Captain Sindbad (1963)

Saw this on TV in the 1960s. So I was 10 or younger. Here's what I remember. Sindbad asking one of his mates for use of his hook hand to climb the big (tree trunk size) up rope into the mist. My thoughts: "Lucky the guy carries spares, and how does a hook for an amputee fit into Sindbad's good hand? Now he's climbing up - how far? They can't see the top. Looks like miles. That's pretty risky, betting you're not going to slip or get tired on the way up. Not safe." When carnivorous vines reach down and grab one of Sindband's sailors when going through the swamp: "How horrible! Did you hear him scream?! Wow, Sindbad is sure writing him off quick. They're just walking away. Guess life and death are like that. Out of sight, out of mind." Lastly, when the big bad guy's (separately located) heart is destroyed, it sure looked like he made an effort to stagger over to the railing and climb over it in order to make a dramatic fall to his death. I thought, gee - if he has that much still in him, why doesn't he kill Sindbad or the girl or someone with his last moment? Whatever, seared into my brain for almost fifty years. Can't remember what I had for breakfast yesterday, though.

Admittedly, nostalgia is coloring this review, since I remember it fondly from my childhood. Who could forget the giant fist in the tower, trying to crush Sinbad as he tries to stab the evil ruler's satin pillow of a heart? Or Sindbad climbing a six foot thick diameter rope? We looked for years for the "Sinbad" movie with the magician who lengthens his arm, and hit upon it by chance one day. Who knew there was a Sindbad movie among the later Sinbad movies?Sort of like the cheesy space movies that preceded the earth shattering Sci Fi classic, Star Wars, you have to suspend your sense of disbelief, not fixate on the fact that the special effects are not lifelike. Just try to remember what it was like, having fun watching a movie on Saturday, like when you were eight years old, and lucky enough to get money and a ride to the movies. This is an antidote to movies with computer special effects overload, like Transformers. Back to the age of innocence? Maybe not, but still good clean fun.

It's been about 30 years since I saw this as a kid and now I just recently bought it on the new remastered WB Archives DVD. DID I WASTE MY MONEY?...Heck No! It was even better than I remembered. Wonderful fun, beautiful colors, great imagination and those surreal sets, WOW, WOW, WOW. Any lover of fantasy and whimsy will love this movie providing that they have an imagination to make up for any production shortcomings. The computer effects generation of movie goers who need to be spoon fed scene by scene a depressing story with lots of vulgarity should stay away from this one. This is a fine and super fun movie for the whole family.

For what it is worth, the Arabic is best transliterated as As-Sindibaad Al-Bahri, therefore Sindibad or Sindbad not Sinbad, so the name of the main character in this film is MORE accurate then the other "Sinbad" movies not less. The classic translation of the Arabian Nights remains that of Sir Richard F. Burton, who uses Sindibad. The primary problem with Captain Sindbad is that the special effects are awful even for the time that it was made. The acting is, overall, good. Guy Williams is a better actor then most of the other Sinbads and is a much better swordsman. (He actually could fence, not up to Basil Rathbone, who was superb, but much better then the average.) The plot is much better then usual and certainly as good as that of The Seventh Voyage of Sinbad. It would be interesting to see this film with new effects sequences inserted over the originals.