Develiker
terrible... so disappointed.
Mischa Redfern
I didn’t really have many expectations going into the movie (good or bad), but I actually really enjoyed it. I really liked the characters and the banter between them.
Tayyab Torres
Strong acting helps the film overcome an uncertain premise and create characters that hold our attention absolutely.
Darin
One of the film's great tricks is that, for a time, you think it will go down a rabbit hole of unrealistic glorification.
classicsoncall
Whenever I watch one of these types of movies I'm overwhelmed by the painstaking amount of work that went into creating the 'dynamation' styled creatures, the work of special effects artists like the legendary Ray Harryhausen. You have to remember that the monsters and other fantastical creations were made of clay and repositioned a countless number of times while filming them individually frame after frame until the desired effect was achieved. Then, the film of the inanimate objects had to be blended together with the live action to produce what you see on screen. It's just an incredible amount of manual work that had to go into producing films like these in the days before blue screen and CGI.And the monsters here truly were fantastic. A Cyclops made an appearance on two separate occasions, while the second expedition back to the island of Colossa by Captain Sinbad (Kerwin Mathews) revealed a legendary Roc, an enormous two headed hawk-like bird, along with your traditional fire breathing, scaly green dragon. Perhaps the strangest creation was that of the four armed half woman/half serpent conjured up by the magician Sokhura (Torin Thatcher), an ingenious tribute to the power of one's imagination.So with all these mythical creatures on display, one might miss the parallels to one of the all time great sci-fi films made over a decade and a half later, the original "Star Wars". After Princess Parisa (Kathryn Grant) was restored to normal size after applying the magic potion, she and hero Sinbad did the old rope swing across the gorge to escape the dragon's lair, a neat prelude to Luke and Leia doing the same thing in 'A New Hope'. Sinbad's sword fight with the skeleton of course was recreated any number of times using light sabers by various characters in the Star Wars universe.If there's one thing I thought the film makers might have improved on it would have been the casting of the lamp genie. The young Richard Eyer just didn't seem to have the charisma that was needed to pull off the magic genie theatrics that the story called for. But he's not on screen all that much so I wouldn't consider him an impediment to enjoying the picture.
Scott LeBrun
Top notch entertainment, a vivid fantasy-adventure starring Kerwin Mathews as the heroic Sinbad, who's conned into returning to an exotic isle by a conniving, greedy, grasping magician named Sokurah (Torin Thatcher). Sinbad will have his hands full transporting his beloved, Princess Parisa (Kathryn Grant), who's been shrunk to miniature size. Among the magnificent Ray Harryhausen-created monsters he and his friends must vanquish are a Cyclops, a great two-headed bird, and a dragon.This is fun for families, if perhaps somewhat intense at one point, as a Cyclops prepares a sailor for being eaten. The colour photography by Wilkie Cooper is breathtaking, as are the costumes, the production design, and the location shooting. Bernard Herrmanns' rousing score is one of his best. And, of course, the Harryhausen effects are extremely enjoyable - the highlight, as many people will tell you, is the climactic sword fight with a skeleton.Mathews is a handsome and innately likable hero; the lovely Grant is likewise endearing. Youthful Richard Eyer is an appealing child Genie, while Thatcher is a delightfully hammy villain.Director Nathan Juran serves up spectacle with style, crafting some grand escapist fare that still works quite well 57 years later.Eight out of 10.
Wuchak
Released in 1958, "The 7th Voyage of Sinbad" was the first of three Harryhausen Sinbad flicks; the other two being 1973's "The Golden Voyage of Sinbad" and 1977's "Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger." In this first film Sinbad's love interest, Princess Parisa (Kathryn Grant), is shrunk by the magician Sokurah (Torin Thatcher) and Sinbad has to hurriedly muster up a motley crew to voyage to the monster-infested island of Colossa to apprehend an ingredient to restore her. Meanwhile Sokurah is obsessed with a magic lamp and the powers of the boy genie inside.Sinbad adventures play like a Middle Eastern version of Conan the Barbarian, albeit with a slightly funner edge and a less dour protagonist. So, if you love Conan you'll likely appreciate all three of these Sinbad films. And even though I describe these movies as having a fun edge, they're not goofy. They're serious sword & sorcery movies; the protagonists just exude the joy and vitality of living.The items I demand in a Sinbad adventure are obvious: A good casting choice for Sinbad, a great adventure story & locations, a colorful assortment of likable characters & love-to-hate villains, beautiful women, and quality F/X work (for the era). "The 7th Voyage" delivers in most of these areas with the exception that Kerwin Mathews, while certainly a heroic protagonist, is simply too whitebread to pull off the Arabic role. Both John Phillip Law and, especially, Patrick Wayne fit the role better in the sequels. Kathryn Grant is winsome and lovely, but she too is way too European for the role.The Spanish locations are excellent, the score is great and the F/X work is entertaining in a nostalgic way, but there are some blatant plot holes if you think too deeply. For instance, how could miniature Parisa possibly move that piece of wood that would be the size of a huge tree trunk to you or me? Since the chained dragon breathes fire why doesn't it just scorch the protagonists as they carefully walk past? Etc.Still, this is a worthwhile blast from the past. All three Sinbad movies are very different since each has a different person in the title role, not to mention the rest of the characters. I marginally prefer "The Golden Voyage" to this one, but "Eye of the Tiger" is my favorite because it has the best cast, story and sense of a long voyage/quest. But each has their strengths and weaknesses. For instance, the production values of "Golden Voyage" seem cheap at times while the runtime of "Eye of the Tiger" seems a bit padded.The movie runs 88 minutes and was shot in Spain.GRADE: B-
skybrick736
After re-watching Jack the Giant Killer, it was really enticing to go back and watch The 7th Voyage of Sinbad. To this day the claymation effects of the cyclops still holds up. The other creatures in this movie were fantastically done too, almost their own character which the viewer feels for (dragon and two-headed bird). What makes the movie really special though is the three main leads. These types of films were Kerwin Mathews calling, Kathryn Grant was a delight and super hot. However, Torin Thatcher in my opinion had the greatest screen presence and played a great villain. I knock it a bit on the cheesy love lines that are somewhat cringe worthy and a few slow parts but all in all a fantastic movie.