan to let Aladdin marry his daughter, giving him some amazing jewels, but the sultan makes a (he thinks) impossible request and lets the Grand Vizier's son marry the princess. Aladdin has the slave of the lamp interfere with the wedding night. The son asks to be seperated from the princess, whereupon Aladdin's mother continues to ask the sultan for his daughter's hand on Aladdin's behalf. The grand vizier tells the sultan to put up an impossible task, and the sultan demands forty basins full of gold and huge gems. Aladdin meets the king's request, thanks to the genie, and has the genie build a grand palace for himself and the princess, following the wedding.
The African magician catches wind of all this, and tricks the princess into giving up the lamp by posing as a peddler who trades new lamps for old ones. He uses the slave of the lamp to steal Aladdin's palace, the princess along with it. The king sees the palace is gone and has Aladdin arrested, giving him forty days to bring it back, along with the princess, or face execution. Aladdin remembers the slave of the ring, who says he cannot counter the actions of the slave of the lamp, who is more powerful, but he allows Aladdin to get into the palace, where he gets the princess to poison the magician. Thus, he regains control of the lamp, and all ends well.
This story is the foundation of the original version of The Thief of Bagdad, which in turn leads to the remake, but largely tells a different story than the original movie. I'll summarize those films in my next entry. You may be surprised at how many plot points you recognize, even if you haven't seen either movie!
Aladdin is basically a Chinese layabout who lives with his mother. An African magician turns up, pretending to be the brother of Aladdin's father. He helps him out a bit, then asks him for assistance. The magician takes Aladdin out into the desert to a cave and tells him to proceed inside, ignoring all the fabulous riches and bringing back only the brass lamp he finds at the end. (The magician cannot go into the cave for unspecified reasons.) The magician gives him a ring that he says will protect him and Aladdin goes in. Aladdin refuses to hand over the lamp to the magician unless the magician lets him out of the cave first, so the magician abandons him. In his despair, Aladdin rubs the ring and unleashes the slave of the lamp, a genie, who sets him free. When he comes home to his mother, Aladdin explains everything. Rubbing the lamp, she unleashes the slave of the lamp, who can grant their every desire. Aladdin uses these powers to gain great wealth and comfort.
The daughter of the sultan is coming through town at a later point, and the streets are cleared. Aladdin spies on her and falls in love. His mother begs the sultan to let Aladdin marry his daughter, giving him some amazing jewels, but the sultan makes a (he thinks) impossible request and lets the Grand Vizier's son marry the princess. Aladdin has the slave of the lamp interfere with the wedding night. The son asks to be seperated from the princess, whereupon Aladdin's mother continues to ask the sultan for his daughter's hand on Aladdin's behalf. The grand vizier tells the sultan to put up an impossible task, and the sultan demands forty basins full of gold and huge gems. Aladdin meets the king's request, thanks to the genie, and has the genie build a grand palace for himself and the princess, following the wedding.
The African magician catches wind of all this, and tricks the princess into giving up the lamp by posing as a peddler who trades new lamps for old ones. He uses the slave of the lamp to steal Aladdin's palace, the princess along with it. The king sees the palace is gone and has Aladdin arrested, giving him forty days to bring it back, along with the princess, or face execution. Aladdin remembers the slave of the ring, who says he cannot counter the actions of the slave of the lamp, who is more powerful, but he allows Aladdin to get into the palace, where he gets the princess to poison the magician. Thus, he regains control of the lamp, and all ends well.
This story is the foundation of the original version of The Thief of Bagdad, which in turn leads to the remake, but largely tells a different story than the original movie. I'll summarize those films in my next entry. You may be surprised at how many plot points you recognize, even if you haven't seen either movie!