"Sinbad" (John Phillip Law) is in possession of a rather clunky medallion that he only narrowly manages to keep from the grasping hands of the sorcerer "Koura" (Tom Baker). Finding safety in the city of "Marabia" he is told a tale by the Grand Vizier (Douglas Wilmer) and shown why the evil "Koura" is after his jewel. Shortly afterwards, while walking through the bazaar he is encouraged - to the tune of 400 gold pieces and the pretty "Margiana" (Caroline Munro) - to take the lazy "Haroun" (Kurt Christian) on his next, perilous, voyage. Off they all go in search of the Oracle of All Knowledge - hotly pursued by the sorcerer - where they hope to finally thwart his ambitions to become ever-youthful, wealthy and all-powerful. It's a fun and entertaining story this that I vaguely recall watching as a seven year old in a long-defunct Glasgow cinema. Law is handsome enough, Munro brings a bit of glamour, Baker hams up nicely as the baddie and Christian and Martin Shaw contribute a little bit of nautical humour and theatrical guffawing to the proceedings nicely, too. The real stars, as ever though, are the creations of Ray Harryhausen - not least the Centaur and the wonderful Kali with her sword dance. Even now, I am still not sure how the ending finished up the way it did - and that, I found, really rather disappointing - but it's still a colourful and reasonably well paced adventure film with some memorable beasties and a Miklos Rosza score that bears a striking resemblance to his work on “Ben Hur” (1959) too.
2022-11-09
