Fleming’s 1939 American film The Wizard of Oz is an early pioneer of the use of innovative techniques in camera work, music, visual and special effects in modern day movie production.  The musical-fantasy classic has also become a firm favorite among the American public and coupled with its influence in the film industry, it should be regarded as the most significant American film of all time.

Despite only modest box office success after its initial release in 1939, MGM’s The Wizard of Oz received many favorable reviews and was warmly embraced by the movie-going public. This positive response prompted London Films to produce The Thief of Baghdad one year later. The plot centered on the life of a young man who, with the help of circumstance and a djinni (genie), rises from being a lowly thief to being offered the position of Grand Vizier to the sultan. The film was a great success with “its colourful fantasy offering audiences a welcome escape from the grim daily reality of war, at a time when both colour film stock and genuine fantasy were a rarity in Britain.”

Duguid, Mark. "Thief of Bagdad, The (1940)." Screen Online Website. 1 Dec. 2008 .

Article in Harpers from 2004 describing the lack of reconstruction in Baghdad and describing Baghdad year Zero.