As The Golden Voyage of Sinbad begins, the fabled
nautical adventurer (John Phillip Law) and his crew are sailing on the open sea
when they spot a strange flying creature. Frightened by an arrow fired by one
of the sailors, the creature drops a small golden tablet. After Sinbad ties the
object around his neck he has several nightmarish visions of a tall man dressed
in black and a dancing girl with an eye tattooed on the palm of her hand. When
a storm blows the ship off course, Sinbad is sure the land they come upon is
connected to his dream somehow. Going ashore alone he encounters the man in
black from his vision. The dark man (Doctor Who's Tom Baker) identifies himself
as Prince Koura, a sorcerer who claims the golden tablet as his own and demands
its return. Escaping into a nearby city, Sinbad is met by the benevolent,
golden-masked Grand Vizier (Douglas Wilmer), who explains Koura's bid to obtain
ultimate power. To gain this power, the wizard must unite the three separate
pieces of a magical sign. The golden tablet Sinbad wears about his neck is one
of these pieces, while the Vizier controls another. When combining their two
segments they discover a map that can lead them to the third and so together
they vow to foil Koura's evil scheme. A rich man's wastrel son and the slave
girl Margiana (Caroline Munro), whose tattooed hand may play a part in stopping
the Prince, join Sinbad on the journey. They set sail for the legendary isle of
Lemuria with Koura and his henchmen in close pursuit.
Of the three Sinbad movies made by Ray
Harryhausen, Golden Voyage has always been my favorite. Most people
prefer 1958's The 7th Voyage of Sinbad and I can understand that, but
I feel the story in Golden Voyage is better and I really like
John Phillip Law in the lead role. He seems much more suited to the character
and even affects an accent to add to his performance. It also helps that
Caroline Munro — one of the most beautiful women to ever grace the
silver screen — is the only female on display here, giving us more
time to stare longingly at her tanned body and lose ourselves in her lovely
eyes. (And she's not even a special effect!)
Although Jason and the
Argonauts will always be Harryhausen's greatest film, this one gives him
plenty of moments to shine and he capitalizes on all of them. Each creature
brought to stop-motion life here is a wonder to behold with beautiful details
and amazing, flowing movement. I'll never get over my original childhood fear
of the prow of Sinbad's ship, which comes to life under Koura's power. It's a
combination of the blank, unchanging face of the wooden woman and the creepy
sounds of her moving that send chills down my spine.
There are two showstoppers
in Golden Voyage that rival the skeleton fight in 7th Voyage.
One is the grotesque one-eyed centaur that battles a mighty griffin, the other
the living, six-armed statue of Kali. The fight between Kali and Sinbad's crew
is a masterful bit of action that bears repeated viewings. With all these
pyrotechnics you might expect the film to be a bit too broad, but my favorite
moment in the film is the quiet scene of Koura's new homunculus awakening to
life. The detailed facial expressions and body language of the small winged
beast is mesmerizing; this is one of the best animation sequences of Harryhausen's
career. Moments like this make Golden Voyage a wonderful film that
will go on entertaining audiences for generations to come.
It's often said that 'They don't make 'em like they used
to' and this film is a perfect example of that statement's truth. The clearness of
purpose that can be felt behind Harryhausen's fantasy films is almost never
evident in cinema today. Each of his movies feels as if it were crafted
by people who cared very much about making the best possible film they could
create. These stories weren't shaped by committees, vetted by a legal
department or altered by businessmen looking for a good Happy Meal tie-in.
These films were put together by people in love with the stories and in love
with filmmaking. Any story changes were done for budgetary or time constraints,
not because the vice-president of marketing thought his kids would like a blue
monster instead of a green one.
8 comments:
I can't decide which Sinbad movie I like the most between 7th and Golden myself. There isn't a bad Harryhausen film in my opinion. How would you rank his films?
7th Voyage is one of my all-time favorite films, and one of the most influential films in my life and career, perhaps only exceeded by (the original) King Kong.
I saw Golden Voyage in the drive-in when it first came out, and though I liked it a lot, I was a bit disappointed -- mostly because of the shadow of 7th. However, in the years since, Golden has grown and grown in my estimation, and now it ranks right up near the top of Harryhausens films -- which, without doubt, are my favorite film "series."
John Philip Law's Sinbad is my favorite, not just of the RH Sinbads, but probably of all of them -- though Kerwin Mathews and Guy Williams are close behind. Law's, though, feels the most "realistic." I always wish he'd reprised the role, rather than having Patrick Wayne (the weakest part of the final RH Sinbad). And his "Arabian" accent is part of what makes his Sinbad the best. (Caroline Munro is, of course, wonderful, too.) I often think of this as Harryhausen's last great film (though not his last great work; the Medusa tops all!)
As to the tops of my RH list, you know 7th is at the top, but this, Jason, and Beast from 20,000 Fathoms are all within biting distance.
And we didn't even mention the score by Mikos Rosza -- one of the best of all time, only slightly hindered because budget (or was it a strike of some kind?) precluded him having a full orchestra. It, like 7th's score by Herrmann, is among my favorite soundtracks of all time.
PS -- For hand-crafted movies by people who care and love film, try the films of Christopher R. Muhm -- especially THE GIANT SPIDER.
I need to eventually check out Muhm's movies- I keep hearing good things and they seem right up my alley.
And my least favorite Harryhausen efforts are SINBAD AND THE EYE OF THE TIGER which I think is a mess with some good moments and THE 3 WORLDS OF GULLIVER is kind of dull with little of Harryhausen to goose it along.
It's Christopher R. MIHM (my fingers fumbled the spelling), and you'd enjoy his stuff. Start with THE GIANT SPIDER, 'cause it showcases what he's doing really well. He may still have his New Year Sale going, right now. 3 for $25 can't be beat!
I agree about EYE OF THE TIGER, though I think the big problem is Patrick Wayne. And RH's SFX are all over GULLIVER -- it's just more of his technical/matte work, rather than the animation we all expect. So, though I love the music and all the SFX, Gulliver does lack the monsters I crave.
(PS - The Gulliver copy they sell online that says its widescreen, isn't. There's currently no true-aspect-ratio print of the film available. TCM has a widescreen, but it's matted -- and the general release is Full Frame. Sigh! The original is somewhere in between, probably pretty close to 16x9.)
Yeah- Gulliver just seems so muted as a fantasy film for Harryhausen. And its hard to believe that one of his films has not been released well on disc. When I saw it on TCM (I think) it looked like there was a lot of variation in the quality of the various process shots - some fading and fuzziness. Could there be concerns about the film not looking as good as other movies of its type?
My absolute favorite movie from my childhood. They showed it at the theatre on the army base once every couple of months. This was in the days before videos so it was the movie I saw the most. I know it by heart and it never bores me.
I think perhaps Gulliver hasn't had a great video release because there's no one championing it, as it is one of the least-regarded of Harryhausen's films. But his size-changing work is pretty amazing, and it deserves a great release with a proper aspect ratio.
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