The 7th Voyage of Sinbad (1958)

Sinbad is the captain of a ship sailing to the city of Bagdad to marry his princess as part of a political treaty between that city and Chandra...but they run out of food and water and make an emergency stop for supplies at an island where they end up fighting off a cyclops and rescuing a magician who has a magic lamp complete with genie. The magician is saved, but his lamp is lost on the island...and the magician is determined more than anything to get the lamp back, even if it means shrinking the princess to doll-size and forcing Sinbad to sail back to the island to retrieve it. But the hazards there include more monsters than just the cyclops.Average B-movie adventure, not well-written or well-performed, with the stop-motion monsters being the film's real attraction. Okay to entertain the kids, but not really worth viewing otherwise.

This was released 20 years before I was born but I was brought up on these kind of films. For me Jason and the argonauts is the best of the lot but this was a must watch at Christmas when on TV. My dad loved these films and I can see why. I've seen it recently and OK, the acting is a bit wooden but the special effects are still classy for the age of the film. I know in this day and age it's all about cgi mixed with life size models but you have to appreciate the classic story mixed with the special effects. A really enjoyable film that is entertaining and yet fun. Shame these times have passed.

The 7th Voyage of Sinbad is a superb adventure film, as well as an influential classic, which still ranks as one of the best films from late-great Ray Harryhausen - cinema's foremost master of stop-motion photography. As it's title implies, this film is based upon the mythical Arabian character of Sinbad the sailor, played by the English actor Kerwin Mathews and for the next an hour and a half, he spar's against the inspired, stop-motion, wizardry of Ray Harryhausen in this classic tale of good and evil. As one would expect The 7th Voyage of Sinbad is a film that's steeped in wizardry, ancient lore and "main-stream mythology", but best of all, it also happens to be over-flowing with Harryhausen's marvelous stop-motion magic. In the form of an exotic cavalcade of mythological creatures, which are to be found on the shores and in the caves on the mysterious Island of Colossa. Indeed The 7th Voyage of Sinbad comes loaded with an impressive arsenal of wondrous Harryhausen creations such as: Cloven-hoofed cyclops', four-armed serpent women, Rok's (giant two-headed birds), fire-breathing dragons and saving the best for last, an evil sword-swinging skeleton, that which is summoned to animated life by the treacherous wizard in black, Sokurah. The films plot, not surprisingly, revolves around Sinbad having to save the princess, but there's a unique twist to that part of it, which makes this movie that much more unique. Upon it's release over the Christmas holiday season of 1958 Harryhausen and company made quite a splash with their monster-filled fantasy film and it was the first (and perhaps the best) of several forays, that stop-motion master made into the medieval times of swords n' sorcery.This classic of fantasy was efficiently produced on what looks like a pretty modest budget and it's cast, with the exception of Kerwin Mathews and Torin Hatcher (in the role of Sokurah the Magician) is, regrettably, adequate at best. Unfortunately that's something that's consistent with ALL of the Harryhausen films - they never could afford A-list acting talent. But the way I see it, the real stars behind this fantastic fantasy are, Ray Harryhausen with his patented "Dyna-mation" (stop-motion animation) and the Bernard Herrmann for his rousing film score. Maestro Herrmann was at the height of his career in 1958 and near the peak of his creative powers and his score for The 7th Voyage of Sinbad, ranging from the exotic - to the bombastic, has long been among his best and most popular works (I myself own 3 different recordings of it). Supposedly Harryhausen's producer Charles Schneer, pursued the characteristically cantankerous composer for six whole months, in an epic campaign which eventually coaxed the hesitant Herrmann aboard the production. If that's really true then I certainly applaud his efforts. Harryhausen would eventually go on to make two more Sinbad films in the 1970's, but neither of them seem to "have it" like this movie does; in fact the last film pretty much sucks and was a lame and sour note to end his Sinbad trilogy with. But as time marches on, over the past nearly six decades, The 7th Voyage of Sinbad a true gem of the fantasy genre, continues to be frequently sighted as a highly influential source of inspiration in the eyes of many of the greatest directors and special effects artists of today; and just to name a few, the likes of: George Lucas, Steven Spielberg, Dennis Muren, etc. Not to forget the striking "Herrmann-esque" musical aspect, which imbues virtually ever minute of the movie."Herrmann-esque" a little more on that note. This film also proved to be the starting point for Bernard Herrmann's other significant long-term collaboration, a creatively fruitful partnership that always brought out the best in the brilliant, but temperamental composer. This partnership would last from 1958 to 1964, in that time the esteemed trio of Herrmann, Harryhausen and Schneer would collaborate on several occasions and produced a string of several well received fantasy films. They are in order: The 7th Voyage of Sinbad (1958), The Three World's of Gulliver (1960), Mysterious Island (1961) and lastly 1963's Jason and the Argonauts, which in my opinion is Herrmann's career best - his magnum opus. After the creative high-point of Jason and the Argonauts, the relationship between Herrmann and Harryhausen's long-time producer Charles Schneer, had deteriorated beyond repair, largely due to Schneer's penny-pinching way's, in regards to how the recording sessions were arranged. Which frustrated Herrmann as he thought that Schneer's stinginess undermined his ability to create the type of music that the films demanded. Things ended acrimoniously in 1964 - after Herrmann, ever so subtly, doubled his fee, which by doing so, priced himself out of their league, effectively ending a most remarkable partnership.Lastly, what's unique about this particular chapter of the Sinbad saga, is that fact that it's the first Sinbad film, to actually bring those storied and mythical beasts to the screen. It wasn't UNTIL this Ray Harryhausen classic came to be, that these fantastical beasts were actually seen; before that merely mentioning them in passing would, lamely, have to suffice. The 7th Voyage of Sinbad changed all that - for the better.

When a princess is shrunken by an evil wizard, Sinbad (Kerwin Mathews) must undertake a quest to an island of monsters to cure her and prevent a war.Ray Harryhausen strays a little bit from the monsters and aliens we love him for. But only just a little bit, as we have plenty of other mythical monsters here. Horror? Not really, no. But any fan of his work is going to have to see this.I cannot say I am a big follower of Sinbad, so I do not know the stories of his voyages or whatever. But this one seems to borrow very heavily from the 1001 Arabian Nights. The genie and the princess seem very much like something we expect from "Aladdin" or with Ali Baba.