The Golden Voyage of Sinbad (1974)

Director:

Gordon Hessler

Writers:

Brian Clemens (screenplay)
Brian Clemens (story) ...

Release Date:

12 April 1974 (West Germany)

Genre:

Family | Adventure | Fantasy | Action

Tagline:

Dynarama Means Supreme Adventure!

Plot:

Sinbad and his crew intercept a homunculus carrying a golden tablet. Koura, the creator of the homunculus and practitioner of evil magic...

Plot Keywords:

Sinbad | Slave Girl | Quest | Tattoo | Slave

Awards:

2 wins

Cast

John Phillip Law	...	Captain Sinbad
Caroline Munro	...	Margiana
Tom Baker	...	Prince Koura
Douglas Wilmer	...	Vizier
Martin Shaw	...	Rachid
Grégoire Aslan	...	Hakim (as Gregoire Aslan)
Kurt Christian	...	Haroun
Takis Emmanuel	...	Achmed
David Garfield	...	Abdul (as John D. Garfield)
Ferdinando Poggi	...	Kali stand-in (as Fernando Poggi)
Aldo Sambrell	...	Omar

Also Known As:

Sinbad's Golden Voyage (UK) (working title)

Runtime:

USA:105 min

Country:

UK | USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Canada:G (Ontario) | Singapore:PG | Iceland:12 | Finland:K-12 (1978) | Finland:K-16 (1974) | Ireland:G | Sweden:11 | UK:U | USA:G

Filming Locations:

Caves of Arta, Mallorca, Balearic Islands, Spain

Company:

Columbia Pictures Corporation

Trivia:

Robert Shaw desperately wanted the role of Sinbad but was placated by being cast uncredited as the Oracle. His face was heavily swathed in make-up and his voice electronically altered by a sound engineer.

Goofs:

Continuity: In the opening scenes when we see Sinbad collect the amulet once the creature has dropped it, the amulet moves from Sinbad's hands, to his feet and back to his hands between shots.

Quotes:

Haroun: [Wakes up] Are you a merchant? How long will we be gone for, a week?
[Sinbad raises his eyebrows]
Haroun: Two weeks? Three weeks? A month?
[Sinbad raises his eyebrows]
Haroun: More than a month! How long?
Sinbad: Two or three years.
Haroun: Two or three years! That's horrible.
[the men laugh]
Haroun: We'll be ancient.
[the men laugh again]

Movie Connections:

Featured in Nightmare Theatre's Late Night Chill-o-Rama Horror Show Vol. 1 (1996) (V)

Mostly excellent film, but there are a couple flaws

After Sinbad (Jon Phillip Law) happens upon a strange gold "bauble" while at sea, his ship ends up at a town where a similar gold piece is kept by a Vizier (Douglas Wilmer), whose city is threatened by the evil prince Koura (Tom Baker). Sinbad, his crew, the Vizier, and two other people from the town begin an adventure to solve the mystery of the "baubles".

This is a fine fantasy/adventure film, and definitely one worth watching by any fans of the genre, as well as Ray Harryhausen fans. Mostly excellent, The Golden Voyage of Sinbad also has a couple of flaws that brought my score down to an 8 out of 10.

The main problem is that the film tends to meander at times. There are also a few minor problems with direction or editing, such as the less-than-convincing sword fight in the cave near the end of the film. Also, the mostly episodic nature of the script lessens the overall impact. It often feels like a string of short stories arbitrarily strung together, although in the end, the overarching goal ties the film together well enough.

But what "short stories" those are! The script, production/set design and costumes easily propel you into a captivating fantasy world, and Harryhausen's creatures, as always, are a delight to watch. No, they're not exactly realistic--no more realistic looking than cgi, in my opinion--but I'm not looking for realism when I watch a film like this. I'm looking for brilliant artistry, especially if it has a horror edge, and Harryhausen's stop-motion animated creatures fit the bill.

Most of the scenarios in the film are cleverly conceived. They're constantly leading to intriguing puzzles that have to be solved by our heroes, somewhat similar to a fantasy role-playing computer game, which films like this surely influenced. This maintains a gradually heightening suspense throughout the length of the film, as each puzzle tends to be more difficult than the previous one, and most are accompanied by fascinating beasties of some kind.

Although this genre is not usually noted for its fantastic performances, everyone in The Golden Voyage of Sinbad does a great job. Even as a Doctor Who fan who grew up watching the Tom Baker era of that show, it took me awhile to figure out who Baker was here. He is a joy to watch as a slightly campy villain. An even bigger joy to watch was Caroline Munro, who is breathtakingly beautiful. And Law, as Sinbad, is completely convincing and cool.

As long as you don't expect a masterpiece, you should have a lot of fun watching this film.