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

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.

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")