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Taken on: August 19, 2023

Uploaded on: August 19, 2023

Software: Windows Photo Editor 10.0.10011.16384

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Crowds queueing up at The State Theatre on Market Street, Sydney 15/8/1944 to see the Universal Technicolor movie “Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves”

Photo by Sam Hood - Courtesy Bill J. Vass and The State Library of NSW

Event - The screening of Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves, a 1944 Technicolor adventure film from Universal Pictures, directed by Arthur Lubin, and starring Maria Montez, Jon Hall, and Turhan Bey. The film is derived from The Book of One Thousand and One Nights, but its storyline departs greatly from the tale of the same name and includes an actual historic event. The film is one of series of “exotic” tales released by Universal during the Second World War; others include Cobra Woman, Arabian Nights, and White Savage.

Comment from Comfortably Cool on August 18, 2023 at 8:35 am - “Ali Baba” and all other Universal features mentioned were in vivid Technicolor, which was a major reason for their popularity. Most movies at that time were in B&W, for budgetary reasons and/or strict wartime rationing of color film.

Contributed by Greg Lynch -