The 7th Voyage of Sinbad

My second Sinbad review finds me slightly less impressed than I was by The Eye of the Tiger. This edition in the ongoing cinematic amusement that is Sinbad finds our man and his crew lost while heading for home, adrift with starvation. Upon sighting shore they land and meet a mysterious magician with a lamp. The genie in this lamp saves the day from a huge cyclops, but is lost to it. Going home to Bagdad for his wedding to Princess Parisi – a wedding that will unite two warring cities – the magician insists upon returning for the lamp. When his hopes are dashed, he places a curse on the princess that can only be reversed by (you guessed it) returning to his island home of Colossa (I called it ‘Monster Island’). Quickly recruiting a crew from the local prison and mental institution (as you would), Sinbad sets sail for adventure. Naturally, as with all Sinbad movies, there ensues the usual battles with gigantic mythical beasts and skeletons using skeleton power.

"If you are indeed a magician, why do you not use your great power to slay the one-eyed monster?"

This is good fun as far as movies go and never promises more than it can deliver. Whilst it may appear a little outdated today, it is still a rollicking good time at sea. The animation is superb, with our dear friend Ray Harryhausen pulling the strings in the unique process of Dynamation!® to bring Sinbad’s battles with mythology to life. For the time this was made (1958) the special effects are top notch, and even by today’s standards will seem quite astounding at times.

The cheapness of these films should be brought into consideration as well. Half the fun of the Sinbad movies is the exotically cheap fireworks. Even so, it adds to the charm of these super-fun films.

The picture quality fluctuates between clear and crisp to foggy when characters are interacting with animation in the Dynamation!® bits. Flesh tones also go around the world, changing from the clear white of these Arabian knights to a swarthy dark inside caves (did no one ever wonder why white folks are playing Arabians?) Colour is another area that goes up and down depending on where certain scenes were shot. Interior studio shots are all fine, but the outdoors and animation scenes can be a bit of an unrestored letdown. There are also instances of flickering exposure on the film stock that irks a little, yet adds authenticity to this ancient classic.

The fade-outs and fade-ups also suffer heavily with greenism, but as scenes are dying or opening it doesn’t truly affect the action. For the rest the blacks are fairly good, as are shadows. We do lose a teeny bit of detail in the shadows, but it really isn’t too bad.

For the most part, the sound is okay. The music comes across a little louder than surrounding dialogue or effects, but this is negligible really and barely worth mentioning. For several minutes we are subjected to the ‘wailing of demons’ cast out on some island (possibly Gilligan’s) that sounds suspiciously like radio frequency noise. By the time this scene ends, you will be thankful the noise is over. It drives characters onscreen quite mad, so we must be tougher 50 years on or something (although it came close at my house).

Skeletons using skeleton power are so much fun to watch, but the noise of them fighting can be a little distracting. Castanets have been used heavily to create the bone-on-bone sound a skeleton might make whilst fighting a man with a sword. This castanet sound overpowers the music and regular effects to annoyance by the end of the battle and you will be glad Sinbad just smote his bony arse (and that’s not a giveaway – as if Sinbad would lose!)

Finally, occasionally the dialogue chooses to echo a little. This isn’t much or often, and is mainly confined to the head recruit of the ship’s mental crew. Otherwise, the sound is mostly acceptable. Mostly.

Here’s a plentiful band of extras (also recruited from prison and mental institutions). Firstly, there is the Original Movie Poster which is a nice opener and the only thing that resembles a gallery on the extras menu. There follows two Interviews: The first with Ray Harryhausen and Charles H. Schneer, the producer. This is a very interesting talk about Ray’s origins in animation, his techniques and experiments and his relationship with Schneer. Kerwin Mathews (Sinbad) also describes his experience with the film. The second features John Landis (another well-known, more modern producer) interviewing Ray more about his models and how they work and are constructed. This is quite informative and well recommended.

Next up is a repeat of the This is Dynamation!® Featurette we’ve seen on Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger, as is the hour length Feature The Ray Harryhausen Chronicles. I was mildly unimpressed by this repeat performance, but both are still very entertaining as I have mentioned in the previous review. We then have three Theatrical Trailers for The 7th Voyage of Sinbad, The Golden Voyage of Sinbad and Jason and the Argonauts. Lastly, there are Filmographies for Ray Harryhausen, director Nathan Juran, Kathryn Grant, Torin Thatcher and Sinbad himself, Kerwin Mathews. Not a bad bunch of stuff if you’re only buying the one film, but as part of the box set, the repeat offenders are a bit rude.

These films are made for the sole purpose of having fun with the medium (making money probably came before that actually, but it doesn’t sound as good.) This being said, the film is a lot of fun with actors dedicated to their roles regardless of how cheesy they may be or how thin the plots. The animation is classic stuff and is still classed as required viewing at colleges and universities because of its awesome nature.

Anyone watching this film for a think piece is going to be sorely disappointed, but they will be rewarded with some fun ideas, some great special effects and some very informative extras. 7th Voyage is an all-round nice package that sits comfortably alongside the others in this series of films, though it’s not the best of them.

Don’t expect science, just enjoy the fantasy.