What caused
me to revisit the 'Golden Voyage of Sinbad', which I believe I
saw on TV one Saturday afternoon as a six year old?
Somehow I fell into some Ray Harryhausen site and eventually
the discussion devolved into who was the hotter Sinbad chick,
Jane Seymour, Taryn Power or Caroline Munro. The
conversation devolved even further as certain commenters
resorted to using breast size as one of the measuring sticks
of total hotness. What can you do? Regardless, as
a six year old I wasn't all that interested in breast size or
hotness, and as things have come full circle I'm not too
terribly interested in any of that as an old man either, but I
am interested in watching old movies I used to watch as a
kid. But to close out the argument, while Ms. Munro is
plenty hot… come on… Jane all day, every day.
Sinbad (John Phillip Law) is sailing along the ocean blue with
his crew when a tiny little demon begins flying over his
ship. One of his shipmates shoots at this demon forcing
it to drop some gold medallion it was carrying, which Sinbad
then picks up and then proceeds to have all kinds of crazy
images. Sinbad's first mate Rachid (Martin Shaw) thinks
that thing is bad news and he should throw it into the sea,
but Rachid didn't see the hot chick vision (Munro), along with
the other odd visions, and now the crew changes course to a
brand new adventure. Just so you know, Rachid had all
kinds of great advice that Sinbad never listened to in this
movie, and I hope Rachid, if he survives this adventure, found
a better captain to work for.
This amulet that got dropped in Sinbad's lap has something to
do with something, I can't rightly remember, but I know once
its secrets are unlocked, it will help its wearer rule the
world and whatnot. Thus when Sinbad hits land, he is
greeted by the completely evil Prince Koura (Tom Baker) who
wants this thing, but even the Prince doesn't exactly know why
he needs it at the
moment.
Fortunately the Grand Vizier (Douglas Wilmer), a guy who wears
a really creepy gold mask to hide his scars… though I think
his scars would be lest unsettling than the mask he's wearing,
knows exactly what this amulet will do when it comes together,
at least he kind of knows, and now adventure is afoot!
Sinbad loads up his crew, brokers a deal for the hot slave
girl (Munro) from his visions to come along, and now it's time
to find the rest of the pieces of this amulet and make it do
something awesome!
The problem, of course, is Prince Koura, and the prince is
following Sinbad and his crew, using his black magic to cause
one heckuva ruckus. All kinds of inanimate objects are
coming to life on Sinbad's voyage, not to mention the terrible
things that going to happen when they finally get to the
island. Wooden Sirens, Kali idols, Centaur's, freaky
natives, Griffins… and at the head of the class Prince Koura
himself. This guy is nothing but trouble. Kind of
like the slave girl who truly serves almost no purpose on this
trip except to get captured and provide us quality
cleavage. Not that all of these roadblocks are going to
stop Sinbad from killing Prince Koura, saving the worthless
slave girl and becoming King of the World! But alas a
King is never free. I did not know this Sinbad.
Thanks for the info.
I'm not certain what the critical reception for this movie,
'The Golden Voyage of Sinbad' would've been when it was
released back in '73, though I would guess it would be less
than stellar considering that John Phillip Law and Caroline
Munro, while fabulous looking people, weren't much for the
craft of acting, and it is possible that the effects team of
the legendary Ray Harryhausen's might've started to date
themselves by then, I mean I was alive in 1973 but only for a
couple of years so I couldn't tell you for sure, but watching
these movies today is always a gloriously special retro
treat.
What always stands out to me, and what I know I didn't
appreciate while watching reruns of these movies on Saturday
afternoon television, was the attention to detail, or not
realizing how painstakingly involved pulling off these special
effects had to be. SFX in this modern age, while
certainly not easy, has to be far less involved than the
miniatures and stop motion that Team Harryhausen were using
way back then. There's something somewhat magical about
watching Sinbad face off against a wooden siren, or are a Sita
Goddess with six arms and a sword in each of her arms.
By comparison, considering what can be done with multi-core
computers nowadays, it is definitely dated, but back then,
especially considering how few people were able to do what
Harryhausen was able to do, it is still something special to
experience.
The movie itself is fairly typical action fare for the
time. An above average story mated to some gloriously
over the top adventure elements, with dialog recited by some
beautiful people who can barely act. Tom Baker, the
greatest of all the Dr. Who's, excepted of course. If
'The Golden Voyage of Sinbad' was teetering on the edge of
mediocrity, narrative wise, Tom Baker's preening, calculating,
and somewhat charming interpretation of Prince Koura kept that
from ever occurring.
Ah… those were the days my friends. Enjoy 'The Golden
Voyage of Sinbad' for the artistry, the adventure, and don't
forget that this was shot in Dynavision! Whatever the
heck that was.