The Thief of Bagdad is a 1924 Douglas Fairbanks swashbuckler adventure film which tells the story of a thief who falls in love with the daughter of the Caliph. In 1996, the film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".

The movie, strong on special effects of the period (flying carpet, etc.) also proved a stepping stone for a scantily clad Anna May Wong, who portrayed a Mongol slave.

The 1940 film version of The Thief of Bagdad is notable for its use of Technicolor and its special effects, which won it three Oscars.

The Thief of Bagdad was produced by Alexander Korda's company London Films in England, but due to the outbreak of World War II filming was completed in California in the United States. It was directed by Ludwig Berger, Michael Powell and Tim Whelan and starred child actor Sabu, John Justin, and Conrad Veidt. The film won an Academy Award for Best Cinematography, Art Direction and Special Effects. It was also nominated for the Academy Award for Original Music Score.

Although this and the 1924 version have some similarities there are also significant differences. The most notable is that in the 1940 version the thief and the prince are separate characters.

The film has been highly influential on later films based on The Book of One Thousand and One Nights, and the Disney film Aladdin borrows freely from it, particularly the characters of the evil Vizier and the Caliph, both drawn with a marked similarity to the characters in it. The character of the thieving monkey Abu in the Disney cartoon is obviously based on the thieving child Abu, played here by Sabu . Richard Williams, speaking about his film The Thief and the Cobbler, said that one of his interests was in creating an Oriental fantasy that did not copy from it.

A thief falls in love with the Caliph of Bagdad's daughter. The Caliph will give her hand to the suitor that brings back the rarest treasure after seven moons. The thief sets off on a magical journey while, unbeknownst to him, another suitor, the Prince of the Mongols, is not playing by the rules... Written by Erik Gregersen

The thief will steal the gold from your purse; the food from your house; or the magic rope. Whatever he wants, he takes and he has decided to steal from the Caliph - until he sees the Princess. He loses his heart to her and disguises himself as Prince Ahmed - one of four royal suitors for her hand. When she picks him, he is overcome and confesses to his true nature which gets him flogged and thrown out of the palace. But he can yet win the Princess as all the suitors travel to find the rarest of treasures. His trip is fraught with danger as he competes against the magic carpet brought by the Prince of Persia, the magic crystal stolen by the Prince of India and the magic apple taken by the Mongol Prince - who desires the Princess and the city of Bagdad. Written by Tony Fontana

Oil, flying horses, and tales of liberation come together in this Technicolor action-adventure-fantasy, starring a swaggering Texan empire-builder in Baghdad and his nemesis. The film uses imagery and dialog from classic Orientalist cinema to depict a clash of civilizations, Hollywood-style. Written by Anonymous

Prince Ahmad is the rightful King of Bagdad but he has been blinded and cast out as a beggar. Now a captive of the wicked Grand Vizier Jaffar he is cast into a dungeon where he meets Abu, the best thief in all Bagdad. Together they escape and set about a series of adventures that involve a Djinni in a bottle, a mechanical flying horse, an all-seeing magic jewel, a flying carpet and a beautiful princess. Written by Steve Crook