The Thief of Bagdad is a 1940 British Technicolor historical fantasy film, produced by Alexander Korda and directed by Michael Powell, Ludwig Berger and Tim Whelan, with additional contributions by William Cameron Menzies (who had designed sets for the original 1924 version starring Douglas Fairbanks, Sr) and Korda brothers Vincent and Zoltán.

The film stars Indian-born teen actor Sabu, Conrad Veidt, John Justin, and June Duprez.

Miklós Rózsa was also nominated for Original Music Score, a first for a British film at the Academy Awards.

The screenplay is by Lajos Biro and Miles Malleson, who also appears in the film as the Princess's father, the Sultan of Basra.

In ancient Basra, a blind beggar begins telling the film's story in flashback (mimicking the style of the Arabian Nights), revealing that he is really Ahmad, the young, naive king of Bagdad.

Jaffar, a powerful sorcerer, provides the toy-obsessed Sultan of Basra with a mechanical flying horse in exchange for his daughter's hand in marriage.

He finds a bottle and opens it, releasing an enormous genie so embittered by his long imprisonment he announces he will kill the boy.

The first wish is wasted, but the genie helps Abu steal a magical jewel, the "All-Seeing Eye", that enables him to find and reunite with Ahmad.

Abu, alarmed by Ahmad's plans to educate him to become the vizier, flies off on the carpet in search of fun and adventure.

By the end of the year, Korda found himself running out of money and credit, and in the spring of 1940 he arranged to move the entire production to Hollywood (where some shots of the movie's young star Sabu had to be redone, for he had grown more than 3 inches (76 mm) in the year since shooting had commenced).

Powell remained in England, so direction was taken up in Hollywood by Menzies and Zoltan Korda during the summer of 1940—including shots of the heroes in the Grand Canyon, Monument Valley, Bryce Canyon[10]: 287  and the Painted Desert; the scenes in the Temple of the Goddess of Light, among the last to be written, were done late in the summer, and the film was being edited and re-structured into the autumn of 1940.

Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times added The Thief of Bagdad to his "Great Movies" list, calling it "on a level with The Wizard of Oz".

He praised the performances of Sabu and Veidt ("perfectly pitched to the needs of the screenplay"), but he was less impressed with the chemistry between Duprez and Justin ("rather bloodless").

Its consensus states: "Dashing, dazzling, and altogether magical, The Thief of Bagdad is an enchanting fantasy for children of all ages.

The German disc features the same extras, plus additional trailers, an audio commentary and a 53-minute documentary on the film's star, Sabu.