The 7th Voyage of Sinbad (1958).
The character of Sinbad is a fictional mariner and the hero of a story-cycle of Middle Eastern origin. He is described as hailing from Baghdad during the early Abbasid Caliphate (8th and 9th centuries A.D.) and in the course of seven voyages throughout the seas east of Africa and south of Asia, he has fantastic adventures in magical realms, encountering monsters and witnessing supernatural phenomena. The stories display the folk and themes present in works of that time. The Abbasid reign was known as a period of great economic and social growth. Arab and Muslim traders would seek new trading routes and people to trade with. This process of growth is reflected in the Sinbad tales. The Sinbad stories take on a variety of different themes and have Sinbad going up against various fantastical creatures, like a giant whale he mistakes for an island in the first voyage, and giant snakes that are described as able to swallow elephants in the second.
The earliest separate publication of the Sinbad tales in English found in the British Library is an adaptation as The Adventures of Houran Banow, etc. (Taken from the Arabian Nights, being the third and fourth voyages of Sinbad the Sailor.), around 1770. An early US edition, The seven voyages of Sinbad the sailor. And The story of Aladdin; or, The wonderful lamp, was published in Philadelphia in 1794. Numerous popular editions followed in the early 19th century, including a chapbook edition by Thomas Tegg. Its best known full translation was perhaps as tale 120 in Volume 6 of Sir Richard Burton's 1885 translation of The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night.
Obviously stories like these would be easy pickings for adventure films, and over the years there have been dozens of Sinbad films, both live-action and animated. The first appearance of Sinbad on screen was in the animated short film Sinbad the Sailor in 1935, which saw Sinbad and his parrot taking on a band of nefarious pirates. The first live-action English language film was Arabian Nights in 1942, but because of the limitations of film then, the monsters that Sinbad normally encountered were not present in the film. Enter, Ray Harryhausen.
You’re probably aware of who Ray Harryhausen is, and if you’re not, you’ve definitely seen his creations somewhere. He was an Academy Award winning stop-motion animator who worked on films from Mighty Joe Young (1949) to Clash of the Titans (1981), and influenced many of the filmmakers you know and love today, including Steven Spielberg, Peter Jackson, Tim Burton, George Lucas, and Guillermo Del Toro. Told that “costume pictures were dead” in the mid-50’s, he shopped his idea around anyway, calling his brand of stop motion animation Dynamation, and got Columbia pictures to finance The 7th Voyage of Sinbad.
The film opens with Sinbad sailing from Chandra to his home city of Baghdad to introduce his future wife, the Princess of Chandra, in order to secure peace between their lands. They make an unscheduled pit stop at an island called Colossa, where they encounter a giant cyclops and a magician named Sokurah, who’s fleeing from the beast while holding a magic lamp. After a short standoff, they flee the island with the help of Sokurah and his lamp, but in the commotion, the cyclops snags the lamp and keeps it on the island.
Once in Baghdad, the magician asks the King for a ship and a crew to sail back to the island to get the lamp, but is denied, so he pulls a fast one on the royal family and casts a spell on the Princess, shrinking her to about four inches tall. The only way to turn her back to normal, of course, is with potion ingredients that are only found on the island of Colossa, including the egg shell of a roc, a mythical two headed bird. Adding an extra wrinkle to the journey, no respectable sailors want to head to an island with a dangerous cyclops, so Sinbad gets a gang of prisoners who were set to be hanged to be his crew, a move that jeopardizes the entire trip. The story has less to do with the seventh voyage story, which sees Sinbad hanging with people who transform into birds and is later sold into slavery, and seems like more of a blend of the third and fifth voyages.
Long time Columbia contract actor Kerwin Matthews played Sinbad, and he was honestly the most boring character in the film. He’s a typical wonder bread hero, chivalrous to a fault, not a chink in his armor. This is a far cry from how the tales would sometimes portray Sinbad, as in the fourth voyage, Sinbad finds himself on an island with a wealthy wife, but doesn’t realize that their custom is that when one spouse dies, the other person is dropped into a giant cavern tomb with just some water and seven slices of bread until they’re also dead. Well, he survives by waiting for other unlucky spouses to drop down after their better halves also died and then busting them over the head until they were dead and stealing their rations. What a great guy. Kathryn Grant played Princess Parisa, a largely one-dimensional damsel in distress who gets a few moments to shine while in her shrunken form. She was probably best known for this film and for her role in Anatomy of a Murder two years later, as well as being Bing Crosby’s wife. Rounding out the main cast is Torin Thatcher, a British actor who made a career out of playing scene stealing villains and this role was no different. He was absolutely the best actor in the film and definitely the most interesting character.
The real spectacle here, of course, is the Dynamation. Nathan Juran directed most of the live action sequences with no creatures, while Harryhausen is said to have directed the sequences with the creatures. It makes sense, since he’d be the one doing the post production on the claymation animation later on. It’s truly a wonder how they did what they did here in 1958, which emanates a clear aura of genuine movie magic. It was so much fun trying to figure out the intricacies of having men throw a spear at a giant cyclops, dodge the flames from a dragon’s mouth, and Sinbad having a full-blown sword fight with a walking skeleton. Even the scenes where he interacts with his miniature muse were impressive, moreso when you realize that they actually built a gigantic 40 foot tall pillow for her to stand in front of to deliver dialogue on a soundstage which was then superimposed on top of the other image. I also got an abnormal amount of joy in watching Princess Parisa slide down into the magic lamp to meet the genie as if it were a slide at a park, complete with a “Weeeee!” as she begins her descent.
Much to Columbia’s surprise, the film was a sleeper hit. It was released the week of Christmas in 1958 to cash-in on the holiday, but ended up making over three million dollars on a $650,000 budget, which equates to about $32M now. Critics also dug the film, noting it’s special effects and nostalgic feeling. Harryhausen made two more Sinbad films for Columbia pictures, The Golden Voyage of Sinbad in 1973 with John Phillip Law as Sinbad and Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger in 1977 with Patrick Wayne portraying the sailor, and producer Edward Small liked the financial return so much that he brought Kerwin Matthews and Torin Thatcher back together for a different stop motion adventure picture titled Jack the Giant Slayer a few years later in 1962.
There are probably a lot of people who love the nostalgic feel of this film, and probably have memories of watching this on Turner Classic Movies with their dad or grandpa on a Sunday afternoon. I never had those memories, but watching it with fresh eyes really made me yearn for creative practical effects in a current film landscape of constant digital effects. In most cases our brains are smart enough to tell us that both are “fake”, but there’s something that’s more impressive about things done practically. The 7th Voyage of Sinbad has something for everyone - tender romance, swashbuckling sword fights, creative creatures, treasure hunting, and an upbeat, adventurous score from frequent Hitchcock collaborator Bernard Herrmann. If you’re looking for a spirited, straightforward adventure film, this certainly punches that ticket.
As for where you can watch it, it’s available on Tubi to watch for free, but of course I had to pick up the Blu-ray which I snagged for $10 at Rasputin Records. It’s actually got a pretty decent slate of extras here which Sony is normally pretty good with, including a Ray Harryhausen interview where he talks about convincing someone to make the movie, the intricacies of filming in Spain, the casting decisions, and of course, the process of creating and animating the creatures. There’s also a commentary track with Harryhausen and some other folks, a retrospective on Harryhausen’s work as told through interviews, and a feature on the score as well that’s 26 minutes long. All told, there’s over an hour of extras not counting the commentary. If you’re in the UK, Indicator put out a superior disc that retains all of these extras and adds even more, including a music promo, a birthday tribute to Ray Harryhausen, Super 8 versions of the film, and a new featurette titled The Secrets of Sinbad.
