Once again I have to sing the praises of THE ALAMO DRAFTHOUSE. Not too long ago I wrote a review for their presentation of Buster Keaton’s THE GENERAL. I wrote on and on about the magic of that night. How Guy Forsyth and his band had created a seemingly unduplicatable purely magical movie experience. They had.
Well, it’s happened again, but this time with the Douglas Fairbanks THIEF OF BAGDAD. A movie, that it is very likely many of you have never seen. I hadn’t. I’ve tried, but everytime I had set out to seek it out at a video store they didn’t have it.... as is the case with most of Fairbanks’ films (and silent films in general for that matter).
For months I have been eagerly awaiting the presentation of THE THIEF OF BAGDAD at the Alamo. I missed the first showing, but today... well I caught the second, and my God... what a presentation.
There were two levels of perfection here.
First you had the film. A film that is so energetic, so ravishingly beautiful, that the only thing you are capable of exuding is adoration for the movie. I’m a long time fan of Douglas Fairbanks. I’ve seen his PRIVATE LIFE OF DON JUAN, THE MARK OF ZORRO, IRON MASK, DON Q SON OF ZORRO and that’s it. I’ve been dying to see ROBIN HOOD, THE BLACK PIRATE and THE THIEF OF BAGDAD for years!
I’ve been secretly holding out for a theatrical presentation, and gee whiz.... This sure was the way to see it.
What I love and adore about Douglas Fairbanks is the pure joy of adventure he puts into his films. The way he’ll throw his arms tall and wide when he is triumphant. The way he’ll arch his back and place his arms upon his hips and roar with silent laughter. The fire in his eyes, the derring-do coarsing through him. It’s infectious. In fact.... it makes you want to start trying to do impossible stunts. Now this film did not have a sword battle one, but it did have adventure. And of all the Fairbanks films I’ve seen thus far... this is by far the most adventurous.
He also has the greatest co-star of any of his films I’m familiar with. And who is that?
Well, it’s none other than William Cameron Menzies.
Who?
William Cameron Menzies.... No... he’s not an actor, but he touched every frame of the film with his stunning vision. He was the art director, and all around GOD of Hollywood Set Design. From THINGS TO COME to INVADERS FROM MARS to the Sabu THIEF OF BAGDAD and a brushstroke or two upon GONE WITH THE WIND. Oh... and the amazing Cave Sequence from THE ADVENTURES OF TOM SAWYER 1938(which I own in 16mm and marvel at the brilliance of).
What a perfect star for Menzies’ perfect sets. Having seen 8 million viewings of the various EPISODE ONE trailers... The thoughts of his THINGS TO COME design work has been popping about with a gentle smile to my face. But what Lucas is bringing us is a Technicolor vision of a Menzies Sci-Fi Fantasy. And it is glorius. In THIEF OF BAGDAD (1924) though, we are looking at the brilliance of black and white art direction. Painted shadows and forced perspectives. Sets built larger than anyone dares build today. A creation far more beautiful and whimsical than the locations that they claim to be of.
The film can’t help but to capture your imagination. Imagine if Ray Harryhausen had teamed up with the extravagance of Menzies at his height.... The mind boggles. To see Ray’s Pegasus (from CLASH OF THE TITANS) flying with Fairbanks upon it’s back over Menzies’ cityscapes.... The spires, the doors with teeth, the arches and deco fantasies.... Wow.
And it had the directing talents of Raoul Walsh, who brought us “TOP OF THE WORLD MA!!!” and THEY DIED WITH THEIR BOOTS ON and Roy ‘Mad Dog’ Earle and THE NAKED AND THE DEAD (a film hardly anybody remembers but that I love).
NOW, for the second perfect thing about the screening tonight.
Kamran Hooshmand and the 1001 NIGHTS ORCHESTRA.
They should go on tour with this movie. They’d sell out Los Angeles and New York for weeks after the initial reviews. The score they created was immense... so much so that the audience began clapping to the beat and getting really really really into it by the end of the film.
What was so special?
Well.... (Big Breath) First off, the instrument selection included the following: Barbat (‘ud), Saz (baglama), Santur (hammered dulcimer), Spanish Guitar, Daf (Kurdish frame drum), Riqq (Middle Eastern tambourine), Darabukkah (ceramic drum), zarb (tonbak) (a Persian Drum), tabla (Indian drum pair), Qanun (a Middle Eastern zither with 72 strings), Accordian, Acoustic Bass, Guitar, Clarinet, Zurna, Duduk (reed instruments), Violin, Indian Sitar, Asian/Far Eastern percussion, gongs, wind instruments, classical oboe, medieval oboe and wooden flute. And there were more. 10 fantastic musicians played these instruments to create a unique and fantastical sound to bathe the film with.
The score incorporated: Iranian folk song melodies, a Sephardic song, Persian folk song melodies, Greek/Macedonian folk tunes, Arabic tunes, Arab/Andalucian music, Egyptian music, Armenian folk music, Turkish folk music.... as well as original music written by Kamran Hooshmand and.... an arabic version of the (Pulp Fiction-made famous) tune... MISERLU.
All of this music and film created a thrill, a charge that lit through the audience. Both young and old were cheering, clapping and excitedly waiting for the next moment as if their life depended upon it.
Beside me was an Eleven year old boy, that by the end of the film had saucers for eyes, he was bouncing upon his knees in his chair sporadically clapping and looking at his mother with glee splashed upon his face.
Wow... I thought. That was me....16 years ago... bouncing in my seat, eyes big as they could be... Watching Fairbanks in THE MARK OF ZORRO at the Paramount Theater.... Heh heh heh... poor kid doesn’t know what pleasures are waiting in a theater near him... but he’ll go in with the gleam that.... Fairbanks could be in there... and that is enough to keep you coming back time and time again for the entirety of your life.
What a joy cinema is. What excitement and thrilling pleasures exist on that screen. God I love film. I’m sure you do as well... ain’t it grand?
