Sinbad, the Sailor

The storyteller Sinbad the Sailor (Douglas Fairbanks Jr.) is gathered with other men in the harbor telling his adventure seeking the island of Daryabar, where the treasure of Alexander the Great is hidden. In his journey with his friend Abbu (George Tobias), Sinbad rescues and claims property of a drifting boat; he meets the ambitious and gorgeous Shireen (Maureen O'Hara) and falls in love for her; he is chased by the evil Emir (Anthony Quinn) that is seeking the treasure to become one of the most powerful men in the world; and he meets the dangerous Melik (Walter Slezak) that also wants the treasure.

"Sinbad the Sailor" is a delightful adventure, in a type of naive movie that Hollywood seems to have forgotten in the present days. However, the success of the franchise "Pirates of Caribbean" proves that this genre is still attractive for the younger generations. The athletic Douglas Fairbanks Jr. is excellent in the lead role, showing a great chemistry with the gorgeous Maureen O'Hara and Anthony Quinn and Walter Slezak are great villains. The final twist in the very end is extremely pleasant, closing with golden key this entertaining movie. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "Simbad, o Marujo" ("Sinbad the Sailor")

When I assess the popularity of this film in the postwar period of its release and then compare viewers' reactions recently registered to that approbation, I must assert that U.S. viewers appear to have suffered two serious losses over the last 50 years. First, they apparently can no longer listen to intelligent dialogue nearly as well as they once could; and second, viewers seem to have abandoned categories of fiction for emotional predilections, for or against subject matter, actors, etc. I believe that "Sinbad the Sailor" is an interesting, beautifully-photographed and well-acted film. I suggest Douglas Fairbanks Jr. is very good in the title role, although he adopted a device of moving his hands often that is graceful but distracting. Contrary to some adverse comments, if one ignores Maureen O'Hara's Irish brogue, she is excellent, rising to one of her most rewarding earlier parts, one that taxes her to play several moods and many nuances. Walter Slezak is very fine as always as a charismatic villain, Anthony Quinn underplays a villain who only reveals his depths of evil gradually. Also, George Tobias makes nearly the perfect foil for Fairbanks' agile Sinbad. The production is much-admired, with a rich teal blue to the sea in the process shots that many never tire of enjoying.. The elaborate costumes by Edward Stevenson and Dwight Franklin are a delight; the cinematography by George Barnes and the art direction by Albert d'Agostino and Carroll Clark as well as the set decorations by Claude E. Carpenter and Darrell Silvera are all outstanding. Roy Webb contributed fine original music and the direction by Richard Wallace is to my mind intelligent and swift-paced throughout. In fact, he plays with rates of the passage of time unusually well. The convoluted script for the film retailing Sinbad's "eight' voyage" was written by John Twist from a story created by him with George Worthing Yates. The plot theme involves "being true to the best that is in oneself". To feature this, the story-line retails the finding of a derelict ship with a dead crew. Sinbad, Douglas Fairbanks Jr., and his partner Tobias, boarding the ship after being marooned, manage to bring the vessel to port where it is impounded. They had found the crew had been poisoned by the ship's water. But who poisoned it, they wonder. The entire film is told as a flashback by Sinbad, recounting his unknown latest adventure. His hints about plague to potential buyers of the ship, causes no one to buy the vessel--except himself, using money stealthily stolen from the auctioneer's own purse. A beautiful woman, O'Hara, it turns out, wants to marry a wealthy prince and also wants the vessel. Meanwhile Sinbad is trying to solve a riddle, involving the broken half of an amulet that had been found about his neck when he was an abandoned baby. The image found there also appeared on a map to a fabled island where lies the treasure of Alexander the Great--a map that later disappeared from the vessel. O'Hara is being sought by the Emir, Quinn; and believes Sinbad can lead her to the wealth.And he Emir wants it and her very badly. What follows is Arabian Nights adventure I suggest at its best-- captures, ship chases, escapes, arguments between male and female, the revelation that Melik, who has sailed with Sinbad, is the poisoner, a man obsessed with the treasure also, etc. The uneasy allies all arrive at last at the mysterious island of Derriabar. Sinbad is discovered to be the ruler-philosopher's long-lost son. He must somehow save the island from the Emir, who plans to use its wealth to make himself master of the entire world. Melik has a fine death scene.Sinbad prefers honesty and O'Hara as Shireen prefers him and the ending is very obviously satisfying. This is a film about ethics, mystery, romance, adventure, dialogue, humor and misassumptions. I recommend it highly to anyone adult enough to listen to it; it was a big hit for RKO when first released. In the good cast also are Seldon Leonard, John Miljan, Jane Greer, Mike Mazurki, Alan Napier and George Chandler.

This movie is an adult oriented swashbuckling tale in the guise of a children's movie. The harem scene is quite erotic and suggestive for its time. The script is very literate, almost too much so for a children's film, but there is plenty of colorful action for the kids too. The relationship between the O'Hara and Fairbanks character is very fiery, at times a little over-abusive, but they seem to made for each other. Slezak uses his intelligence to take an over-the-top character and make him believable and interesting. There is a lot of romance, combined with an inner-spective questioning of what true treasure is, and where true happiness comes from; everyone can learn from this. In this sense, it is a very moralistic tale, without preaching, but "showing". Kids will enjoy the action, adults who can get into the spirit of the tale will enjoy the sexual excitement and subtleties of the story and script. And to the casual viewer, it's just a fun film. It is underrated, and deserves a view by the entire family.

"Sindbad the Sailor" is a lovely film to look at and it's obvious that RKO really pulled out all the stops to get this made. While this was a lesser studio in Hollywood, here they use nice garish 1940s Technicolor (the type classic movie fans love--despite its being very unrealistic), lavish sets and tons of costumes. It was obviously a prestige picture--and one on which the studio lavished a lot of attention. Because of this, it's odd that the dialog totally stank. All too often, people talked like they were either making speeches or doing an antiquated play--and in the process, the whole thing came off as stilted and silly. It's a shame, really, as I wanted to like this film a lot, but with B-movie writing, it only was mediocre.

In the lead was Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. and I assume he was chosen because of his father. Fairbanks, Sr. made a huge mark in the 1920s starring in fabulous action-adventure films like "The Thief of Bagdad" and "The Mark of Zorro" (among many others). His athleticism and wonderful screen presence must have played a huge part in their selecting his son for this 1947 film--especially since Fairbanks, Jr. was a very good actor but really was NOT known for this sort of film. However, despite being far less athletic than Dad, he was quite handsome and very good here...but his dialog....yecch! Overall, the film is an enjoyable escapist film with dialog that will make decent writers cry. The film has action, lovely sets, Maureen O'Hara (playing her rather clichéd petulant woman once again) and is pure escapism. But it plays like a B-movie with a great budget.

SINBAD, THE SAILOR is a gloriously colourful Arabian adventure that, as per Hollywood tradition, casts a number of western actors in Arabic parts. As somebody who grew up on the Ray Harryhausen Sinbad films, I was hoping for something in a similar vein - or indeed of the same spirit as Sabu's THIEF OF BAGDAD.

Sadly, this turns out to be nothing of the type. Instead it's a romantically-flavoured saga of tall tales and upright heroes, and of course all manner of dastardly Arabic types (including Anthony Quinn's evil emir). Douglas Fairbanks Jr. is a handsome but rather one-dimensional hero, and Maureen O'Hara his stilted love interest.

The problem with SINBAD, THE SAILOR is that it offers little of the escapsim we expect from these Eastern-flavoured tales. The action scenes, while fun, are kept few and far between, and there's a great deal of chinwagging going on. Sure, there are a few plot twists and a nice climax, but it isn't much for a somewhat lengthy film. Even worse, there are no monsters or special effects of any kind. I can imagine kids watching this and getting slightly bored with it; I know I was!