Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves 1944 Official Trailer Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves is a 1944 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 folk tale of the same name, wedding that story to an actual historic event. The film is one of series of "exotic" tales released by Universal during the Second World War; others