Le 7ème Voyage de Sinbad

I have long had a soft spot for "The Seventh Voyage of Sinbad", and Ray Harryhausen's work in general, ever since I was taken, as a child, as part of a friend's birthday treat, to see the film on a double bill with "Jason and the Argonauts". This would have been in the early seventies, nearly a decade and a half after it was first released in 1958, but in those days children's films seemed to have a longer shelf-life than they do today, and it was quite common for cinemas to wheel out the familiar old classics every school holiday. (My friend's birthday fell in July, so his parties normally included a trip to the movies).

The plot concerns a beautiful princess who has been shrunk to a height of only a few inches by an evil magician. She can only be restored to normal by a magic potion, the ingredients for which can only be obtained by a hazardous voyage to a distant island. Step forward the heroic Sinbad, who has fallen in love with the princess. Once on the island he and his crew must face many dangers, including a cyclops, a dragon and a roc, a gigantic two-headed predatory bird.

This isn't really the sort of film you go to for the acting, so it doesn't really matter that neither the handsome Kerwin Mathews as Sinbad nor the lovely Kathryn Grant (aka Mrs Bing Crosby) as Princess Parisa were the sort of actors who were ever likely to receive Oscar nominations. What matters is that both looked and sounded right in an Arabian Nights fantasy movie.

Monsters were Harryhausen's stock-in-trade, and the monster scenes were filmed using Dynamation, the widescreen stop-motion animation technique which he created. He later worked on two more Sinbad films using the same technique, "The Golden Voyage of Sinbad" from 1973 and "Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger" from 1977. I have never seen "The Golden Voyage", but by 1977 (the same year as the original "Star Wars") Harryhausen's work, and stop-motion animation in general, was starting to look a bit retro in the age of CGI.

For me, however, the retro look is part of the charm of this sort of film, and we have to remember that in 1958 it was not retro at all, but cutting-edge film technology. It may look old-fashioned today, but "The Seventh Voyage of Sinbad" still retains its ability to transport the audience into a world full of wonders. And that is the whole point of films like this. 7/10

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!

After his wife-to-be, Princess Parisa (Kathryn Grant), is shrunk by an evil magician, Sinbad (Kerwin Mathews) undertakes a perilous journey to a mysterious monster inhabited island, in an attempt to restore her to full size (and who can blame him-she's a total babe and wears the kind of outfit most red-blooded men wish they could get their woman into).

Almost fifty years on, The 7th Voyage of Sinbad may seem dated (particularly for those only familiar with CGI monsters) but, in my opinion, it still has the power to captivate and amaze. With Ray Harryhausen's wonderful stop motion effects (which include a cyclops, a dragon, a snake-woman, a giant two-headed bird and an animated skeleton) and a timeless magical tale of swashbuckling heroics, director Nathan Juran delivers a classic slice of fantasy cinema.

A cracking opening gets straight to the action with Sinbad and his men encountering bad-guy Sokurah when their ship is blown off course and ends up at the island of Colossa. The wicked magician is being chased by a cyclops, but is rescued by Sinbad and his men, who help him to safety aboard their vessel. Sokurah wishes to be returned to the island in order to get his hands on a magic lamp (now in the possession of the cyclops), but Sinbad is headed for Bagdad where he is to be married to the gorgeous Parisa, and ain't nothing going to stop him from tying the knot. Nothing, that is, 'cept for his woman being reduced to the size of a small doll.

Not realising that Sokurah is to blame for her diminutive stature, Sinbad is conned into returning to Colossa, where the nasty magician says he can create a potion which will return Parisa to normal.

Great fun from start to finish, The 7th Voyage is packed full of great scenes (my favourite being the Cyclops preparing a tasty snack--spit-roasted sailor) and is perfect fare for fantasy-loving kids and adults alike. And, if you like this, seek out the Golden Voyage of Sinbad, which I think is even better.

Most people have movies that they remember watching when they were infants and never forget them. This is one of mine, along with King Kong (1933) and One Million Years BC.

The stars of this movie are of course Ray's stop-motion monsters. We get to see several cyclops, a dragon, a giant roc, a baby roc, a snake woman and, best of all, a skeleton.

The movie's cast includes Kerwin Mathews as Sinbad and Torin Thatcher as the mad magician, Sokurah. These play great parts, as does Richard Eyer as the Genie. The theme music and score by Bernard Herrmann is magnificent. The movie was directed by Nathan Juran (The Deadly Mantis).

This is the best of Harryhausen's Sinbad movies and one of his best movies overall, along with Jason and the Argonauts.

If you haven't seen this, you are missing out. Fantastic.

Rating: 5 stars out of 5.

While sailing with Princess Parisa (Kathryn Grant) to Baghdad to their wedding, Sinbad (Kerwin Mathews) finds the Colossa Island and anchors his vessel to get supplies for the starving crew. Sinbad and his men help the magician Sokurah (Torin Thatcher) to escape from a Cyclops that attacks them, and Sokurah uses a magic lamp with a boy jinni to help them; however, their boat sinks and he loses the lamp. Sokurah offers a small fortune to Sinbad to return to Colossa, but he does not accept and heads to Baghdad. The citizens and the Caliph of Baghdad (Alec Mango) are celebrating the peace with Chandra, and they offer a feast to the Sultan of Chandra (Harold Kasket). Sakurah requests a ship and crew to return to Colossa but the Caliph refuses to jeopardize his countrymen. However, the treacherous magician shrinks the princess and when the desperate Sinbad seeks him out, he tells that he needs to return to Colossa to get the ingredient necessary for the magic potion. But Sinbad has only his friend Harufa (Alfred Brown) to travel with him, and he decides to enlist a doubtful crew in the prison of Baghdad, in the beginning of his dangerous voyage to Colossa to save the princess and avoid the eminent war between Chandra and Baghdad.

This is the first time that I have watched "The 7th Voyage of Sinbad", a delightful adventure with Cyclops, dragon, magician, magic lamp and jinni. The special effects are fantastic for a 1958 film and I have really loved this movie. It is intriguing to see the magician foresee the destruction of Baghdad, with wrecked buildings and women and children murdered. In the end, I have had the sensation that I have lost something in my childhood missing this pleasant and entertaining movie when I was a child. My vote is eight.

Title (Brazil): "Simbad e a Princesa" ("Sinbad and the Princess")