The Golden Voyage of Sinbad – 1974 – A Fantasy Tale

First of all, the Ray Harryhausen effect of The Golden Voyage of Sinbad is glorious! This is exactly the kind of film I associate him with. I know he made effects and created stories for other types of movies as well. Mostly in the Fantasy- or Monster genres of course. I haven’t seen them all (yet) but I’m also impressed with how good the effects are for their time. There are some Sci-Fi flicks in his portfolio too, but I think those mostly fall under the Monster umbrella as well. Correct me if I’m wrong here.

It’s easy to think that all Ray Harryhausen did was create unforgettable stop-motion effects. And I think that those are a big part of his legacy. But that’s not all. I don’t think that we would have all the sides of matte effects covered if it wasn’t for him. I realize that there were more pioneers of course but I chose to believe. There are just some people that make it look better than others. Maybe it’s because he was often also heavily involved in the storyline as well. The Golden Voyage of Sinbad was co-written by him.

Gordon Hessler

But let’s not get ahead of ourselves. Even if I hold Ray Harryhausen as a genius in his own right, he didn’t make this movie happen alone. In the director’s chair, we find Gordon Hessler. One of those old-school movie makers who could be expected to do anything, not just Fantasy. I feel like that’s kind of a lost art these days, to be an eclectic director. It seems to me like if you make success with one type of movie you’ll stick with that these days.

I am not saying that it’s like that in all cases but look at Peter Jackson for instance. He was very successful in bringing the Lord of the Rings to life, so he dedicated another number of years to also making “The Hobbit Trilogy”. Maybe that’s not the greatest example. but you know what I mean? If you’re a successful action director, you direct action movies. You couldn’t suddenly make a comedy or a horror flick.

By just glancing a bit at Gordon Hessler’s filmography I find some favorite movies of mine. He made both Rage of Honor and Pray for Death Ninja movies with Sho Kosugi. But also films that I consider classic in the horror genre like Scream and Scream Again, The Oblong Box, and Cry of the Banshee. Oh, and let’s not forget… Kiss Meets the Phantom of the Park. I know many people don’t hold that film in very high esteem, but I like it and I am quite fond of it actually.

The Story Begins

But back to the movie. We can’t just be rambling names, can we? The story starts with Sinbad on his way somewhere. I don’t know if it’s told where he’s headed but I don’t think so. The main thing is that he is on his ship. Where else could he be you might wonder. Anyway, there is this flying creature, which might supposed to look like a bird. The characters in the movie seem to think so because the only thing they comment in that it’s carrying something shiny. For use – the audience, it’s obvious that it’s some kind of dragon-like creature and that it’s the craft of Ray Harryhausen. There we go with those names again, enough already!

This is the start of the adventure. The shiny thing the flying creature was carrying falls down on the ship and despite that some of the crew feel its bad luck and begs him to through it overboard, Sinbad keeps it and even carries it as a necklace. This leads to the next part. When Sinbad and his crew go ashore on an island they encounter a man who claims that the shiny object belongs to him. Sinbad is suspicious. Of course, Sinbad never does anything wrong and keeps the object to himself anyway.

We soon realize that this was the so-called “evil wizard” that needs to be in many, if not all of these stories. He doesn’t seem so evil really, but he uses dark magic and he’s after wealth and power for his own benefit. Hence, that makes him the bad man. It took me a while to realize that it’s none other than Tom Baker who might be best known for his part as the fourth doctor in Doctor Who!

Sinbad is Good!

Sinbad on the other side is all good, all the time. He might be a little naive and playful sometimes but he always does the right thing. He now visits another place where the true meaning of the object is revealed which in turn makes him embark on the “Golden Voyage” that the film is really about. There are some parts adventure, some parts fantasy, and quite a lot of that light matinee sense of humor in The Golden Voyage of Sinbad. There are many mysteries along the way. Some might have been good to explore further whereas others might not should have been explored at all. There’s always that fine delicate balance to it.

With that said. I don’t necessarily think that the whole story is great. There are a bit too many references to Allah and, even though Sinbad is a character of legend and appears in One Thousand and One Nights and is based on Middle Eastern folklore and therefore a Muslim, I’m not sure if what’s going on the movie is reflecting Islam in the way it should be. I feel that it’s more of a Western interpretation of how exotic we Westerners might consider Muslims. There are references to heathens, which is some barbaric tribe worshiping another God. My interpretation of this is beside the point but the statue that Ray Harryhausen brings to life looks a lot like the Hindu God Shiva. Heathens? Pagans? I don’t know. it depends on your point of perspective, doesn’t it? I think I even saw an Egyptian Ankh in there somewhere.

All in good fun

But The Golden Voyage of Sinbad is all in good fun I guess. The story is light-hearted. It is easy to like Sinbad and his crew loves him even though he might be hard on them sometimes. I would think that a captain who denies tressures and just lives for the adventure and does what’s right all the time would have a mutiny on his hands pretty fast. Oh! Robert Shaw appears in a small and uncredited part as the Oracle of all knowledge.