The Thief of Bagdad (1940)

Gorgeous looking but frequently ridiculous Arabian adventure, filmed in Technicolor. Sultan Ahmed (John Justin) is convinced by his evil Grand Vizier (Conrad Veidt) to disguise himself as a poor man so he can know his people. Naturally the Vizier seizes the opportunity to take power and throw Ahmed in a dungeon. Ahmed escapes with the help of the young thief Abu (Sabu).

However the Vizier's evil is not yet over. Travelling to Basra with Abu, Ahmed falls in love with the Sultan's beautiful princess (June Duprez) whom the Vizier also has plans for having exchanged a flying horse to the Sultan for the daughter. When the princess refuses the Vizier in favour of Ahmed he uses evil magic to blind Ahmed and turns Abu into a dog...

The film looks amazing in Technicolor : blue mosques, purple cloaks, crimson palaces the works. The story is maybe a little nonsensical but that really is the point, this is a fairy tale fantasy and one of the best.