Korda's "Thief Of Bagdad"

Auckland Star, Volume LXX, Issue 219, 16 September 1939, Page 7 (Supplement)

Korda's "Thief Of Bagdad"

ByJoan Littlefield

Screen Page

IT ... * lu see Alexander Korda on a film set again He has not directed a picture since' Kcmbrandt in 1936, but all hough officially he is the producer of ' The Thief of Bagdad," he is, in fact, co-directing the picture at Denhnm with Dr. Ludw,g Bcrger. William Cameron Men/,cs is in- England doing the tn. lv work, and Michael Powell is directing big location "shots" in the studio grounds. 1 Mr. K"l'l.i. iM-sit ms tl„. ()ro . v y l "■' l '» •> givv lounge sujti ~ n '. v llilir bra-lied sniootlilv ba'l. . •-it i in- "ii the edge „f tin- wicked ma»i i.iii - , liareui quietly tolling half it do/,n virU n<! ,i handsome youn- in., n how t,» (day the next .scene. Nearby 'w the largc atulTed dorr which acts ns -limd-in for the seven-yen, --old VN.'l-h collie, ""oh," who plays the part of Sal,„ when the magician h u bewitched him. ( "in ad \ eiilt, a striking figure in hi* magician s robes, has gnno away to rlian-e, Imt an interested spectator is ]ii- 1 I year old daughter, Viola, who is spending most, „f her H( .i loo i holidays at the studios. She in pretty and intelligent, with her father's grey blue eves, i,i,.' would pr.daldv make a" hit at once il .-he were to take up lilrn work. She "" — I '' a t opinion of her father's fieting, how ever, and told me she preJe. s I \ rone J'ower. Another onlooker, wearing a dark hhie suit lieea ,l>e lie is not called for to-day, Rex. Ingram, the negro actor, who

lias not ret shaken off the aura of "De in -The Green Pastures." Rex I:!* ™ nie to P ,a - V the Djinn in "The "t- and is much enjoying his visit to I>ntain. "I have bought a bicycle," he tolcl nif, on which I am going to explore the 1 lov ' J the climate and the and the green hills and I guess I here. I was in the first In Of of Bagdad' picture with Mr. I'airbanks, though I can't remember 1 r ,la - v<Ml - «*<*pt that it had something to do with camels." Mr. 1 "gram is a little upset that since. l' ,av< ' fl "Uo Lawd" he should be \pcited to live the life of a saint. ."I'" 1 not what you'd call vicious." he 7n ' il twiMk, o. "but a man of ""'ft have his relaxations and I do not think it wrong to go to a night club occasionally or to visit a theatre." I he harem broke up while lights were xing Jixcd, and the handsome youn" man, wrapping a piece of sackcloth louiul lus bare torso because be had a fold and studio air-conditioning is draughty, came over to talk to me. Mr. Kordas newest discovery, John Justin, <S>

I'lars Ahmad, the prince. On the st length of his work he ha-s been given a seven-year contract. Thev found him at the end of a long day' of fruitless thought he looked good, but tested him for a week before thev trave him this important part in which to make his screen debut. 1-T e is tall and pleasantly masculine, with a good voice ainl <|uiet bearing. "I was born in Knight-bridge. London, in 1!)17, he told me, "but while still a baby was taken to my father's South A me i ican rancii. where I became an expert bare-back rider before I was eight. At nine I returned to Kngland to school; at 13 I learned to fly my father's 'plane, and at Hi I persuaded niv people to let me join the i'lvmouth Repertory Company. My father thought there was no future in this, so he sent me to a farm, but I ran awav and joined the Liverpool Repertory Company. Then I went back to the Argentine and tried

my hand at horse-breaking. The stage called again and I went to Buenos Ay res, but I had no luck there and had to work mv passage home as a deckhand. Then my grandmother sent me to the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. I got a tiny part in 'Dear Octopus' on the London stage last year. Now I am here!" A diversion was caused by the arrival of June Duprez. his princess in the film, wearing navy blue slacks and carrying her bulldog puppy, Floy Floy. "I dare not bring her when I'm acting," she said, "in ease she barks." The lights being adjusted, John Justin returned to the harem with his faithful dog who was once Sabu. The dog, feeling the heat of the lights, panted audibly, but the players spoke their lines to Mr. Korda's liking and the '"take" proceeded smoothly. '"This is the most difficult picture I have ever attempted," Mr. Korda told me. '"Though it is mainly a film of action, we hope to convey something of man's preoccupation with miracles and supernatural powers. For instance, the flying horse which the magician brings to the sultan to trade for his daughter has been a symbol of man's desire for flying and freedom all through the ages. The magician symbe- — <},

lises man's conception of evil as an everpresent, force in the universe. The all-seeing eye. which Sabu steals from tlie giant goddess—a rubj' in which one can see whatever one wishes for — represents man's aspiration for seeing beyond the limits of his own physical horizon. The Djinn, released 1)V Sabu from a small bottle and becoming an high as the highest mountain, is obviou-l v the s\ mbol of man's yearning for freedom and his imprisonment in the confines of his physical body." The technical problems of such a picture are immense, but Mr. Korda was not giving away any secrets. He did tell me. however, that at the end of the picture we shall see some terrific aerial warfare between the flying horse,

carrying the magician and the princess, and the magic carpet, carrying the prince and the thief. Other "miracles" include the transformation of a stony desert into an enchanted, city; the changing of Sabu into a dog; the dancing mechanical dolls, performed by a corps de ballet, and. the liberation of Djinn from the bottle and his enlargement to a figure 200 feet high.