Fairy Tale and Film

Grimm Tales
who make it to the throne will 
necessarily care any more about their subjects – for if power is inevitably 
corrupting, as the saying goes, so is avarice and greed. 
As a rule, fortune tends to favour those who don’t expressly seek 
riches, yet seem more deserving of them than their counterparts. 
The fact that the poor brother prospers in ‘Ali Baba and the 40 Thieves’ 
(aka ‘Open Sesame!’ ATU 676) while his rich sibling ends up dead, seems 
attributable to more than luck when we consider their fates in relation 
to their wealth. Ali happens to see where thieves hide their booty – and 
overhears the magic password used to access the cave. He generously 
shares his secret with his wealthy brother, Kassim, who dies similarly 
attempting to plunder the cave – having forgotten the password and 
becoming captured by the thieves. We might be invited to conclude 
that Kassim loses his life because he was simply forgetful, yet the fact 
that he excludes his brother from the trip suggests greed is his downfall. 
Once again, far from promoting an intrinsic sense of right or wrong, the 
morality is fairly opaque. Ali Baba achieves prosperity by proving to be 

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Fairy Tale and Film
as shrewd, cunning and ruthless as the thieves. Neither is it simply 
male social advancement that is proffered, for despite Ali Baba being 
name-checked in the title it is ultimately a slave girl, Morgiana, who 
is the unsung heroine of the tale. She sees and kills the thieves hiding 
in oil jars outside the house and subsequently despatches their leader 
with an enticing dance and a dagger to his heart. Having saved her 
master’s fortune, and protected the entire household, she is given her 
freedom, ultimately marrying into the family she has served so well. Ali 
Baba may have shown a level of cunning in spying the thieves’ hidea-
way, but it is a lowly servant girl who is the most intrepid and heroic 
figure in the tale, alert to the danger posed to her master after his haul, 
and prepared to kill to protect him. Like the lead character in ‘Puss in 
Boots’ (ATU 545B) who enables his master to rise above his lowly status 
through shrewdness and quick wits, Morgiana overshadows Ali Baba in 
the pivotal role she takes, and although her name was unfairly omitted 
from the title, her legacy can be found in a number of female charac-
ters in film who prove to be equally fascinating tricksters.
9
Deceit is 
shown to be a crucial means of survival, rather than a vice, and involve-
ment with a criminal underworld proves both perilous and profitable. 
Kassim’s greed (and forgetfulness) may cost him his life and endanger 
his family, yet, thanks to Morgiana’s intervention, Ali Baba can claim 
the rest of the cave’s plunder without fearing reprisals. Sharing his accu-
mulated gains with his widowed sister-in-law, and newly liberated serv-
ant, he proves himself to be a genuinely just figure who recognises his 
responsibilities and those he is indebted to (and we can only wonder if 
Kassim would have reciprocated the gesture). The tale affirms that rich 
rewards can be reaped if you’re prepared to do what it takes, and that 
an extraordinary individual can stack up against mighty odds to prove 
their worth, with Morgiana’s courage effectively making her a part of 
the family. 
A similar apprenticeship is served in a number of fairy tale families, in 
which children commit crimes to pay their way. ‘Thumbling’s Travels’ 
presents a diminutive hero who demonstrates his ability to look after 
both himself and his family. Joining a gang of robbers to steal from a 
king, he gives a coin to his father when he eventually gets home. In 
‘Hop o’ My Thumb’ (ATU 327B), the youngest of seven brothers, left 
in the woods by their impoverished parents, proves to have the most 
wits – and courage. Stealing seven-league boots from a slumbering giant, 
he persuades the giant’s housekeeper to hand over his fortune and duly 
returns home to help his parents out of poverty. ‘Hansel and Gretel’ 
(ATU 327A) offers a similar denouement when two abandoned siblings 

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Wealth through Stealth 
81
outwit a witch and steal her riches. The horror of having been left for 
dead in the woods is effectively sidelined – blamed on their wicked step-
mother (who dies in curious tandem with the witch) rather than on an 
easily convinced father – and, in a similar vein to ‘Hop o’ my Thumb’, 
there is no need for recriminations when they return home. Children 
formerly considered a drain on resources thus turn out to be a worth-
while asset, and thanks to the witch’s riches life looks set to improve. 
If a lack of money threatened to sever family ties in the most brutal of 
ways, obtaining a new supply works like magic to restore familial links. 
However, while money is often presented as a vital means of surviv-
ing impoverishment, and securing a better life, it does not necessarily 
promise happiness, as a number of tales remind us. Envy, selfishness 
and bitter rivalries may be forged through the acquisition of wealth, 
turning siblings and friends against one another as characters lose sight 
of more important aspirations. 
This ambivalent attitude to criminality has continued in cinematic 
variations, with a number of films reprising recognisable themes, includ-
ing the pleasure of seeing unlikely heroes triumph. The ‘ heist-gone-wrong’ 
trope is one such example in which the unlikeliest of would-be thieves 
often succeeds in some way, even if it is simply by surviving. In 
Reservoir 
Dogs
(Quentin Tarantino, 1992) it is the least macho of the thieves, 
Mr Pink (Steve Buscemi), who gets away unscathed from the hideout 
that becomes a bloodbath, and in 
The Usual Suspects
(Bryan Singer, 1995) 
a similarly unprepossessing figure emerges as the sole survivor of an epic 
massacre, eventually revealing himself to be demonically duplicitous. 
Like the diminutive hero in ‘Hop o’ my Thumb’ we are invited not to 
judge a book by its cover. 
The Cooler
(Wayne Kramer, 2003) provides an 
interesting variation on the theme as an underdog (renowned for his bad 
luck) braves the mob to get his girl. 
Sexy Beast
(Jonathan Glazer, 2000) 
also puts romance first, and rewards virtuous intentions. Its ex-crook 
‘Gal’ Dove (Ray Winston) – coerced into doing another job by vicious 
thug Don (Ben Kingsley) – may forfeit any money from the robbery yet 
outlives his nemesis and manages to return to his haven in Spain with 
his beloved Deedee (Amanda Redman), even getting away with giving 
her diamond earrings taken during the bungled caper. The moral com-
pass in such narratives oscillates fairly wildly at times. The two hit-men 
in 
In Bruges 
(Martin McDonagh, 2008) may murder for money – rather 
than ‘anything stupid like revenge’, as Ray (Colin Farrell) puts it – yet 
are far from villainous, particularly when compared to their mob boss, 
Harry (Ralph Fiennes). A family man with a psychotic attitude, he oddly 
allies sentiment with a sense of murderous honour. Convinced that Ray 

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Fairy Tale and Film
should be punished for accidentally killing a child during a hit, Harry 
seeks to compensate for his death by ordering his shooting in Bruges – 
continually referred to as a fairy tale city. The fact that its beauty is 
totally lost on the young man is but one irony at work in the film, 
another being that Ray outlives both his boss and the man contracted to 
kill him, the latter giving his life in the hope that Ray will do something 
more worthwhile with his. Criminals thus attain a level of sympathy in 
these films, particularly where they are motivated by less venal interests 
and there is an opportunity to choose another path, assert greater con-
trol over their lives, and forge an existence away from crime. 
In other examples, however, especially where characters act simply 
out of avarice, this often proves to be their undoing. In examples such 
as 
The Grifters 
(Stephen Frears, 1990), 
Shallow Grave
(Danny Boyle, 
1994), 
A Simple Plan
(Sam Raimi, 1999) and 
Fargo
(Joel and Ethan Coen, 
1996), friendships and families are torn apart by greed, leaving us with a 
bitter morality on the folly of putting money first. This is an interesting 
variation on the general cinematic insistence that crime cannot pay, an 
edict which has accompanied crime films from the gangster classics of 
the 1930s on. The Hays Code was established in 1934 to offset the dan-
gerous charisma of criminal characters featured in the likes of 
Scarface
(Howard Hawks, 1932) and 
Public Enemy
(William D. Wellman, 1931) –