Customer Reviews

Sinbad the Sailor [VHS]

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

Sinbad (Douglas Fairbanks, Jr) chances upon a map he believes will lead him to Deryabar, Alexander the Great's fabled island of riches. Sinbad sets off on his treasure hunt and, along the way, romances the beautiful but avaricious Shireen (Maureen O'Hara) and draws the ire of the Emir of Daibul (Anthony Quinn). Plenty of derring-do here, and high seas excitement, exotic settings and best of all - a brash, mellifluous Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. I first saw this Arabian Nights adventure when I was a kid a lazy Saturday afternoon ago. I tremendouly enjoyed Sinbad the Sailor then and it hasn't lost its luster over the years, with repeated viewings.

This was a watershed film for Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. He was ever struggling to get out from under the shadow of his more famous father, who practically invented swashbuckling. He had just finished a 5-year active-duty stint in the Navy during WW2 and wasn't certain if he still had a movie career. But RKO studios offered him Sinbad the Sailor, a film bigger or as big as anything he had done before. The result is one of Fairbanks, Jr's best vehicles, as he instills his Sinbad with a boyish swagger and flamboyance, proving to any doubters that he could buckle his swash with the best of them.

Be advised that, in this film, Fairbanks Jr. arches his eyebrows liberally, fingers his beard theatrically, laughs his truimphant "ha-ha's" overtly, and gesticulates broadly. But his emoting fits the exaggerated persona of his character. Fairbanks Jr, in this role, has a twinkle in his eye and a tongue in his cheek, seemingly having the time of his life. As done in 1947, I rate it a very good performance. Maureen O'Hara is as feisty and gorgeous as ever, with nary a trace of her Irish accent (with her glorious red hair and vivid personality, she was dubbed "the Queen of Technicolor"). Anthony Quinn and Walter Slezak enhance the goings-on with their villainy.

Two favorite scenes of mine: Sinbad, covetous of a certain baggala (ship) under auction, ostensibly lauds the merits of the ship to the bidders but ends up discouraging them. The other scene is much later on, as Sinbad performs a magic trick in front of Shireen, the Emir and his guards.

One of Douglas Fairbanks Jr.'s best films, "Sinbad the Sailor" (1947) is a lavish Technicolor adventure that resurrects the exuberance of his father's swashbuckling classics. The action sequences are worth the price of admission, particularly Doug Jr.'s acrobatic escape from villain Anthony Quinn (who meets a rather fiery end). Fairbanks is perfect in the title role, with Quinn, Maureen O'Hara and Walter Slezak rounding out an excellent cast. Terrific fun for viewers of all ages!

So I finally found another Sinbad movie and got it. I don't think I have them all yet. I have five or six, there might be seven or eight. By the way, at the end of the movie the caption read "...and this is the end of his eight voyage."

So I figure I've got a couple more to go at least.

Anyway, I never saw a Sinbad (Sindbadd?) movie I didn't like. It has all the classic charm of those epic movie days when writers could write and though everybody was still learning how to do it--how to act and direct. Too bad they got rid of them all and put lesser talents in their place. Now we have to suffer through another seventy five years of the learning process. So here it is.

1. Living color, nice and bright.

2. Douglas Fairbanks Jr. stars with Maureen O'Hara, and The Anthony Quinn. There are others you will reconize.

3. The model ships are well done and one is a warship with oars. I noticed when one of Sinbad's men shot the oarsman and the model turned about, you could actually see model men onboard including the one looking like Anthony Quinn...not bad.

4. The sails on both ships filled out nicely as they caught the wind so both models must have been pretty big.

5. Classicly done, I think most sceens are on a sound stage with lots of force scaling. Done well enough not to detract from the taste of the movie.

six. I didn't know Sinbad supposed to have been abandoned by his father! It's been a long time since I read the 1001 ARABIAN NIGHTS, but according to this storyline he is actually a prince of the island where Alexander the Great took all his treasure--to tell you the truth, I don't remember if that is where the legend say it is or not.

7. Great storyline. Little bits of it are hinted at throughout the movie until it reaches its' conclusion and you hear the beginning story of Sinbad. I'm glad I've seen this...I don't remember his story much, too bad.

8. Fine acting by Quinn and the assassin. (You ever notice the word assassin calls you the first three letters of that word twice?)

CONS:

1. If you like these 'real' movies add this one to you collection like I did. Especially if you like Sinbad. In this case there is no down side. For those of you who don't like at least a fine storyline, special effects, no naked females, and some class...well you might learn something of modeling and forcescaling. Otherwise I would have liked a longer movie. All movies worth watching should be longer.

This movie is a little bit above just popcorn. It should require a salad bowl of popcorn and half a hot dog, and of course a drink. A perfect movie is the popcorn, two dogs, a big drink. At least that is the grading system I've started using tonight. Why give it four or five stars and only half a dog. The movie requires attention because the writer can write but everything is laid out there for you to watch without having to focus hard on it. Bye.

A fun story for all ages it brings Romance and Adventure together in a Arabian Nights setting.

Nothing except the shine of polyester can be as explosive on the retina than Tecnicolor blue. This is the first color we see in this swashbuckling adventure movie all over the expanse of the sea, like a saphire-acid rug. It really is a very appropriate hallucinogenic coloring for this totally mindless fantasy that stars Douglas Fairbanks Jr fresh from a real war and making a comeback to movieland. It worked very well as he has a wonderful gust of energy in every scene, his smile is always flawless and he looks good in Arabian garb as Sinbad the legendary sailor. Except for a few elaborate gestures that come from the silent movie tradition, his performance is very enjoyable.

The entire film is told as a flashback by Sinbad, recounting to a willing audience in a language that is overwrought and sometimes silly, his unknown latest adventure as an "Eighth" voyage. He starts off by finding a great looking ship that is about to crash into the rocks, and dives right in with his sidekick to recoup it fro himself. Later on, when forced to offer it at auction, his hints about plague to potential buyers of the ship, causes no one to buy the vessel except himself, of course, while stealing the money like a pro from the auctioneer's own bag. The easy purchase is stalled by a beautiful odalisque, with the divine name of Shireen and played by Maureen O'Hara, who wants, what else? to marry a prince and also wants to acquire the vessel, so she bids up the price from inside her covered litter that appropriately has a bunch of colorful feathers in each corner. Her peculiar hair style which extends a generous reddish mane down her back stays perfect through thick and thin as well as her coral-red lipstick. She also wears a series of gorgeous gowns that are Holywood's harem fare: heavily embroidered tops, a weird hipped-camisole with train combination, thoroghly transparent veils and lovely pointy shoes.
Sinbad is also trying to solve a riddle, involving an amulet that had been found about his neck since he was found as a lost baby. Unfortunately we do not get to see it dangling from his naked torso, as he never takes the shirt off so we are left in doubt as to how good he looked compared to his father in "The Thief of Baghdad" where he is thankfully shirtless and shows off a wonderful physique. This trinket looks so fake we can not possibly believe it could have lasted till he grew up, but it has a map that comes in handy. The image in the amulet (which is also reproduced in the glass window of the ship) is a map of an island which also re-appears exactly the same on a real map, pinned to the wall in the cabin, (This repetition is done so we realize how important this treasure was) showing the route to a fabled island where the treasure of Alexander the Great is buried. This map later mysteriously disappears from the vessel, but it does not stop Sinbad or the Emir from furiously sailing ahead.
Some of the most delightful scenes are where Shireen is being romanced by the Emir, a young and sexy Anthony Quinn in a thin moustache; who is inmaculately dressed in white and wears a huge cabochon ruby that glows in his also white turban with the incandescence of a Christmas ornament.
Shireen believes Sinbad can lead her to the treasure island, and she is confident she can swap him for the Emir if he wins the treasure, with her female guile and the allure of her Colgate teeth, while the Emir wants both the gold and the girl badly. What follows is Arabian Nights adventure : Ship chases, lashings of the slave crew in the Emir's ship that recall 'Ben-Hur', wild escapes, catty arguments between Shireen and the Emir, the revelation that Melik, a Mongolian-looking creature, a man with 'evil' eyes and obsessed with finding the treasure and who has sailed with Sinbad, is the poisoner of the crew of the ship Sinbad had found. This all makes up for tension amongst all when they finally land at the mysterious island of Derryabar. The island has a conveniently Grecian palace that looks ruined, yet has an extremely well lit hall where all the action, and the discovery of the treasure will take place. Sinbad, in a typical "Arabian Night" tale-fashion is discovered to be the ruler-philosopher's long-lost son. The treasure is revealed and does not disappoint in its amount, glittery shine or splendor, however Sinbad must save it from the greedy Emir, who wants to use it for his own 'evil' ends. Luckily this will not happen and we will get a happy ending with delightful destruction of all evil characters.
This is the type of movie that is ideal for escape-entertainment. It takes you away with all its color and energy into a fantasy land that would have delighted, and surprised Sinbad himself. Perfect for the summer with good air conditioning.

Dear Amazon,
Recently I have purcahsed the video tape of Sibab The Sailor starring Douglas Fairbanks and Maureen O 'Hara. Iam very disappoimnted this time as the quality of this video tape is not good at all. I have purchased a ne w video tape but unfortunely the color of the film is no longer clear and almost has become black & white instead of a color film.I will not purchase any classic video tape any longer in the near future. I presume all quality of these classic film on VHS are too old to be purchased.

H.Tjia

I purchased this VHS tape because of the bad reviews of the DVD available on Amazon.

But this VHS is an awful rip-off with very poor video quality. It even uses a cheap color xerox of the original VIC box artwork used as a slide in sheet for the cover of the box. The artwork on the front of the box even cuts off some of the VIC logo and the back has unreadable grainy text.

Distributor on box front = Video International Corp., [...] on back, but the tape plays as Video Entertainment Corp. as distributor.

Amazon lists this as the January 1st, 1985 release, VHS tape. However it says on the back of the box, artwork copyright 2007.

It played like a copy of a copy of a copied tape. I returned it to Amazon.

Later I bought a used copy of the original 1986 RKO release and the 1986 Turner release on VHS. Both are excellent! (The RKO version seemed a little sharper and brighter of these two fine VHS tapes.)

This was the best Sinbad movie I've ever seen! Looked everywhere for it and so happy to find it at Amazon.com. My 90 year old uncle had me looking for this a long time. So happy to have found it! Thank you so much for helping us collect these kinds of old classic movies!!! Amazonis number 1 in our book!

I have to give this kind of a low rating due to the poor quality of this
VHS tape. ( used VHS movies are a gamble anyway). Don't get me wrong! this is a terrific movie. I originally watched this on TV, recorded some of it and the Technicolor is superb. I recomend anyone interested in some of the better Maureen Ohara movies to obtain THIS MOVIE when it is avalable as a DVD.

On time and as discribed.

Loved it as a kid. Still like it now. So over the top!