Evil magician Sokurah (Torin Thatcher) has reduced Princess Parisa of Chandra (Kathryn Grant) to 6" miniature size. Sinbad (Kerwin Mathews), legendary sailor of the 1001 Arabian Night tales, travels to the island of Colossa to obtain an egg from a giant two-headed bird called a Roc to restore the lovely princess to normal size. Sinbad says, "Trust in Allah, but tie up your camel." The ship's crew is a group of hardened criminals from the Caliph's (Alec Mango) prison.
Sinbad: "May Allah grant we find food and water."
Harufa: "And may Allah grant we find nothing else."
Captain Sinbad battles a man-eating Cyclops, a dragon, and a skeleton. These monstrous adversaries were created by Ray Harryhausen with Dynamation stop-motion. They are among his best creations, although his very best is the battle with a multitude of skeletons in JASON AND THE ARGONAUTS (1963). This film is Harryhausen's first in colour, and the animation process was more difficult than with his b & w movies. It took Ray 11 months to complete the Dynamation sequences.
The princess spends much of her time in a tiny traveling compartment and a magic lamp with the boy genie Baronni (Richard Eyer). To summon the genie, the magical incantation is: "From the land beyond, beyond. From the sea past hope and fear. I bid you genie now appear." Sinbad heroically manages to restore Parisa to normal size, and they live happily ever after, with Baronni as their cabin boy.
Sinbad: "Well done, Baronni. I know you will be as good a sailor as you are a genie."
Baronni: "I shall try, Captain. I shall try."
This excellent fast paced adventure/fantasy is the first of the Sinbad trilogy, a true classic that is suitable for children, families and everybody who enjoys great movies. However, some of the acting is stilted, and there are a few noticeable continuity problems. The romantic dialogue is sometimes poor. Sinbad tells Parisa, "For another such kiss, I'd invent a whole continent." The palace of the Caliph was filmed at the Alhambra Palace in Granada, Spain. Production budget was $650,000 and the film was a huge box office success.
Also in the cast are: Danny Green (Karim), Alfred Brown (Harufa), Nana DeHerrera (Sadi), Nino Falanga (Gaunt Sailor), Luis Guedes (Crewmember), Virgilio Teixeira (Ali), and others. Alfred Brown's lines are dubbed in. The writing credits are Ray Harryhausen and Ken Kolb. Bernard Herrman composed the rousing music score. Nathan Juran directed.
THE GOLDEN VOYAGE OF SINBAD (1974) is similar and just as good. SINBAD AND THE EYE OF THE TIGER (1977) is also similar, but not nearly as good.
