Simbad e a Princesa

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.

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 rescuing Sokurah the Magician (Torin Thatcher) from an angry cyclops, Sinbad (Kerwin Mathews) and his crew set sail for home. Unfortunately, Sokurah has lost something very valuable to him, and will do anything to retrieve it. Thus, his treachery unfolds, forcing Sinbad to return to the mysterious island where it all began.

THE 7TH VOYAGE OF SINBAD is a great story of adventure, romance, and derring-do, full of magic and monsters. This movie is a showcase for the stop-motion genius of Ray Harryhausen, who provides not only the cyclops, but also a dragon, a two-headed Roc, a four-armed snake woman, and a sword-swinging skeleton man! The dead-on choreography for the ensuing sword fight between Sinbad and the animated skeleton is astonishing!

Loved it as a kid, still love it as an adult!...

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.

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.