Product Details

• Actors: John Phillip Law, Caroline Munro, Tom Baker, Douglas Wilmer, Martin Shaw
• Directors: Gordon Hessler
• Format: Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, Full Screen, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
• Language: Portuguese (Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono), English (Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono)
• Subtitles: English, Spanish, Portuguese, Georgian, Chinese, Thai
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rated: G (General Audience)
• Studio: Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
• DVD Release Date: June 6, 2000
• Run Time: 105 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (42 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 0767847431
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #13,261 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
• For more information about "The Golden Voyage of Sinbad" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

John Phillip Law stars as the legendary sailor this time around as he finds a talisman and sets sail with his crew for an uncharted island. With a beautiful slave girl (Caroline Munro) in tow, Sinbad takes on the evil sorcerer Koura (Tom Baker), who wants Sinbad's golden talisman to complete a spell. En route to the island, Koura brings the ship's figurehead to life to wreak havoc on the ship and crew. Once there, Sinbad and crew must do battle with a six-armed figure of Kali brandishing a sword in each hand, as well as an enraged Cyclops centaur and a winged griffin, and also deal with the treacherous Koura.

This 1974 entry in the Sinbad franchise is a bit of a mixed bag. On the one hand, the film's production values are quite good, and of course the Ray Harryhausen effects are as beautiful as ever. The set design (especially for the scenes inside the cavern) is striking and inventive, and there's Miklós Rózsa's score gracing the soundtrack. On the other hand, the story definitely tends to drag a bit, and Law's indeterminate accent often wavers toward a weird Slavic inflection. Pointing to the film's age, Law and company often tend to look like poncey rock stars with their long hair, beards, and harem pants. That's all nitpicking, though; the action segments, though they're fewer and farther between than in other Sinbad films, redeem the movie with Harryhausen's incredible artistry. It's worth owning just to see the fluid, complex movements of the animated Kali flailing away at six men with her swords. And of course, scream queen Caroline Munro never looked better as the slave girl Margiana. This is rich, well-crafted fantasy fare that the entire family can enjoy. --Jerry Renshaw

Product Description

Sinbad, the prince of Baghdad, sets sail for the uncharted island of Lemuria with a beautiful slave girl, Margianna; Prince Koura is an evil wizard who tries to thwart Sinbad's quest.
Genre: Feature Film-Action/Adventure
Rating: G
Release Date: 1-JUL-2003
Media Type: DVD

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars One of Harryhausen's best, September 22, 2000

By 

Claude Avary "West Coast Reader" (Los Angeles, CA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Golden Voyage of Sinbad (DVD)

Technically a follow-up to the Harryhausen-Schneer classic "The 7th Voyage of Sinbad", this Arabian fantasy only shares the title character in a new story. Although it has less stop-motion animation monsters than some of the other entries in the Harryhausen-Schneer fantasy film canon (which includes "Clash of the Titans", "Jason and the Argonauts", and "Mysterious Island"), "The Golden Voyage of Sinbad" is one of their absolute best, for three reasons.

1)The script. This is usually a weak element in the Harryhausen-Schneer movies, with the narrative haphazardly woven around monsters conceived before the script was written. But "The Golden Voyage of Sinbad" surprises: the script is charming and poetic, sounding exactly they way we would always like an Arabian Knights adventure to sound. Just a few lines of Koran-inspired maxims are enough to whisk you back to childhood innocence. The plot is simple but exciting, and villain Koura is a wonderful nasty. And the monsters make sense; they have a good reason to appear.

2)The performances. Usually in this series, actors make up part of the budget-saving: adequate at best, laughable at worst. But John Phillip Law makes a fine Sinbad: taciturn, stoic, exotic, and tough...he really matches our vision of what the legendary sailor should be. But it is Tom Baker (later to be the most famous Dr. Who) who steals the show as evil sorcerer Koura. He doesn't try to play the baddie for camp value, doesn't try to make him funny, but instead plays him as sinister and cold-blooded as possible. Great voice intonations as well. Oh, Caroline Munro is in the film, too. I don't really know about her acting, but it doens't really matter with those outfits she almost wears. You'll see what I mean...

3)The monsters. Each one is a clever Harryhausen masterwork. The final battle between and griffin and the centaur is fantastic, even if the griffin appears rather abruptly. But the scene with the six-armed statue of Kali is what you will remember: a symphony of flashing swords and stunning stop-motion genius. The actors deserve credit here for convincingly fighting with air.

Finally, all this is presented in pristine DVD widescreen. And there's a good documentary on all of Harryhausen's work, with extensive interviews with the master himself and rare footage of his test movies and failed film projects. Get this film. The kids will love it, but you'll love it even more.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars By far the best of the Sinbad films..., August 7, 2000

By 

EquesNiger (Prague, Czech Republic) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Golden Voyage of Sinbad [VHS] (VHS Tape)

While the story of Sinbad's pursuit of a hidden treasure amidst seemingly insurmountable danger, falling in love with a beautiful woman (thank Allah that polygamy was allowed, no? He seems to get married in each film!) and being pursued by evil, magickal forces has become "stock" in that they all are basically the same tale, this film is truly exemplary for the acting talent of Thom Baker (spelled Tom in this flick), memorable to most of us as the "best" of the Dr. Who characters. Baker brings an intelligent, almost tragic malevolence to the character of Prince Koura, master swordsman and sorcerer, whose pursuit of arcane and mundane power comes at a very tangible and foreknown cost (he ages whenever he casts a major spell of any sort). In short, you certainly sympathise with him and sometimes almost secretly hope he is successful, since he really has no choice BUT to once he sets out on the path. Again, like all Sinbad films, the scenery is astounding, the special effects (Ray Harryhausen) remarkable even in this day and age of computer graphics, and the story replete with kitsch (pardon the pun) references to Islam.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Good Sunday Matinee, November 21, 2002

By 

C. A. Luster "The Rook" (Burke, VA USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: The Golden Voyage of Sinbad (DVD)

First let me say I own all of Harryhausen's movies. I love his work so if I seem a little critical on a couple it is only because I know how great he can be. This movie may not be Harryhausen's best stop motion animation, but it is still a fine film. The hair on the centaur seems to move a little odd and the motion in the Centaur and Griffon fight scene is not as natural looking as the skeleton fight scenes in "Jason and the Argonauts". Otherwise this movie is very well done and packed with creatures. I especially liked the job he did on the magicians familiars. It entertains and has good locations and a decent cast. Those fans of Tom Baker in Dr. Who will enjoy him as an evil magician. It is good Saturday afternoon fare for the entire family. I recommend it to anyone that enjoys movies like "The 7th Voyage of Sinbad", "Clash of the Titans", "Willow", and "Krull". I bought this on DVD in the Sinbad Collection set and I am very happy with how well the transfer to DVD was done.