Leofwine_draca I saw this movie under the title THE MAGIC VOYAGE OF SINBAD but thankfully it was the Russian version of the story, complete with the original character name of Sadko and English subtitles. This is a Soviet slice of fantasy about a roaming adventurer hero based on classic Russian folklore. The film is quite episodic and involves Sadko getting involved in various heroic deeds, including some Robin Hood-style redistribution of wealth and alms to the poor and some more fantastic adventures later on.When watching Russian epics from the 1950s, the thing that you most notice about them is just how much they've dated over the years. This looks and feels like a 1930s-era film with mannered performances and old-fashioned scenery and shooting styles. The film is certainly larger than life in respect of the heroic deeds that the main character performs, some of which are reminiscent of the later sword and sandal films to come out of Italy. My favourite part involves a visit to an undersea kingdom, achieved by putting an aquarium in front of the screen. Fun stuff!

Armand at first sigh - a fairy-tale. at the second - admirable manifesto in gray time. because, far of all, it is product of time. not for naive special effects, not for nationalist message. but for courage to give another image of cinema art in deep Cold War. so, it is different propaganda. an interesting and powerful exercise to discover real Russia, far from red flags and ideological cages.the performance - sweet and nice -, the music, the silhouette of characters are testimonies of a little revolution. sure, not impressive. but really essential. because it marks end of a page. the joy, the adventures, the childhood piece from myth each is scene for a beginning. the death of Stalin is only a sign. the seed can be, like many others Soviet film, this poor , charming and seductive movie. as victory of a David against Goliath. a moral victory, of course. but not insignificant.

Woodyanders Brave and noble sailer Sinbad (the hopelessly wooden Sergei Stolyarov, who sports a wicked pointy Van Dyke beatnik beard) wants to bring happiness to the poor people in his land. When he discovers out that giving folks money and material goods doesn't do the trick, Sinbad decides to go on a perilous journey to find the fabled Blue Bird of Happiness. Boy, does this radically doctored American version of a popular Russian fantasy film possess all the right wrong stuff to qualify as an amusingly inane yukfest: we've got stiff acting, cruddy dubbing, ripe narration, an agonizingly poky pace, a drawn-out and meandering narrative (it takes over thirty minutes for Sinbad to finally embark on his quest!), infrequent and ineptly staged action scenes, a few inspired goofy touches (you gotta love Sinbad's laughing horse and the creepy singing bird lady), laughably lousy (not so) special effects, and a groan-inducing cornball climactic message. This honey hits its gloriously gut-busting campy zenith when Sinbad swims underwater and pays a visit to the legendary kingdom of Atlantis, which comes complete with a hearty king and a bitchy queen, a giant cheesy puppet octopus, and an equally tacky hand puppet catfish. Another hilarious sequence occurs when various foolhardy souls participate in a test to prove they got the correct tough stuff to be members of Sinbad's crew: Most of these dudes take a slug of hard liquor and get punched in the chest by Sinbad while one especially crazy guy wrestles a bear! And let's not forget the cringeworthy moment with Sinbad forlornly warbling a horrendous song next to a lake. An absolute kitschy hoot.

Robin Cook Seldom do I have goosebumps from watching a fun fantasy film as I did with this wonderfully restored Russian FAMILY VIEWING film. I applaud the restorers for doing this timely work (and the translators for the subtitles!). I pray that they endeavor with more restorations of many Russian classics that we American's have not had opportunity to view. I have not watched the other version with the English language dubbing (The Magic Voyage of Sinbad), but I can gather from another user's comments that it had to have been pretty bad. I prefer original language in such films anyway and don't mind reading the movie.Considering the film was done in 1953 without our cgi stuff and other advanced technology of today, the visuals are absolute gems (well done). I had a flash forward of a Finding Nemo type fish in one of the scenes, which was about the only part that was more of a hokey cheaply done prop filler, which could and perhaps should have been edited out. However, due to the nature of that fishy prop, it was rather unique and funny, and added more to the fantasy theme of the movie.Even though the acting was somewhat stiffly hokey by mollywood viewers of the Americas, Russians have a certain flair akin only to their culture. It was refreshing to listen to the Russian men's deep voices that we usually associate with ruffians in many movies. And the Russian dancing! Loved it! So, to comments about the acting? Well, methinks ya need to know a few Russians (and their flair), and to turn back the clock in remembering when this movie was made ... without this "acting" this movie would have been the Pitts ... it gave the film that certain further flair of saying, "This is a fantasy flick, so don't take anything too seriously." Excellent family film (as long as the kids can read)!