eMoviePoster.com

What are the objects in the corners of some images? Learn More

The Thief of Bagdad, the classic 1940 Ludwig Berger, Michael Powell & Tim Whelan English Arabia Iraq romantic love triangle magic adventure fantasy thriller ("Thrill to the marvel picture of the year!"; "Three brave hearts... adventuring in a wonder world"; "Adventure of the masked men!"; "Adventure of the wonderful web!"; "Adventure of the all-seeing eye!"; "Never before such a screen thrill! ...two years to film, a fortune to produce... Alexander Korda's greatest achievement!"; "One thousand and one sights from the thousand of one nights...."; "Sir Alexander Korda's masterpiece of fantasy and adventure."; "Gigantic! The wonder picture of all time!"; "He fought the world to hold her loveliness within his daring arms!"; "The adventure of the masked magician!"; "The adventure of the all-seeing eye!"; "The adventure of the wonderful web!"; "In magic Technicolor!"; "produced in England and the U.S. by Alexander Korda with wondrous special effects by Lawrence W. Butler and Tom Howard, and great art direction by William Cameron Menzies") starring Conrad Veidt (memorable as Jaffar), Sabu Dastagir ("Sabu, famous star of screen hits 'Elephant Boy' and 'Drums' as the daring Thief of Baghdad... living, fighting, adventuring in a magic world!"; billed as "Sabu", as he was in all his movies; as Abu the thief, son of Abu the thief, grandson of Abu the thief, etc.!), June Duprez (as the princess), John Justin (as Ahmad), Rex Ingram (sensational as The Genie!), Mary Morris (as Halima, the animated statue!), Miles Malleson (as the Sultan of Basra), Morton Selten (as the old king), and Allan Jeayes (as the narrator). Note that this movie featured sensational "special effects" for its day, and had several wonderful sequences that looked like they required the building of massive sets, yet in most cases, matte paintings created the illusion of those massive sets!
NOTE: Click on linked names to see a biography.

Artist: Jieren

Important Added Info: Note that we have only previously auctioned three examples of this 1940 first release pressbook, and only two in the last 15 years, and those examples sold for $1,910 and $1,190 (and the third example was in "poor" condition)!

Note that when studios would prepare pressbooks they would often include a sample of the herald. Most often, the herald is no longer still with the pressbook. Sometimes, the herald by itself will sell for almost as much as the rest of the entire pressbook! This pressbook contains the original herald which is pictured next to the pressbook below. Also note that pressbooks were prepared prior to a movie being released. Often, changes would be made in a movie advertising campaign (billing of actors, different images, etc.), and the theaters would print up special supplements that they would send out with the pressbooks that had already been printed. These supplements are very rare, far more rare than the pressbooks themselves! Some pressbooks would have no supplements, some would have one, and some would have several. Almost every Academy Award winning movie would have a special "Academy Award winner" supplement. Also note that we have provided an image of the front and back covers of this pressbook, and of course, the winner of this auction will receive the entire single pressbook we are auctioning (plus any supplements or heralds described above)! Also note that this pressbook is complete and uncut! Given that theater owners received pressbooks partly in order to create their newspaper advertising, and quite frequently cut them up for that purpose, it is rare to find a pressbook that IS complete and uncut!

Note: We have 13 images of this pressbook, but due to a space limitation, only TEN of the 13 images are displayed above. However, there is a "supersize" link to the right of those images that lets you see the other 3.

Our address for UPS or FedEx only is:
Bruce Hershenson,
306 Washington Avenue, West Plains, MO 65775