Film Forum

U.S., 1924
Directed by Raoul Walsh
Starring Douglas Fairbanks
Recorded orchestral score by Carl Davis
Approx. 151 min. DCP. 

“Happiness must be earned.” A festival of wonders, as Douglas Fairbanks’ thief encounters a flying horse, the Caverns of Fire, the Valley of Monsters, the Flight of a Thousand Stairs, and a magic carpet, amidst still-spectacular sets by William Cameron Menzies. Orson Welles, who saw it as a boy, said “I’ll never forget it.”

Reviews

“A WONDERFUL EXPERIENCE THE WHOLE FAMILY CAN SHARE! The kind of movie that can win children over to the beauty and uniqueness of silent movies!”
– Leonard Maltin

“A DREAM, A COMIC STRIP, A PREDICTION OF FUTURE ENTERTAINMENT TECH...With its picturebook archways and spiraling minarets, its Baghdad's walls as lightly sunny as lemon cake, Raoul Walsh's jolly epic still stands as a miracle of production design.”  
– Alan Scherstuhl, Village Voice