- Title: The 7th Voyage of Sinbad
- IMDb: link
1968’s The 7th Voyage of Sinbad is a fantasy epic starring Kerwin Mathews in the title role of the ship captain, and heir of Bagdad, who is tricked by the sorcerer Sokurah (Torin Thatcher) to return to a cursed island with a Cyclops after the wizard shrinks Sinbad‘s love Princess Parisa (Kathryn Grant) and suggests the only cure can be found there. What Sokurah is really after, however, is a magic lamp and the power of its genie (Richard Eyer).
Aside from the problematic casting of white actors playing Arab roles throughout, which was pretty standard for the time, and how easily Sinbad and the heroes are manipulated by Sokurah, the film holds up fairly well as a kind of Saturday matinee adventure romp on the high seas. The true gems of the movie, however, aren’t the actors but instead to stop-motion creatures of legendary special effects expert Ray Harryhausen with the Cyclops being the true standout of the film.
Harryhausen’s creatures have aged well, even if the miniature effects for Parisa do feel a bit quaint in a CGI age. The movie would go on to spawn two sequels of further adventures of Sinbad, and has been released several times over the years on VHS, DVD, and Blu-ray and is now available on 4K. Extras on the 4K include a new documentary on the work of Ray Harryhausen, audio commentary, and featurettes on the film’s special effects and music of the film.
