Kathryn Grant and Kerwin Mathews in THE 7TH VOYAGE OF SINBAD
The old 'new' Sinbad : prior to this film, Sinbad was simply a horny sailor traveling the seven seas but after Ray Harryhausen had him fight mythical creatures created by his claymation special effects well the entire nature of Sinbad changed. Kerwin would star in several European-made PEPLUM adventures after this. As for Kathryn, this would be one of her last starring roles. Excellent score by Bernard Herrmann.
4 comments:
Very enjoyable film, but "The Golden Voyage of Sinbad" is even better.
In that film the attractive heroine (Caroline Munroe) does not spend most of the film in a protective cage because she is only about six inches tall.
The big disappointment is "Sinbad And The Eye of the Tiger."
All recent Sinbad flicks have been mediocre. Perhaps it is time for a really good new one to be made.
This one had some standout Harryhausen monsters, The Cyclops and the dragon. Matthews starred in The Three Worlds of Gulliver too.
Since I am a stop-motion animator myself I'm gonna be a stickler here and remark that "claymation" is but a common misconception of Harryhausen's art. Stop-motion, or dimensional animation, involves using rubber puppets with metal skeletons, not clay.
Having griped about that I'll get back to our main subject, namely that this film is one of those cinematic examples of catching lightning in a bottle."7th Voyage of Sinbad" has that magic that's so hard to define. I think it's one of the perfect fantasy films.
Kerwin Matthews also starred in Jack the Giant Killer (1962), which was so similar to 7th Voyage of Sinbad that Columbia threatened to sue MGM.
Jack the Giant Killer had special effects (including stop-motion animation) by Project Unlimited, who had won an Oscar award for The Time Machine, and who (IIRC) also worked on the Outer Limits TV series. Jim Danforth was an assistant at the company at that time, and JTGK may have been one of his first animation jobs.
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