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.

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")

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.

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.

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.