THE SINBAD TRILOGY
Fantastic Voyages
RELEASED 26 JUNE 1958/1973/1977 | U | Blu-ray & DVD (dual format) Directors Nathan Juran, Gordon Hessler, Sam Wanamaker Cast Kerwin Matthews, John Phillip Law, Patrick Wayne, Jane Seymour
Part magician, part monk – he crafted his stop-motion marvels in total seclusion, the better to protect his secrets – Ray Harryhausen was, ultimately, all showman. This bank holiday-friendly triptych showcases his strengths: sturdy, old-school storytelling matched with a rare gift for cinematic sorcery; ripping yarns with weaponised spectacle.
1958’s The Seventh Voyage Of Sinbad is an early outlier, a sweeping Arabian fantasia that pits clean-cut contract player Kerwin Matthews against a rhino-horned Cyclops (yes, Harryhausen had a gloriously pick’n’mix approach to world mythology). 1973’s Golden Voyage delivers more of an H Rider Haggard vibe, as Tom Baker’s mesmeric villain hunts a lost kingdom. Eye Of The Tiger (1977) is the slickest and paciest, stunning location work in Petra adding globe-trotting gloss.
It’s Harryhausen’s bestiary that still astonishes: a six-armed, sword-wielding Kali, a malevolent ship’s figurehead, a chess-playing baboon. Their eerie half-life, born of infinite patience, technical nous and wild imagination, is the closest cinema’s ever come to one man dreaming on screen.
Extras These new restorations come with more treasures than a Baghdad bazaar. Highlights include new interviews with Tom Baker, Jane Seymour and Caroline Munro, and vintage audio of Harryhausen being interviewed at the NFT in 1970 and 1981. A host of archival features includes effects gurus paying tribute in “The Harryhausen Legacy”; Leonard Nimoy-narrated documentary “The Harryhausen Chronicles”; a tribute to the music of The 7th Voyage’s Bernard Herrmann; and Harryhausen in conversation with John Landis. The 7th Voyage comes with commentary by Harryhausen and a pair of effects experts. You also get a 80-page booklet with essays and oral histories, isolated scores, an early Dynamation demo film and more.
Harryhausen recycled the body of the Ymir from 20 Million Miles To Earth for the Cyclops in The 7th Voyage.