Reviewed By

Christopher Armstead
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
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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.
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