Wuchak Released in 1973, "The Golden Voyage of Sinbad" was the second of three Harryhausen Sinbad flicks; the other two being 1958's "The 7th Voyage of Sinbad" and 1977's "Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger." In this film Sinbad (John Phillip Law) and crew mount a quest across the seas to solve the riddle of a map, accompanied by a slave girl with a strange eye tattoo on her palm (Caroline Munro), a masked Vizier (Douglas Wilmer) and a humorous green recruit (Kurt Christian). Meanwhile the evil sorcerer Koura is on their trail (Tom Baker).Sinbad adventures play like a Middle Eastern version of Conan the Barbarian, albeit with a slightly funner edge and a less dour protagonist. So, if you love Conan you'll likely appreciate all three of these Sinbad films. And even though I describe these movies as having a fun edge, they're not goofy. They're serious sword & sorcery movies; the protagonists just exude the joy and vitality of living.The items I demand in a Sinbad adventure are obvious: A good casting choice for Sinbad, a great adventure story, exotic locations, a colorful assortment of likable characters & love-to-hate villains, beautiful women, and quality F/X work (for the era). "The Golden Voyage" delivers in most of these areas, although the production values seem kinda cheap here and there. While John Phillip Law fits the Arabic role of Sinbad better than Kerwin Mathews, Patrick Wayne is even better in the sequel. Caroline is easily the most beautiful woman to appear in all three films despite the stiff competition from the likes of Kathryn Grant, Jane Seymour and Taryn Power.The score is fitting, the F/X work is entertaining in a nostalgic way, and the Spanish locations are good, what we see of them anyway. This brings up the film's biggest weakness (to me anyway): It's too set-bound with most of the sets being the bowels of ancient temples or caverns. I can handle this because it's just one film in a trilogy, but the enclosed/underground sets take away from the sea-going high adventure one expects with Sinbad. Furthermore, like I said, the production values are easily the least of the three. However, the movie makes up for it with perhaps the most colorful cast of characters, including the green-skinned tribe.All three Sinbad movies are very different since each has a different person in the title role, not to mention the rest of the characters. I marginally prefer this one to to the first one, but "Eye of the Tiger" is my favorite because it has the best cast, story and sense of a long voyage/quest. But each has its strengths and weaknesses. For instance, Kerwin Mathews in "The 7th Voyage" was way too whitebread for the role of Sinbad while the runtime of "Eye of the Tiger" seems a bit padded.The movie runs 105 minutes and was shot in Spain.GRADE: B-

Neil Welch John Phillip Law dons the turban last worn by Kerwin Matthews (OK, so Kerwin Matthews didn't actually wear a turban), Caroline Munro is a pleasingly pneumatic maid of mystery, and Tom Baker makes a splendidly sinister master of magic. Plus there are exotic locations and a fabulous score.And who cares? We want Ray Harryhausen's creatures! let's be fair, a bad script and poor production values could have fatally harmed Harryhausen's movies: fortunately, in this one (16 years after the previous Sinbad venture), all the backup is great, which enables Ray's creations to shine.And there are some wonderful creations in this entry, although my favourites have to be the 6 armed Kali - a sword fight to rival the skeletons from Jason - and the cyclops/centaur as is full of character as the cyclops from 7th Voyage.Whenever I watch this movie it transports me to the land of my imagination, just as it did when I first watched it all those years ago. Which, I suspect, is exactly what Mr H hoped for.

liasummers This story unfolds effortlessly with noble characters who take us on a spontaneous adventure. It is a spin on the original story from "1,001 Arabian Nights." John Philip Law makes a dashing Sinbad, and he and his costars do a great job of underplaying. Even the villain is likable. This movie is a feast for the eyes with amazing costumes, sets, and Ray Harryhausen's legendary special effects. I love the historical and anthropological references to the evil eye, the temple of faces at Ankor Wat, the Gryphon, and a multi-armed Kali doing best version of Bharata Natyam. I also appreciate the message of fighting evil with bravery, positive attitude, etc. This is a great movie for kids.

frog I enjoyed this movie right up to the ending, the special effects are really cool and I loved the homunculus, it is probably one of Harryhausen's best creations. Overall a very decent and enjoyable movie to watch for the first three quarters of the movie. Unfortunately things go wrong toward the end; that bearded head that comes out of the well and tells Sinbad to go north is unfathomably unbearable to watch and the closeups of it's mouth made me cringe, this isn't even the worst part - those green cavemen are even worse, I could not even look at them without wanting to burst out laughing, they totally ruined the atmosphere of the movie, I suspect they were just extras that were just thrown into the movie in the last few days of shooting to somehow make the ending more interesting but with disastrous results. Also there was not enough explanation as to why the Griffen was there, was he just passing by? or was he also just thrown in at the end to somehow make the ending more interesting? Overall I give this movie an 8/10 for the first three quarters and 1/10 for the ending. The other 2 Sinbad films are more consistent and enjoyable to watch and I really do think the 'The Eye of the Tiger' Is very under-rated.