Influence of The West: What Has Happened To Baghdad?

Upon viewing Lubin’s Ali Baba for the first time, the unknowing movie lover may be taken aback by the number of foreigners residing in and around Baghdad—most of the cast is white and clearly of European lineage. Fear not, a quick referencing of the latest edition of The World Almanac lists Islam as the primary religion of the residents of Baghdad. However, as is typical of American-made films with settings surrounding ‘Middle Eastern’ nations, little attention is paid to hiring a culturally accurate cast nor one that represents an accurate crosscutting of the population as a whole. For the most part, this mishap is fairly innocent and does not take away from the understanding of the film—it does however show the West’s lack of respect for cultures that are not their own.
As if the poor casting in general is not enough, take into account the star and co-star, Jon Hall (Ali Baba) and Maria Montez (Amara). Hall is clearly Caucasian (any amount of tanning cannot cover this up) and Montez hails from the Dominican Republic—her Spanish accent cannot be masked with any amount of editing, particularly in a movie from 1944. This is not to mention the embarrassing performance of Andy Devine as Abdullah whose acting is about as convincing as the costumes he tries on when the thieves plan on entering the city in disguise. Luckily, under the direction of Hall, they decide to enter by hiding themselves in barrels of ‘oil,’ as in every other American adaptation of Ali Baba to date. Add on top of this the Western themed desert scenes straight from Gunsmoke and the seemingly medieval-themed Baghdad on the day of Amara’s wedding and the origin of the film becomes quite clear. All of these mishaps are really quite disappointing considering the number of themes present within the movie that are still relevant today. These themes will be discussed in the next section.