Truly Dreadful Film

Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.

It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional

It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

1958's Harryhausen classic "7th Voyage of Sinbad" had it all: lush Technicolor, a thunderous score by the brilliant Bernard Herrmann, a decent story with convincing performances (especially Kerwin Mathews as Sinbad), and the greatest of all Harryhausen's stop-motion effects. It wowed audiences and became one of 1958's top grossing movies.Years later, Harryhausen would again attempt two other Sinbad adventures, competing against the increasingly technologically suave special effects of the day. "The Golden Voyage of Sinbad" appeared in 1973, campy enough to get the attention of post-stoners who grew up watching the classic Harryhausen films on TV. "Golden Voyage" isn't great, but it's watchable. John Philip Law was a serviceable Sinbad (with the exception of the line "Trust in Allah, but tie up your camel"), the rest of the cast is forgotten now and the only thing that remains are Harryhausen's effects. By 1973, stop-motion was becoming a thing of the past. Although "Golden" contains one of Harryhausen's very best efforts, the fight with the multi-armed Kali, "Golden" was marred by the terrible film quality of the time and a weak, unmemorable score which did nothing to propel the film. Since all Ray's "creature" films contain a battle between two mystical beasts, the climatic fight is between a griffin and a centaur. Both creatures look, well, ratty and slightly drunk. The feathers and fur consistently warp, looking like shag carpeting draped over figures borrowed from "Gumby". All the fluidity shown in the Cyclops sequences for "7th Voyage" are missing. For someone who had looked forward to a new Sinbad adventure since 1958, this second movie failed to deliver.Poor Harryhausen. His amazing work was nearly killed in 1977 when he released "S. and the Eye of the Tiger". From the first moments the film unspools, the low quality of the production is evident. The "ghouls" that appear behind the lousy 70s titles are bad versions of his insect-men from "First Men in the Moon". All the actors involved just wander around looking for a paycheck. "Famous" actors with more famous parents perform in what seems to be drug-fueled stupors. Both Patrick Wayne (son of John Wayne) and Taryn Power (daughter of Tyrone Power) just sort of stand around and watch all the weirdness unfold. Only Margaret Whiting, as Zenobia, the seagull-footed witch gives any energy. Her performance is all scenery chewing, but after Wayne and Power, anything looked better. As to the creatures, only the witch's robotic golden bull-man, the Minotaun, has the charm we want from Harryhausen. Unfortunately, this wonderful creature is destroyed without given anything great to do by dropping a large rock on itself. The expected battle between the titular "tiger" and a troglodyte is weak, jerky, and without any tension.The saber-tooth tiger actually looks like a stuffed toy jumping around. Sadly, Harryhausen would only release one more feature film, "Clash of the Titans" some years later. "Titans' has one worthwhile sequence, the battle with Medusa. That's it. The great auteur and craftsman behind so many memorable moments in a darkened theater was finally eclipsed by technology and the lack of great direction and musical support. "Eye of the Tiger", is a sad coda to a great career, which ended in "Titans". Harryhausen should never have given in to his lust for Greek mythology when his vision for the unknown and exotic were his true talents.Unless you are a Harryhausen completest, it's safe to bypass both "Tiger" and "Golden". With only a few notable sequences,they're not worth wasting your time on.

Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger was something I loved as a child. From a 18 year old perspective, it doesn't enthrall me as much, but it still entertains me, even with its flaws. The screenplay is pretty weak and cheesy, the pacing rather uneven not helped by the fact the film is a tad overlong and Patrick Wayne a dashing if bland Sinbad, but there is still a lot to enjoy. For one thing, the special effects are absolutely incredible especially the chess-playing baboon and the ferocious sabre-tooth tiger and the scenery is breathtaking. Add a nice story, decent direction and a rousing score and you have an entertaining enough adventure. A few acting mentions wouldn't go amiss though. Jane Seymour is fabulously sexy as the Princess Farrah, the late Patrick Troughton is a deliciously enigmatic Melanthious and Margaret Whiting is very icy and chilling as cruel villainess Zenobia. Overall, entertaining and enjoyable, with flaws yes but I recommend it. 7/10 Bethany Cox

If you ever wondered what movies you should be watching in high resolution technology this one should be on top pf the list. You want to see the details on the bronze minotaur (called Minaton here) the intricate patterns on the thousands of fabrics, and precious jewels, the different eye lash-layers on "evil" queen Zenobia and the expanse of ultra blue seas.The third of Ray Harryhausen's Sinbad films has apparently gotten a bad rap over the years, which I can not understand. It may be for Beverly Cross' script and some of the performances, notably Patrick Wayne as Sinbad, which I happen to think is totally fine and entertaining, but may not be perceived as such for those searching for dramatic acting. This rap should be disregarded as it is not only largely unfair, but inadequate in noting the entertaining values of this movie. No doubt it could have been better, but as an exciting adventure it is more than good, thanks to a strong cast and Ray Harryhausen's excellent animation.The story is about Kassim, the caliph of Baghdad, who mysteriously disappears at the very moment of his coronation. Sinbad, arriving in Baghdad both to sell his merchandise cargo, and also to see again his love interest, the caliph's sister played by a luscious, very young Jane Seymour. He is drawn into a trap, by Rafi, a dark handsome prince played by Kurt Christian set in a magnificent tent, which includes belly-dancing entertainment. His mother, the evil dowager queen Zenobia, played Margaret Whiting, who is more than familiar with the black arts is behind this plan and all others, as we know just by looking at him, that Rafi has no brains or sense of direction. Barely escaping an attack by three sword-wielding fire skeletal creatures, Sinbad finds Kassim's sister and a baboon, which is actually prince Kassim, as transformed by the magic of queen Zenobia so her own son could be caliph. At this very point we should wonder if this 'evil' woman is not actually just career oriented. In New York she would have been directing a real estate emporium or huge corporate conglomerate, maybe both, where Rafi could have just looked good in the publicity ads as she ruled ruthlessly; yet in time she would have done the charity balls, she would have even sponsored some cultural causes, eventually she would have been perceived as a pillar of society. It's all a matter of perception and historical placement, above all Location, location, location!In order to break Zenobia's spell on Kassim, Sinbad enlists an adequately wise and aged wizard, Master Malanthius and his sexy daughter, the hyper blond, hypnotized-looking Dione (Taryn Power), who also has some of the most vapid dialog in the movie. They meet in the ancient city of Petra, where the wizard lives, and the scene of arrival, and seeing the city through a rock is totally rewarding as a reason to see the whole film, it is so well done and awesome. All have to set sail for Hyperborea, a land at the North Pole magically immune to the polar region's snows. However, Zenobia and Rafi are following. Zenobia had actually had a confrontation scene by Sinbad's ship when she arrived in a feathered and veiled litter and argued with the silly vizier who was trying to look his best in a day-wear saffron and gold ensemble that was striking for the pheasant feathered adornment of his turban that looked like the whole bird was alive, and in heat. Zenobia has decided to enlist help too. She will be aided by a mechanical beast, a bull-headed robot created by Zenobia, and animated with a golden heart, baptized with the name Minaton, close enough to the ancient Minotaur of the labyrinth story. Although great looking as an accessory he is just an elaborate rowing machine in their metalized ship that looks more like an early submarine. The first thing they do is crush the spies that the vizier had set to watching their moves, against a rock as they start on the pursuit, an appropriately delightful moment of evil indulgence.The best part of the movie is Zenobia's transformation into a seagull so she can leave her ship and spy on Sinbad in his. She takes a potion and has a series of very erotic spasms in her elaborate bedchamber, and suddenly she is the bird. Her flight is not as lucky, once arrived, she transforms into a miniature version of herself and is unfortunately discovered by the baboon, who wrecks her plan, only after much difficulty she manages to change back to the seagull and escape, but there is not enough potion left when she turns into herself: She is left with a huge foot of a seagull attached to her leg instead of her human foot, and will stomp her way through the rest of the film.This film features quite a bit of character animation by Harryhausen. The baboon Kassim looks totally real playing chess and most of all in his dramatic scene when he sees himself in a mirror, and despairs over his change. Trog, a prehistoric giant who "is as frightened of us as we of him," as Malanthius sweetly remarks, is a direct ancestor of Shrek, and looks frightening yet endearing. Kassim and Dione manage to befriend Trog, and when Kassim is finally liberated of Zenobia's spell, we feel genuine regret as Trog is killed by Zenobia, again transformed, this time as Smilodon the tiger of the snows. This battle is unusually gruesome, and absurd, yet an exciting delight to watch as both her and Sinbad are endangered by falling ice spears.The happy ending in the coronation of Kassim as caliph allows us to admire in detail the Jewelled splendor of his court, the plasticized Formica of the rings, the unique, early zircons and other stones are all mystifying, specially when thrown together with pearls and feathers.

Prince Kassim, the young heir to the throne of Baghdad, is magically transformed into a baboon by his evil stepmother, the witch Zenobia, who wants the throne for her own son, Kassim's half-brother Rafi. Sinbad, accompanied by Kassim's beautiful sister Princess Farah, as well as the Prince himself in his monkey form, sets sail in search of a cure. This being a Ray Harryhausen film, much of the plot involves the heroes struggling against various monsters, all animated by the stop-motion process which Harryhausen pioneered. This must be the only film in which the hero gets to fight a gigantic killer walrus. The title "Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger" may refer to the fact that, having seen off the walrus, Sinbad then has to battle a sabre-toothed tiger, although I am not sure how the "eye" part fits in.This was the third and last of Harryhausen's films about the legendary hero Sinbad the Sailor, the others being "The Golden Voyage of Sinbad" and "The Seventh Voyage of Sinbad". It was not, however, Harryhausen's final film; that was to be "Clash of the Titans" from four years later. In the fifties and early sixties his techniques of film-making (which he named "Dynamation" or "Dynarama"), combining stop-motion animation with live action, seemed something new and exciting, opening up new possibilities for fantasy films. By the late seventies they were starting to look old-fashioned; there is little in "Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger" (which came out in the same year as "Star Wars") to distinguish it from "The Seventh Voyage" which had come out nearly twenty years earlier.Today, of course, films made using the "Dynamation" process have a very retro feel to them, but I have long had a soft spot for Harryhausen's work ever since I was taken, as a child, to see a double bill of "The Seventh Voyage" and "Jason and the Argonauts" as part of a friend's birthday treat. I would not rate "Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger" quite as highly as either of those films. The acting is variable; neither Patrick Wayne as the hero nor Taryn Power has the talent or the charisma of their famous fathers, but Margaret Whiting as Zenobia makes a splendidly over-the-top villainess, former Doctor Who Patrick Troughton is good as the wise old philosopher Melanthius and Jane Seymour as Farah looks as lovely as ever. With its fairy-tale Arabian Nights atmosphere, this film can perhaps best be described as the cinematic equivalent of a pantomime, and like most pantomimes serves as very enjoyable family entertainment. 6/10