The thief of Baghdad – Arthur Lubin, 1961

Amina sees the newcomer, an athletic and good-looking man, and immediately falls in love with him. The impostor takes advantage of the situation to steal jewels, jewels and valuable objects from the guests, while giving them gifts to distract them. When the vizier and the other nobles of the court realize the deception and that the prince has been impersonated, Karim has already fled. But before leaving the palace, he has the opportunity to see the princess up close in her chambers, and is smitten with her. They have a brief opportunity to exchange a few words, after which Karim leaves to avoid capture.

A mysterious djinn, or benign spirit, in the physical form of a venerable wise old man, accompanies and guides the handsome thief. Karim is very popular among the humble people of Baghdad. The fruits of his thefts are always shared with the poorest of the poor.

The princess, who still believes that her betrothed designate is the gallant who paid her a furtive visit during her sojourn, is sorely disappointed when she discovers that the real prince is someone else. Osman is not old and decrepit, but neither is he as attractive as Karim, nor does he radiate his charisma and kindness. In front of her father the sultan, Amina rejects Osman under his nose; which the prince considers a blatant humiliation. “I will defend Baghdad…” begins Osman ‘How will you defend Baghdad if you have not even known how to defend yourself from the thief who supplanted you?’ replies Amina. Despite this affront, Osman sets out to win the princess’s hand at all costs. But not because he is in love with her, but because he aspires to power; to become the next sultan of Baghdad. The sultan reacts by saying that the wedding will take place when his daughter falls in love with her fiancé.

Karim returns to making risky nocturnal visits to Amina. They both love each other, but they know that their relationship is impossible. On one of these occasions, Karim is discovered by the guards in the vicinity of the palace and arrested. He is sent to work as a slave turning the wheels of a mill.

One of Osman’s advisors proposes a way to win the princess (and thus the throne of Baghdad) without bloodshed: A magic potion will make her fall in love with the man who gives her to drink it. But this entails a risk, because if the woman is already in love with another, after drinking the concoction she may die. Since Osman does not suspect that Amina’s heart already belongs to another, he accepts the idea to be implemented.

Amina becomes fatally ill, and no court physician can cure her. The news reaches Karim’s ears, and he hatches a plan to escape from her captivity. The benign djinn appears before the sultan as a magician, and to the astonishment of the vizier and others present, he claims that the only thing that can heal Amina is a blue rose. The man who brings her a blue rose is destined to marry her.

The sultan, in his desperation to see his daughter recovered, agrees to issue a decree summoning all the men of Baghdad to set out in search of the blue rose, the “Non-Existent Flower”. This infuriates Osman, who had been promised the hand of the princess from the beginning. Karim manages to free himself, and dressed in blue like the other candidates, he presents himself to the sultan to participate in the expedition. This offends Prince Osman even more, who does not understand how a common thief and impostor is allowed to participate in such a mission. But the sultan has no objection and trusts Karim’s good will.

Thus, the candidates to marry Amina set off across the desert in search of the enigmatic flower. The perfidious Osman will try by dirty tactics to sabotage the progress of his competitors, and Karim will face numerous dangers (trees whose branches come to life like tentacles…) and magical adventures (a kind of “Circe” will try to keep him with her, the temptress Kadeejah…).