A fantastic storybook odyssey ranging from the sea floor to the citadel of the moon, The Thief of Bagdad weaves Arabian Nights magic around the hero’s road to redemption. Douglas Fairbanks Sr. plays a carefree street thief, a cheerful infidel who believes only in taking what he wants—until he falls in love with a caliph’s daughter and hears the sage words of a holy man: “happiness must be earned.” With unprecedented special effects and sets, The Thief of Bagdad is perhaps the cinema’s first great work of epic mythopoeia, anticipating the likes of The Lord of the Rings. – Steven D. Greydanus