Greetings gentle readers and welcome to another installment of the Sunday Morning Movie. Today it’s a classic “sandals and swords” fantasy: The Golden Voyage of Sinbad. It’s suffused with the incredible stop-motion animation of the master Ray Harryhausen. Perfect fare for a lazy Sunday afternoon!
Next week’s film (Warning: sexually explicit scenes):
Import/Export (2007)
Reviews of The Golden Voyage of Sinbad:
Film Music Central says:
All of these creations are amazing to watch, but my favorite out of all of them is Harryhausen’s work on “Kali” a six-armed statue that Koura brings to life in a Lemurian temple. While named Kali, the statue bears more resemblance to the Hindu god Shiva (particularly in its initial pose before it comes to life). There is a beautiful scene where Koura orders Kali to dance and the statue obeys, all six arms moving throughout. Given how much care needs to be taken in stop-motion animation, I always find myself wondering just how long it took to animate the statue.
Medium says:
I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve seen ‘The Golden Voyage of Sinbad’ (1973) since I first saw it decades ago as a five year old kid. In fact, there’re very few movies I must’ve watched as often as ‘Golden Voyage’ to the point where I can’t really imagine my life without it. It’s easily one of my favourite Harryhausen films so watching it on the big screen yesterday for its fiftieth anniversary I wasn’t the slightest bit surprised to find it’s lost none of its charm, magic and delightful appeal. But why does it work so well? In my opinion it comes down to one thing and it’s not just the monsters, the imagination or the stunning stop-motion work (amazing though all those things are), and it’s this — ‘Golden Voyage’ is an incredibly breezy watch.
Letterboxd says:
One thing I love about these films is that they don’t fuck around. From the opening seconds we are off on adventure; a mystery is presented, a foe is introduced and a quest is established, all within the first 10 minutes. This leaves Harryhausen as much time as possible to get in his creatures, friend and foe alike, and let them cook. Here we get a small goblin homunculus creature, a ships animated figurehead, a killer Kali, a minotaur and a late to the party griffin. The creature count isn’t quite as high as the others but they all make a memorable impact.
My take:
I absolutely love this film. I don’t care about the quality of the acting or the plot holes, it’s all about the fantasy world for me. I remember watching it in the eighties and as a Dungeons and Dragons nerd I couldn’t get enough of it. The stop-motion action is so immersive and lends an atmosphere that you simply cannot find with the CGI slop we are inundated with today. A bonus is the presence of Tom Baker as the evil wizard. His screen presence here landed him his job as the most popular Dr. Who in history. Bond girl Caroline Munro’s outfit wasn’t lost on the adolescent semper loquitur either.
Director:
Director: Gordon Hessler
Writer: Brian Clemmens
Notable Actors: John Phillip Law, Tom Baker, Caroline Munro
Plot (Spoilers!):
Sinbad (Law) and his crew are happily sailing along one beautiful day when a small flying figure is seen overhead carrying a golden object. One of the crew shoots at it with an arrow. The crew wants to dispose of the golden tablet that is dropped but Sinbad has a vision and decides to keep it.
Driven to shore by a sudden storm, Sinbad encounters a man who had appeared in his vision. The man is Koura (Baker), an evil magician who demands his tablet back. Sinbad demurs and escapes to a local city. There he encounters the Grand Vizier who tells him the tablet is part of a larger piece that he has been seeking for a long time. The piece promises wealth, youth, and protection to the owner. The Vizier has a second piece and when the two are fitted together, Sinbad realizes they form a nautical map. They decide to embark on a journey to travel to the island the map reveals.
Along the way, Sinbad encounters a flying homunculus, a ravishing slave girl (Munro), and the return of Koura who is now pursuing Sinbad’s ship. They all arrive at Lemuria, a fabled lost island where magic and monstrosities abound. High adventure ensues, including fights with a magical statue and a Cyclops-centaur hybrid. Koura is almost successful in his scheme but a last minute bad decision on his part leads to him being skewered by Sinbad. The remaining gift of the tablet, a crown and untold riches, is willingly given to the Vizier by a triumphant Sinbad who instead claims his freedom and the lady for his own.
