There is an innocence to producer Alexander Korda’s lavish Technicolor version of The Thief of Bagdad that is notably unusual in theaters today. With rare exception, even those movies that are explicitly aimed at children today feel the need to have an ironic edge, proving their coolness with pop culture references and levels of visual sophistication that are less about creating wonderment than proving their technological prowess. A guileless ode to the childlike wonderments of fantasy and exoticism, The Thief of Bagdad takes advantage of virtually every kind of special effect known at the time, and while some of these effects may seem crude by today’s standards, they are done with such finesse and love of the magic of movies that you’d have to go back to the trick films of Georges Méliès to find something comparable. (DVD)