The Original Ali Baba: The Arabian Nights

As most Americanized versions of foreign texts turned big-screen features, the 1944 film version of Ali Baba borrows little from the original translation in The Arabian Nights. In its original form, the story of Ali Baba begins with the marrying off of two brothers: Qasim marries a wealthy woman who brings with her much inheritance while Ali Baba marries a wife of working class. One day while traveling through the forest, Ali Baba is surprised by a band of thieves—which would appear to be a negative experience. However, he witnesses the location of the thieves’ hideout (opening at the command ‘open sesame’) which promises to be filled with the items stolen from far-off nations along with an extensive collection of gold coins.
After a mishap, Ali Baba’s wealthy brother finds out about the cave and while on a trip to collect his own share of the treasure, he is killed. The knowledge of the hideout exposed to the thieves, the rest of the story involves the thieves’ pursuit of the person with knowledge of their cave. Essentially, the group is outsmarted by one of Ali Baba’s slaves after pinpointing the location of his home. His life is saved and everyone lives happily ever after—he even keeps the treasure in the family for numerous generations after the destruction of the band of thieves.
Keeping true to the history of most books-turned-movies, Lubin’s film fails to follow the plot of Ali Baba’s precedent work. In the film, the audience is introduced to Ali as a child. Following the death of his father (the Qualif) in the city of Baghdad, Ali is orphaned and for some odd reason decides to roam the desert for answers. As in the literary work, Ali does stumble upon the thieves entering their hideout and finds the key to entering (open sesame!). Only once discovered and assimilated into the band of thieves does Ali receive the name Ali Baba, and from this point on, the film completely deviates from the movie. The thieves turn out to be a righteous and amiable group of outlaws that eventually aid Ali Baba in bringing down Hulagu Khan’s reign in the city of Baghdad. Once again, everyone lives happily ever after.
For the most part, film critics would not expect a film version of Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves to follow the plot of the original transcript. Not only would it be a more difficult film to produce, but it most likely would not captivate American audiences to the extent of the common clichés used in every Westernized ‘Arab’ production. However, the Westernization of Ali Baba (including casting and director’s influence) is quite important in understanding the film, as is discussed in the next section.