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74 comments in total

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23 out of 24 people found the following review useful:
If you have forgotten what being a child was like, watch this and unlock some of that magic., 2 June 2002
Author: Noel Bailey (uds3@hotmail.com) from Longmont: Colorado US

Arguably, Harryhausen's finest moment. I can't off the top of my head nominate one that was better! It had it all, adventure, fantasy, heroics, monsters, and Harryhausen's stop-frame wizardry that puts half the CGI effects right out of business.

I too, saw it as a child and along with JASON AND THE ARGONAUTS, THE GOLDEN VOYAGE OF SINBAD and CLASH OF THE TITANS, bought it years later and played it to standing room only, in our lounge throughout the kids childhood. Lucky aren't they?

The cyclops was the ultimate magic and I only wish my children could have seen the original theatrical screening with which television cannot compete. The film is still there but the sense of impending wonder (sitting there in a blackened theater) cannot be replicated on the small screen.

What a legacy to leave the world!

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17 out of 18 people found the following review useful:
A Dazzling Odyssey!, 30 March 2000

Author: BaronBl00d (baronbl00d@aol.com) from NC

Captain Sinbad must save a miniature princess and the peace between two kingdoms in this monumental adventure film from producer Charles Schneer and director Nathan Juran. Sinbad must get the shell of the legendary Roc's egg on Colossa Island as an ingredient for evil magician Sokurah's potion that will bring the princess back to size. Along the way, we are treated to glimpses of cyclops, a dragon, a fighting skeleton, a snake woman, and some of the greatest stop-motion animation techniques to grace the screen. Ray Harryhausen does a splendid job with his animation and makes this film a true joy to watch. The acting is very good overall; Kerwin Matthews plays a very agile and affable Sinbad, Richard Eyer(from The Invisible Boy) plays a sad genie, and Torin Thatcher is superb as the villainous magician bent on supreme power. A magical voyage indeed!

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15 out of 16 people found the following review useful:
Great family film, 13 September 2004
Author: abdullah-5 from Canterbury, New Zealand

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.

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16 out of 18 people found the following review useful:
Astonishing in my youth!, 15 March 2006

Author: Hitchcoc from United States

One of the nice things about being a little older is that I can remember the first time I saw movies like this and not think of them as schmaltzy or tacky. They were the state of the art in special effects (thanks to the likes of Ray Harreyhausen) and they were absolutely captivating. With computer generated creatures, we have gone so far beyond these things, but when I go to a Harry Potter movie or a Lord of the Rings movie (wonderful films), I look at the faces of the kids. There seems to be no wonderment at all. We have been fed such a constant diet that we don't look beyond the magic. This is a great story with wizards and heroes and mythical monsters and skeletons fighting. I know the Sinbad stories from the Arabian Nights and there is a lot of borrowing from every avenue of folklore and mythology. They really don't follow the book. But when I was in seventh grade, I couldn't care less. This is a quest and they made the getting there a real treat.

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11 out of 13 people found the following review useful:
Harryhausen+Herrmann Magic, 18 June 2006

Author: Edgar Soberón Torchia (estorchia@gmail.com) from Panama

When I was a kid, the experience of watching "The 7th Voyage of Sinbad" started my admiration for the music of Bernard Herrmann, and confirmed my love for fantasy cinema (and stop-motion animation), in an unconscious way. Before this, I had seen "It Came from Beneath the Sea" (1955), a B&W movie in which an octopus created by Ray Harryhausen climbed the Golden Gate Bridge... But this time Harryhausen's creatures were in full color, the exotic story was inspired by tales from the "Arabian Nights", and the magic was enhanced by Herrmann's score. The film had princess Parisa reduced to less than four inches, cyclops running crazy, a dragon, a bird with two heads, an evil magician called Sokura, a boy genie, and the celebrated skeleton duel, but I was mainly impressed by Sokura's act of magic during the Sultan's ball, crossing a snake with Parisa's aide (actress Nana de Herrera, who looked weird even before the transformation.) The Harryhausen-Herrmann collaboration originated two more Sinbad movies, and other favorites, as "Mysterious Island", "Jason and the Argonauts" and "The 3 Worlds of Gulliver", but "The 7th Voyage of Sinbad" is number one in my list of the collaborators' films. There is a moment in "Star Wars", which is a direct quotation of the movie: when Luke Skywalker and princess Leia cross above an abyss, as when Sinbad and Parisa escape from Sokura's lair.

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11 out of 13 people found the following review useful:
Age has hardly dimmed the excitement, spectacle and wonder of this fantasy classic, 27 September 2004
Author: DrLenera

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.

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9 out of 10 people found the following review useful:
One of Harryhausen's finest, 2 October 2002
Author: Chris Gaskin from Derby, England

Most people have movies that they remember watching when they were infants and never forget them. This is one of mine, along with King Kong (1933) and One Million Years BC.

The stars of this movie are of course Ray's stop-motion monsters. We get to see several cyclops, a dragon, a giant roc, a baby roc, a snake woman and, best of all, a skeleton.

The movie's cast includes Kerwin Mathews as Sinbad and Torin Thatcher as the mad magician, Sokurah. These play great parts, as does Richard Eyer as the Genie. The theme music and score by Bernard Herrmann is magnificent. The movie was directed by Nathan Juran (The Deadly Mantis).

This is the best of Harryhausen's Sinbad movies and one of his best movies overall, along with Jason and the Argonauts.

If you haven't seen this, you are missing out. Fantastic.

Rating: 5 stars out of 5.

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10 out of 13 people found the following review useful:
Magical, 8 January 2005
Author: jlon from Dublin

The first in the series. DVD review.

In order to reverse a spell that has shrunk his girlfriend Sinbad must find eggshell from a large two-headed bird.

Enjoyable movie that's only let down by being aimed at a young audience. There a few one-eyed Cyclops, a sword-wielding skeleton, a two-headed bird, a dragon, a boy-genie in a lamp, and a beautiful princess. Mathews make a good lead - but he's too kind to his mutinous crew. Directed by Juran who also did the laughable Brain From Planet Arous. Followed by two sequels in the '70s. If you liked these movies then check out Jack The Giant Killer and Mysterious Island.

The 7th Voyage of Sinbad is a remarkable adventure movie.

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6 out of 6 people found the following review useful:
Classic fantasy adventure from the 50s., 24 December 2006

Author: BA_Harrison from Hampshire, England

After his wife-to-be, Princess Parisa (Kathryn Grant), is shrunk by an evil magician, Sinbad (Kerwin Mathews) undertakes a perilous journey to a mysterious monster inhabited island, in an attempt to restore her to full size (and who can blame him—she's a total babe and wears the kind of outfit most red-blooded men wish they could get their woman into).

Almost fifty years on, The 7th Voyage of Sinbad may seem dated (particularly for those only familiar with CGI monsters) but, in my opinion, it still has the power to captivate and amaze. With Ray Harryhausen's wonderful stop motion effects (which include a cyclops, a dragon, a snake-woman, a giant two-headed bird and an animated skeleton) and a timeless magical tale of swashbuckling heroics, director Nathan Juran delivers a classic slice of fantasy cinema.

A cracking opening gets straight to the action with Sinbad and his men encountering bad-guy Sokurah when their ship is blown off course and ends up at the island of Colossa. The wicked magician is being chased by a cyclops, but is rescued by Sinbad and his men, who help him to safety aboard their vessel. Sokurah wishes to be returned to the island in order to get his hands on a magic lamp (now in the possession of the cyclops), but Sinbad is headed for Bagdad where he is to be married to the gorgeous Parisa, and ain't nothing going to stop him from tying the knot. Nothing, that is, 'cept for his woman being reduced to the size of a small doll.

Not realising that Sokurah is to blame for her diminutive stature, Sinbad is conned into returning to Colossa, where the nasty magician says he can create a potion which will return Parisa to normal.

Great fun from start to finish, The 7th Voyage is packed full of great scenes (my favourite being the Cyclops preparing a tasty snack—spit-roasted sailor) and is perfect fare for fantasy-loving kids and adults alike. And, if you like this, seek out the Golden Voyage of Sinbad, which I think is even better.

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5 out of 5 people found the following review useful:
An exciting and hugely enjoyable fantasy adventure treat, 18 January 2007

Author: Woodyanders (Woodyanders@aol.com) from The Last New Jersey Drive-In on the Left

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

Courageous sailor Sinbad (an appealingly earnest Kerwin Matthews) embarks on a perilous quest to break a spell put on his beloved fair maiden Princess Parisa (ravishing brunette beauty Kathryn Grant) by cunning and wicked powerful magician Sokurah (grandly played with lip-smacking aplomb by Torin Thatcher). Nathan Juron's strong, robust direction maintains a steady pace throughout and stages the action set pieces with considerable rip-snorting brio. Ray Harryhausen's marvelously vivid and lifelike stop-motion animation creatures include a ferocious gigantic Cyclops, a vicious two-headed giant bird beast, an angry fire-breathing dragon, an exotic four-armed snake woman, and, best of all, a lethal sword-wielding skeleton who fights Sinbad at the film's incredibly exciting conclusion. Kenneth Kolb's smart, colorful script has a few nice gritty touches (Sinbad's crew is largely made up of hardened criminals and the Cyclops puts a screaming man on a splint over a fire so he can cook and eat him). Richard Eyer delivers a charming performance as a sad imprisoned little boy genie. Bernard Herrmann's lively, rousing, flavorsome score, Wilkie Cooper's rich, vibrant color cinematography, and the engagingly sincere tone are likewise on the money excellent and impressive. A real delight.

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