Hollywood (1939)

Thief " of Bagdad Left, Conrad Veidt prominent roles extra know When Sabu ran with an half rupee, he did not that he was running away from a film career. Fortunately, he did not run too far, or too fast WILBUR MORSE, JR. and Mary Martin play The Thief of Bagdad ■ Sabu, the handsome, wiry, sensitivefaced little Indian boy who rode out of the jungle and into world-wide film fame in Elephant Boy, at the moment is the problem child of the British film industry. Sabu wants to go to Hollywood. Alexander Korda, the producer who made Elephant Boy and Drums, the other spectacles starring the young Mohammedan mime, wants to keep Sabu in England at his Denham studios. The boy's contract comes up for renewal shortly and it may be that Mickey Rooney and Freddie Bartholomew will soon have some new teen-age competition from the dusky-skinned Sabu if the young actor gets his way. I ran into the situation a few weeks ago when I went on the set at Denham where Korda is remaking in sound and Technicolor The Thief of Bagdad, the greatest of Douglas Fairbanks' fantasies of the silent days. They are doing a magnificent job on this colorful fairy story of the Arabian Nights. It is to be Britain's first million-dollar production, and luckily was near enough completion when war broke out to be finished before production activities were generally curtailed. It will be released in the United States some time after Christmas. Remember the enchanting and imaginative sets in the Fairbanks version of The Thief of Bagdad? William Cameron Menzies, who was art director on the earlier picture, acted as associate-producer with Korda on the new production, and the trick effects which Menzies has created for the English film are even more elaborate than the extravaganza Doug Senior offered. Once more the fantastic, glittering Bagdad of the ninth century has risen with its sparkling minarets and domes, and its teeming bazaars, on the back lot of a motion picture studio. Once more the great galleons set sail from the colorful harbor of Basra. Once more from out of the genii's bottle come the flying horse, the magic carpet and the bag of pebbles that turn into armies when tossed from the clouds. Conrad Veidt, June Duprez, John Justin, a handsome young newcomer to the screen, who flew off to war in the air service the day after the film was finished, and Rex Ingram, the American Negro actor, head the cast supporting Sabu. I spent a morning watching Dr. Ludwig Berger, the French director, achieve some stunning effects in glass shots which made a miniature street set in Bagdad seems as spacious as the Grand Central Station. But it was Sabu, himself, I was anxious to talk with. There is a quality about the boy's face that makes you feel he must be half mystic, half gamin. He was, I found, an even stranger mixture. A naive schoolboy thrilled over an athletic exploit one minute, a precocious little arbiter of involved contractual clauses the next. He was sitting in front [Continued on page 54] Left, John Justin, who plays the part taken by Douglas Fairbanks, Sr. in the first version of the film, talks over a scene with Sabu. Below, the plaster horse that comes alive at. just the right moment Below, Sabu in the market place, planning to make more trouble in Bagdad **: