The Golden Voyage of Sinbad Blu-ray (Screen Archives Entertainment Exclusive) (original) (raw)

Screen Archives Entertainment Exclusive / Limited Edition to 3000 | SOLD OUT Twilight Time | 1973 | 105 min | Rated G | Dec 10, 2013

| | | VideoCodec: MPEG-4 AVC (35.00 Mbps)Resolution: 1080pAspect ratio: 1.66:1Original aspect ratio: 1.85:1 AudioEnglish: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 (48kHz, 24-bit)Music: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 (48kHz, 24-bit)Music: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 (less) Subtitles English SDH English SDH (less) DiscsBlu-ray DiscSingle disc (1 BD-50) Playback2K Blu-ray: Region free | | PriceList price: $34.95New from: $43.00 Buy new on Amazon PriceBuy on:We may earn a commission from purchases made using our links. Thanks for your support 131 ratings. **56%**popularity | | - | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |

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The Golden Voyage of Sinbad

(1973)

The Golden Voyage of Sinbad Blu-ray delivers stunning video and audio in this excellent Blu-ray release

Sinbad and his crew intercept a homunculus carrying a golden tablet. Koura, the creator of the homunculus and practitioner of evil magic, wants the tablet back and pursues Sinbad. Meanwhile Sinbad meets the Vizier who has another part of the interlocking golden map, and they mount a quest across the seas to solve the riddle of the map, accompanied by a slave girl with a mysterious tattoo of an eye on her palm. They encounter strange beasts, tempests, and the dark interference of Koura along the way. It was this film that lead to the casting of Tom Baker in his most iconic role. The 4th Doctor in 'Doctor Who'.

For more about The Golden Voyage of Sinbad and the The Golden Voyage of Sinbad Blu-ray release, see the The Golden Voyage of Sinbad Blu-ray Review published by Jeffrey Kauffman on December 15, 2013 where this Blu-ray release scored 4.0 out of 5.

Director: Gordon Hessler
Writer: Brian Clemens
Starring: John Phillip Law

, Caroline Munro, Tom Baker, Douglas Wilmer, Martin Shaw, Gr�goire Aslan
Producers: Ray Harryhausen, Charles H. Schneer

» See full cast & crew

The Golden Voyage of Sinbad Blu-ray Review

Maybe closer to bronze, but still enjoyable.

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman, December 15, 2013

While 2013 might be remembered by a lot of film fans for the losses of stars like Peter O'Toole or Paul Walker or James Gandolfini, for those with an interest in the "below the line" (to use show business parlance) craftsmen, perhaps the saddest death of the year was Ray Harryhausen. Harryhausen at least lived to the ripe old age of 92, but his passing seemed to be a none too subtle reminder that the days of practical special effects may largely be a thing of the past. Stop motion animation still has its adherents of course, as my hometown of Portland has proven with the former Claymation Studios which morphed into Laika and produced such recent outings as Coraline and ParaNorman, and with such well known filmmakers as Tim Burton (Frankenweenie) and Nick Park (Wallace & Gromit: The Complete Collection) continuing to ply their craft in this medium. But with the increasing dependence on CGI for virtually all visual effects these days, stop motion is seen as something almost intentionally ironic and "retro", a throwback rather than an evolving art form. Harryhausen will no doubt remain the single best known artisan in this medium, one who gave hordes of baby boomers some of their most memorable cinematic thrills in films like The 7th Voyage of Sinbad and Jason and the Argonauts. His two 1970s era Sinbad films aren't usually listed at the top of his impressive oeuvre, but they're both hugely enjoyable on a basic level and they each offer substantial delights in the now arcane methodology of "Dynamation".

It was 15 years between 1958's The 7th Voyage of Sinbad and 1973's The Golden Voyage of Sinbad, and of course the world in general�as well as the film industry�had gone through several sea changes in the interim. A film like The Golden Voyage of Sinbad might seem like an anachronism in an era of a burgeoning independent blossoming and such politically pointed pieces like M*A*S*H , not to mention the Watergate scandal that would bring a president to his knees just a few months after the film's release in December of 1973. And yet against all odds, The Golden Voyage of Sinbad succeeds at least in fits and starts at recapturing a lot of the magic of adventure films from a bygone age, while occasionally seeming a bit creaky or dated in the process.

Sinbad (John Phillip Law) and his crew are plying the high seas when a giant bird appears overhead. One of Sinbad's men fires an arrow at the beast, at which point it drops a strange golden object which Sinbad immediately picks up, which causes him to have a vision of a rather curvaceous young woman. Despite warnings from his crew that the object must be bad luck, Sinbad actually wears it as an amulet and retires to his room where he has another vision, more like a nightmare really, where he's beset by hallucinations of a nefarious guy in a black robe and, again, the young woman. A horrible storm ensues, which at least has the silver lining of awakening Sinbad from his night tremors. When daylight breaks, Sinbad and the crew discover they have been blown seriously off course, and are in the waters offshore of a land called Marabia.

Sinbad jumps in the sea and swims ashore, where within seconds he's accosted by the man in the black robe, the film's chief villain Prince Koura (Tom Baker, Nicholas and Alexandra), who insists that Sinbad has stolen his golden object and demands its return. Sinbad of course will have none of it and engages the man and his henchman in a quick battle, which at least allows Sinbad to purloin one of their horses and make it into a nearby city where he has the illusion of safety in numbers. Sinbad discovers the city folks aren't too keen on the black-robed character and soon enough Sinbad is ushered in to meet the city Grand Vizier (Douglas Wilmer), who is clad in a golden mask due to a previous injurious run in with Koura, and who finally divulges to Sinbad that the object is not in fact an amulet, but is instead part of a map which depicts a way to the lost Fountain of Destiny in Lemuria.

Scenarist Brian Clemens (who co-wrote the story with Harryhausen himself) follows a traditional quest template, with Sinbad taking off with the Vizier to find the fountain, along with the girl from Sinbad's visions, a slave named Margiana (Caroline Munro). Koura is of course hot on their trail and it's a race to see who can discover the secrets of the map first and claim the untold riches that await the victor in Lemuria.

Of course the patently predictable plot is only an excuse for Harryhausen's set pieces, and in this regard there is both good news and bad. Harryhausen was nearing the end of his career (he in fact made only two films after this one), and perhaps had run out of a wealth of new ideas to exploit. Some of the effects, as admirable as they are, are frankly derivative of his earlier films, as when a giant masthead on a ship comes to life. But there are highlights here as well, including the knockout scene where Koura brings a statue of Kali to life and also, in more or less the same sequence, a knock down, drag out fight between a centaur and a griffin. Harryhausen's effects are unusually fluid in this film, without much of that "herky jerky" stop motion jitteriness that sometimes is part and parcel of this animation medium.

There's no denying that The Golden Voyage of Sinbad is patently old fashioned and, yes, even a bit silly, but it has a certain aura of magic�albeit perhaps tired magic�that makes some of its fantasy elements fun, if not especially innovative. While director Gordon Hessler does frankly pretty pedestrian work here, he's aided by a nice supporting turn by Baker and a rather sumptuous production design (some of the rest of the cast, notably Munro, may be picturesque, but are hardly Oscar caliber performers). Adding immeasurably to the film's allure is the evocative score of the legendary Miklos Rozsa, who helps to recapture some of the flair he added to the Korda production of The Thief of Bagdad.

The Golden Voyage of Sinbad Blu-ray, Video Quality

The Golden Voyage of Sinbad is presented on Blu-ray with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.66:1. This is another stellar looking high definition transfer from the almost always reliable Columbia � Sony. Colors are gorgeously saturated and vivid looking, with a glut of rich royal purples, blues and reds to keep the eye entertained. Fine detail is remarkable (look at the weave of Koura's turban and veil in screenshot 10). The film is obviously awash in optical effects, which necessarily bring with them added softness and grain. That said, grain is very heavy and kind of mottled looking at times, even in shots that aren't opticals, including some of what was probably the second unit footage aboard the boat (see screenshot 6). There's also some slight but noticeable flicker in the very first scene, which soon disappears and never recurs. Overall, though, this is a beautifully organic looking presentation which more than adequately preserves the lustrous cinematography of Ted Moore (famous for his work on several James Bond features).

The Golden Voyage of Sinbad Blu-ray, Audio Quality

The Golden Voyage of Sinbad features a nicely repurposed DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 mix that does a good work of encompassing the listener in several set pieces like the big, thunder and lightning filled storm that blows Sinbad and his crew to Marabia. Still, the best feature of the widened soundtrack is probably the wonderful music of Miklos Rozsa, which sounds spectacular. Dialogue is never lost in the mix (though some of the faux "eastern" accents are a bit thick), and fidelity remains strong and true throughout this offering. Purists may decry the lack of the original sound mix here, but what's here isn't overly artificial sounding and should please most discriminating audiophiles.

The Golden Voyage of Sinbad Blu-ray, Special Features and Extras

• Mysterious Island Featurette (480i; 11:13) is cobbled together from Harryhausen's introduction and follow-up comments released with the DVD. This has some great background information as well as some nice storyboards and other production data.

• 3 Worlds of Gulliver Featurette (480i; 7:12) presented Harryhausen again discussing things like travelling mattes.

• Earth vs. Flying Saucers Featurette (480i; 11:52) features Joe Dante interviewing Ray.

• Original Theatrical Trailer (1080p; 2:47)

• Isolated Music Score presented Miklos Rozsa's wonderful music in DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1.

The Golden Voyage of Sinbad Blu-ray, Overall Score and Recommendation

Younger (more cynical) types may not find The Golden Voyage of Sinbad as immediately captivating as some of Ray Harryhausen's earlier work (including his earlier Sinbad effort), but those who still delight in their inner child will probably find enough vestigial wonder here to enjoy this lesser but still entertaining film. Columbia has offered up another great looking transfer, and while supplements aren't especially numerous, this release comes Recommended.

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The Golden Voyage of Sinbad Blu-ray, News and Updates

• The Sinbad Blu-ray Trilogy

- April 11, 2017

British label Indicator/Powerhouse Films has announced that it will release on Blu-ray Sinbad Trilogy (The 7th Voyage of Sinbad, The Golden Voyage of Sinbad, Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger). The box set will will be available for purchase on June 26.

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