Sindbad und das Auge des Tigers

I don't get why so many people pan this 1977 Sinbad adventure film, the third in a trilogy featuring Ray Harryhausen's special effects creations. The previous installments are 1958's "The 7th Voyage of Sinbad" and 1973's "The Golden Voyage of Sinbad."

THE PLOT: Princess Farah's (Jane Seymour) brother, who's about to be crowned Caliph of the kingdom, is turned into a baboon by the envious sorceress Zenobia (Margaret Whiting) who wants her son to be Caliph instead (Kurt Christian). Sinbad (Patrick Wayne) escorts Farah and her baboon brother on a grand adventure to restore his humanity before Zenobia's son is crowned. The long quest includes meeting the wizard Melanthius (Patrick Troughton) and his beautiful daughter Dione (Taryn Power). They travel to arctic regions and along the way are exposed to all kinds of fantastical creatures and supernatural experiences.

Sinbad adventures play like a Middle Eastern version of Conan the Barbarian, albeit with a slightly funner edge and a less dour protagonist. So, if you love Conan you'll likely appreciate all three Sinbad films. And even though I describe it as having a fun edge, don't think "Eye of the Tiger" is goofy. It's not. This is a serious Sinbad adventure, but the protagonists exude the joy and vitality of living.

The items I demand in a Sinbad adventure are obvious: A good casting choice for Sinbad, a great adventure story & locations, a colorful assortment of likable characters & love-to-hate villains, beautiful women, and quality F/X work. "Eye of the Tiger" delivers in all these areas: Patrick Wayne is superb as the titular hero and IMO the best of the three actors who played the character in the trilogy (the others being Kerwin Mathews and John Phillip Law). I don't see why so many criticize him as "wooden" or somehow sub-par. He's perfect for the role and I'm bewildered as to why he didn't have a more stellar career. I know this is blasphemy to some, but I prefer him to his famous father. He's in the same masculine league as Charleton Heston and Burt Reynolds.

The story is everything you'd want in a Sinbad yarn -- grand adventure on the high seas with intermittent supernatural elements. The locations are fabulous -- Jordan, Petra (Melanthius's lair), Malta and Spain. There's even an arctic sequence with snowy locations and fairly convincing studio sets.

The characters are indeed colorful and well-cast. Whiting puts her heart & soul into her role as the witch with a capital "B" and Troughton is charismatic as the likable old magician.

As for women, this is one of the highlights of the film as the young brunette Jane Seymour and blond Taryn Power (Tyrone's daughter) are breathtaking to behold in every scene they appear. The film's worth watching just for Jane & Taryn. As for Harryhausen's effects, they're pretty much the same as his work in his other films, e.g. "Clash of the Titans," "Jason and the Argonauts" and "Mysterious Island." It just comes down to whether or not you like the creature(s) in question. Nothing here is as good as his Medusa and skeleton gang in other films IMHO, but it's a matter of preference. I personally don't find the saber-tooth tiger very impressive, but who can deny the greatness of the troglodyte as a sympathetic animated character? Anyway, the F/X sequences are just icing on the cake as far as I'm concerned. They don't make or break the film. The story, characters and locations are what really matter.

FINAL ANALYSIS: Don't listen to the critics! This is a very entertaining Sinbad adventure on all counts. It's main flaw is that it's too long for it's own good. Regardless, I have a good time whenever I see it and prefer it to the previous two films. Patrick Wayne is a great Sinbad, the story captures your attention, the locations are fabulous, and Jane Seymour & Taryn Power are delectable. It's at least on par with "The Golden Voyage," although I give "Eye" the edge.

The film runs 113 minutes.

GRADE: B

Enjoyed seeing this film after first viewing this film in 1977 and was spellbound and enjoyed the great acting of Patrick Wayne,(Sinbad) who manages to accomplish his task against the forces of Evil vs. Good. Taryn Power, (Diane) was very beautiful in her supporting role along with Margaret Whiting, (Zednobia). Sinbad has to face the evil powers of a wicked witch who uses all her powers to prevent Sinbad from carrying out his mission. It was nice to see Jan Seymour, (Princess Farah) who was very young and just starting out on a great career on the Silver Screen. In 1974 I really enjoyed that Sinbad film and this was even better when I first viewed this in 1977, it brought back fond memories, however, I love the films today and all the great graphics. This was just a look back at movies we thought were outstanding. They STILL ARE!

(Minor Spoilers)

Let's be honest and a tad realistic about this film, shall we?

By TODAY'S standards, this is a "cheesy" kinda film compared to what technology we've got. And I think at the time of this release we had gotten "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" and "Star Wars" so our expectation levels were running higher for "special effects" and "whimsy" than this.

But I still can get entertainment out of this film.

How?

By remembering how old I was when I saw it and WHOM I was with when I saw it. My family.

I was a child. This film wasn't in my all time top ten, but it was...fun. It was one of those movies local channels threw on Sunday afternoon before or after a televised ball game..or when a ball game was rained out. Come on, admit it..you remember!

And that's the point. This film's special effects were nice..not spectacular..not even up to Ray Harryhausen's standards, but the Harryhausen mark was there which made it entertaining (Admit it, you LOVED the walrus scene!! How 'bout that Cyclops?!?! As a child this was all good! You remember!!).

For very young girls, this Sinbad was REALLY nice to look at back then. For the very young guys, so was Miss Jane Seymour and Miss Taryn Power. Then there was the story which was kinda fun, the adventure which was kinda whimsical and the happy ending where the bad guys got theirs'.

This was done at a time of assuming children would love this kinda stuff. Back then, more would have. Now, most children don't even think "Spy Kids" can give them a buzz.

This movie is about childhood and remembering what it was like to have an imagination and watch a story unfold for nothing but the sheer enjoyment of it...the fun of eating "Good 'n' Plenty", "Snowcaps", "Malted Milk Balls" and Popcorn without thinking about calorie content to make this even more fun to watch...and the "eye candy" of Wayne, Seymour and Power help a so-so story that's really better than a lot of stuff I've seen today that they charge ya $10 a ticket for! Parents may not have liked it as much as the children but that too is part of the fun!

Have a heart when watching this. Watch this as a "fun" romp....as remembering when families watched shows together (..or in my case my dad mumbling under his breath about how the game was due on and he had to sit through this 'crap' first!), the pre-teen tingles of watching a handsome Wayne, young Seymour and/or Power (...ya know...before having breast implants and weighing 95 pounds was mandatory in Hollywood for women to do this kind of film work?!?) and telling your parents you were REALLY interested in the story...really.

Maybe I've got a more "nostalgic" view about this film..its because I'm not looking for academy award winning material with this kind of film, but it does its job of...entertaining...and if you have children and want them to be children for a tad longer, this may be the film fare for them. Or just for you, if you want to curl up with some popcorn and remember "the good old movie fluff days" where special effects were done by hand and stop motion photography by the "grand-daddy" of the genre and a Sinbad movie where Sinbad actually looked like you might imagined him to look like back then and evil characters who were evil and got theirs....pretty much simplified.

Open your mind and when you have a moment...enjoy. Don't take it seriously just sit back... watch...and HAVE FUN..with your children, as a family.

Okay, so the film isn't a masterpiece for anyone involved, but the DVD is worth the price for Harryhausen fans. I won't reiterate a fairly lame plot but to say that a prince is morphed into a baboon and Sinbad must find a way to correct this untimely development in order to repay a friend and win the hand of the lovely Jane Seymour. All in all, the film turns out to be rather entertaining once Patrick Troughton makes it on-screen to flesh-out the dialogue. Overshadowing the movie's multiple shortcomings, however, is the always inspiring stop-motion work of Ray Harryhausen. The Trog and sabre-tooth are two fine creations and while we don't see anything on par with the 7 skeletons in "Jason & the Argonauts" or Medusa from "Clash of the Titans" there are some great moments with other creatures. While to be treasured as one of Harryhausen's last films the DVD also includes the added bonus of "The Ray Harryhausen Chronicles", an in-depth documentary narrated by Leonard Nimoy featuring a bio and interviews with today's FX masters. This and other features combine to make an otherwise average fantasy/adventure film worth a look--if you're a Harryhausen fan and you've got a DVD player. For all the extra features, I'll give the DVD a 6/10.

I haven't seen many Sinbad movies, but this one I liked very much. I remember seeing the preview when I was younger. And I said to myself, "This movie looks like fun!" The animation in the movie gave it plenty of character. And Sinbad(Patrick Wayne) was a fine man as well. The witch(Margaret Whiting) was a very fiendish woman. She makes all other witches look like amateurs, especially when she used her sorcery. Her only flaw is when her re-transformation from a bird didn't complete itself. It's when her right foot is still a bird's. The growth formula was something when one of the bees drank it. and was later killed by Sinbad. Jane Seymour does a great job playing Princess Farah. She really knows how to control, and tame things that Sinbad couldn't do. The giant walrus, the golden minotaur, and a the vicious saber-tooth tiger gives the movie something to see. I think this movie is very watchable, and very entertaining. I wished it had gotten better reviews than it did. 3 out of 5 stars!