Greetings light readers and welcome to a different installment of the Sunday Morning Film. Right now it’s a basic “sandals and swords” fantasy: The Golden Voyage of Sinbad. It’s suffused with the unbelievable stop-motion animation of the grasp Ray Harryhausen. Good fare for a lazy Sunday afternoon!
Subsequent week’s movie (Warning: sexually specific scenes):
Critiques of The Golden Voyage of Sinbad:
Movie Music Central says:
All of those creations are superb to look at, however my favourite out of all of them is Harryhausen’s work on “Kali” a six-armed statue that Koura brings to life in a Lemurian temple. Whereas named Kali, the statue bears extra resemblance to the Hindu god Shiva (notably in its preliminary pose earlier than it involves life). There’s a stunning scene the place Koura orders Kali to bounce and the statue obeys, all six arms transferring all through. Given how a lot care must be taken in stop-motion animation, I all the time discover myself questioning simply how lengthy it took to animate the statue.
Medium says:
I’ve misplaced rely of what number of occasions I’ve seen ‘The Golden Voyage of Sinbad’ (1973) since I first noticed it a long time in the past as a 5 12 months previous child. In truth, there’re only a few films I need to’ve watched as typically as ‘Golden Voyage’ to the purpose the place I can’t actually think about my life with out it. It’s simply one in every of my favorite Harryhausen movies so watching it on the large display yesterday for its fiftieth anniversary I wasn’t the slightest bit shocked to search out it’s misplaced none of its attraction, magic and pleasant attraction. However why does it work so nicely? For my part it comes down to at least one factor and it’s not simply the monsters, the creativeness or the beautiful stop-motion work (superb although all these issues are), and it’s this — ‘Golden Voyage’ is an extremely breezy watch.
Letterboxd says:
One factor I really like about these movies is that they don’t fuck round. From the opening seconds we’re off on journey; a thriller is offered, a foe is launched and a quest is established, all throughout the first 10 minutes. This leaves Harryhausen as a lot time as potential to get in his creatures, pal and foe alike, and allow them to cook dinner. Right here we get a small goblin homunculus creature, a ships animated figurehead, a killer Kali, a minotaur and a late to the occasion griffin. The creature rely isn’t fairly as excessive because the others however all of them make a memorable influence.
My take:
I completely love this movie. I don’t care concerning the high quality of the appearing or the plot holes, it’s all concerning the fantasy world for me. I bear in mind watching it within the eighties and as a Dungeons and Dragons nerd I couldn’t get sufficient of it. The stop-motion motion is so immersive and lends an environment that you just can’t discover with the CGI slop we’re inundated with right this moment. A bonus is the presence of Tom Baker because the evil wizard. His display presence right here landed him his job as the preferred Dr. Who in historical past. Bond woman Caroline Munro’s outfit wasn’t misplaced on the adolescent semper loquitur both.
Director:
Director: Gordon Hessler
Author: Brian Clemmens
Notable Actors: John Phillip Legislation, Tom Baker, Caroline Munro
Plot (Spoilers!):
Sinbad (Legislation) and his crew are fortunately crusing alongside one stunning day when a small flying determine is seen overhead carrying a golden object. One of many crew shoots at it with an arrow. The crew desires to get rid of the golden pill that’s dropped however Sinbad has a imaginative and prescient and decides to maintain it.
Pushed to shore by a sudden storm, Sinbad encounters a person who had appeared in his imaginative and prescient. The person is Koura (Baker), an evil magician who calls for his pill again. Sinbad demurs and escapes to an area metropolis. There he encounters the Grand Vizier who tells him the pill is an element of a bigger piece that he has been searching for for a very long time. The piece guarantees wealth, youth, and safety to the proprietor. The Vizier has a second piece and when the 2 are fitted collectively, Sinbad realizes they kind a nautical map. They determine to embark on a journey to journey to the island the map reveals.
Alongside the way in which, Sinbad encounters a flying homunculus, a ravishing slave woman (Munro), and the return of Koura who’s now pursuing Sinbad’s ship. All of them arrive at Lemuria, a fabled misplaced island the place magic and monstrosities abound. Excessive journey ensues, together with fights with a magical statue and a Cyclops-centaur hybrid. Koura is nearly profitable in his scheme however a final minute dangerous choice on his half results in him being skewered by Sinbad. The remaining present of the pill, a crown and untold riches, is willingly given to the Vizier by a triumphant Sinbad who as a substitute claims his freedom and the girl for his personal.
