THE MOVIE

Sinbad (Kerwin Mathews) and Princess Parisas (Kathryn Grant) are sailing to Bagdad, when they unexpectedly stop on the island of Colossus. On the island they discover the Magian Shakura (Torin Thatcher) running from a cyclops. Saving Shakura and taking him aboard their ship, they sail on to Bagdad. Once there, the Magician asks for help to return to Colossus to retrieve his lamp with the Genie (Richard Eyers) inside. Refused this help, Shakura shrinks the Princess down to the size of a tiny doll. In a panic, Sinbad asks for Shakura's help. He can only help them with a potion made with ingredients from the island of Colossus. They agree to sail to Colossus to try save the Princess, and once there must battle the Cyclops again, the massive two headed bird Roc, a fighting skeleton and a deadly dragon.

This is the film that introduced audiences to Dynamation. Originally created for use in B/W films, it was adapted to be made with colour film for this release. This was a concern for special visual effects creator Ray Harryhausen, as B/W footage would allow him to hide any inconsistencies between the animation and the real footage. While the effects sequences are certainly easily distinguished from the normal footage, this is easily overlooked in recognition of the far more accomplished effects sequences quality that came about with Jason and the Argonauts.

Still, this film is accomplished in its own right for being the genesis of not only the Sinbad films that were to follow, but also any number of science fiction film that used Dynamation during the heyday of this genre. There can be no question of the effect Harryhausen had on the film industry. With all eyes focussed on his wonderful creations, the bulk of any film containing his work could be considered no more than padding. To have a true appreciation for modern motion picture special effects, one must go back and view the works of Ray Harryhausen.

THE TRANSFER

Video:

Working with what must have been occasionally far from perfect original source material, a very good job has been done for this transfer to dvd. Although the image does sometimes contain compression and film artefacts, that are not distracting to view. Colours are well saturated and true to the style of films from the time. Scenes involving Harryhausen's dynamation are clearly lower in quality than the standard footage. They have tendency to be darker, with higher contrast and softer focus. This however is a limitation of the original material, and is not a reflection of the transfer process.

Audio:

We are presented with a DD1.0 soundtrack. This is a suprisingly clear and distinct transfer. At all times dialogue was clear, even during the more active moments when you would have expected it to fight for clarity. The score and sound effects were also well relayed, with good clarity and notable effort going into bringing us the action with as much dynamism as possible. If anything could be criticised, it would be the obviously limited dynamic range present. Any area where the audio fails however is indicative of the limitations of the source material, and not the transfer process, which has stood up well.

THE EXTRAS

Obviously a lot of thought and consideration went into bringing us this disc, with a good selection of extras to keep us entertained after the film.

Theatrical Poster: A single still shot of the original poster used to promote the film. This obviously could have been expanded on, but due to the overall quality of the extras, I wont bear a grudge.

Interviews-A look behind the voyage: Running 11:45, this contains interviews with producer Charles H. Schneer, effects legend Ray Harryhausen and Kerwin Mathews (Sinbad in this film). They briefly discuss how they came to be involved in the film.

Interviews-Jason and the Argonauts: Running 11:50, this is an interview with Harryhausen conducted by John Landis. Landis is clearly excited about the opportunity to discuss effects with Ray, but unfortunately he does most of the talking.

This is Dynamation Featurette: Short original promotional featurette used to promote the introduction of Dynamation to audiences at time of release.

Ray Harryhausen Chronicles: A 58 minute documentary narrated by Leonard Nimoy. Discusses Harryhausens history in film, from his influences and the effect he has had on cinema history.

Theatrical Trailers: The 7th Voyage of Sinbad, Jason and the Argonauts, The golden Voyage of Sinbad.

Talent Profiles

SUMMARY

Overall, this is a great package that showcases Ray Harryhausen's brilliant creations. Loaded with plenty of extras for the devotee and with a very good audio and video transfer, this makes for a must buy if you appreciate the work of the effects genius Harryhausen.