Le 7ème Voyage de Sinbad

This truly action packed fantasy is as fun nearly 50 on from the time of it's making. Out of the films that were produced by Charles H. Schneer and featured special effects by Ray Harryhausen, Jason And The Argonauts is usually named as the best [certainly that was the film where Harryhausen perfected his techniques],but Sinbad is not far behind. It's far simpler but provides just as much entertainment. Of course some of the dialogue is a little hokey, but who watches films like this for their dialogue? Dialogue here exists simply to help propel the plot forward at as fast a pace as possible.

The amount of action scenes crammed into this less-then-90 min. film is astounding, and despite this the film still retains a delightful sense of wonder, as one wonders what fantastic creation will show up next. Yes, some of the matt work looks a bit poor ,and the creatures are a little jerky, but the design and execution of the snake woman, cyclopes, rocs, dragon etc. is still astounding for the time, and some sequences, such as the battle with the the first cyclops and the duel with the skeleton, are still very exciting.

Criticisms of the acting may be partially justified, but Torin Thatcher is as menacing a villain as one can wish for, and of course there's also Bernard Herrmann's extremely inventive score. Schneer and Harryhausen would later make two further Sinbad films, and there was a semi- remake several years later, Jack The Giant Killer. All three are fun, but none have the simple purity of this classic adventure.

Arguably, Harryhausen's finest moment. I can't off the top of my head nominate one that was better! It had it all, adventure, fantasy, heroics, monsters, and Harryhausen's stop-frame wizardry that puts half the CGI effects right out of business.

I too, saw it as a child and along with JASON AND THE ARGONAUTS, THE GOLDEN VOYAGE OF SINBAD and CLASH OF THE TITANS, bought it years later and played it to standing room only, in our lounge throughout the kids childhood. Lucky aren't they?

The cyclops was the ultimate magic and I only wish my children could have seen the original theatrical screening with which television cannot compete. The film is still there but the sense of impending wonder (sitting there in a blackened theater) cannot be replicated on the small screen.

What a legacy to leave the world!

One of the nice things about being a little older is that I can remember the first time I saw movies like this and not think of them as schmaltzy or tacky. They were the state of the art in special effects (thanks to the likes of Ray Harreyhausen) and they were absolutely captivating. With computer generated creatures, we have gone so far beyond these things, but when I go to a Harry Potter movie or a Lord of the Rings movie (wonderful films), I look at the faces of the kids. There seems to be no wonderment at all. We have been fed such a constant diet that we don't look beyond the magic. This is a great story with wizards and heroes and mythical monsters and skeletons fighting. I know the Sinbad stories from the Arabian Nights and there is a lot of borrowing from every avenue of folklore and mythology. They really don't follow the book. But when I was in seventh grade, I couldn't care less. This is a quest and they made the getting there a real treat.

I saw this film first when I was 11 years old and seeing it 59 years later hasn't diminished me enthusiasm. This is some of Ray Harryhausen's best work and first with classical characters as opposed to futuristic science fiction.

Playing Sinbad is Kerwin Matthews who seemed to like doing these films, he was so often cast in them. He's getting ready to marry Princess Kathryn Crosby and that's something for even a sea captain to marry into the royal family.

But when they're blown off course and come to an island where magician Torin Thatcher headquarters and shares it with a cyclops, a giant flying roc bird and a fire breathing dragon Thatcher keeps to protect his lair it's trouble. Thatcher has possession also of a magic lamp with a boy genie Richard Eyer who like Pinnochio wants to be a real live boy.

Watching The 7th Voyage Of Sinbad really takes me back to when I was 11 years old. You can still thrill at my age to what Harryhausen does with those monsters. An 11 year old of any age can still thrill to the dragon and cyclops duking it out while our hero escapes with his lady love.

Thatcher's a villain that will give you nightmares. He's pure evil, the kind you applaud when he gets his.

After almost 60 years The 7th Voyage Of Sinbad is still a great family film with whole cloth heroes and the darkest of villains.

The Seventh Voyage of Sinbad is one of my all time favourite movies. Great cast, great villain, great script and just the right balance of absolutely fantastic Ray Harryhausen special effects (without being excessive or absurd - as in the ridiculous and completely unbelievable baboon who appears to star in the deeply inferior 'Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger', 1977).

Kerwyn Mathews stars as Sinbad minus the traditional beard, but compensates by showing off as much chest hair and his forearms as possible. Critics have describe him as a little wooden but I disagree. I thought he was just great for the part and plays it well. Its not Shakespeare after all. My three year old son still joins in shouting 'Parisa !' and 'Sakura !' whenever we watch this movie.

The gorgeous Katherine Grant is a beautiful Princess named Parisa (and not in a slightly sleazy, ever so tartish fashion that we see foisted on Caroline Munro in the 1974 'Golden Voyage of Sinbad').

Torin Thatcher, born in Bombay and therefore possibly the token 'Asian' in this flick, is absolutely marvelous as Sakura, the evil wizard or magician (it's never made quite clear what side of the fence he sits on, or why). He exudes evil even before it made clear that he's a resident baddie.

This is a really great family movie above all else. Everyone except the eternally idle, the immature and clinically over-cynical teenagers can sit through this and find something enjoyable - even the music and scenery (the caption reads: Bagdad, but in fact it's Granada, Spain). I might also add that it makes a very pleasant change to see a movie in English where the bloke who says 'Allah' in his sentences is not some dreadful caricatured half-mad terrorist looking to kill innocents. Its good to be able to sit down with the kids and watch a film that everyone likes for a change.

My only, only complaint with this film is the silly voice they have given the child-genie. Very unnecassary and distracting from an otherwise excellent piece of cinema viewing. Five stars or ten, whichever is highest.