Our quest to examine ten classic adventure films reaches its conclusion with The Golden Voyage of Sinbad (1974), Ray Harryhausen's fantasy epic starring John Phillip Law, Tom Baker, Caroline Munro, and the six-armed goddess of death and destruction, Kali. Click the image below to listen to the podcast (25.6 MB, 1 hour 10 mins).
Recorded Monday 12 December 2011, edited by Murray Ewing.
Notes & Errata: Tom Baker's merchant seaman card is reproduced on page 341 of Tracing Your Ancestors in the Public Record Office (2002) by Amanda Bevan; he was discharged from service in 1958. Hammer's Rasputin film was Rasputin the Mad Monk (1966), starring Christopher Lee as Rasputin. The 'Sinbad vs. Dinosaurs' film Harryausen worked up the concept for was titled King of the Geniis (1970). The 1970s Thief of Baghdad was a made-for-TV production from 1978 (though we definitely saw it at the cinema!), it starred Roddy McDowall and also featured Terence Stamp, Ian Holm and Peter Ustinov. In his Film Fantasy Scrapbook (1989) Harryhausen describes the Kali statue as an eight-foot bronze statue (just thought I'd mention it :-))
Purchase the DVD from Amazon UK: The Golden Voyage of Sinbad (1974).
I thoroughly enjoyed your Golden Voyage podcast a few times now, as I have also re-watched the film again. I have not seen this film before, as it is one I haven't seen on our classic channel, and not that easy to find, so I bought a copy. Glad I did!
ReplyDeleteKali is amazing! (Re-watched Kali scene a few times. I do have to say, I do like better than the skeletons. Scarier too.)
Kali statue does sound like metal to me, until it falls. Landing on the 'stone floor' sounded like a mixture of glass and pottery breaking. I'm guessing they wanted the more impressive sound over metal falling. (Just guessing.)
I watched the film twice, but didn't catch the eyes on Kali hands until the third viewing.
While Munro didn't have a strong role, I don't know if Sinbad would have gone on the quest, without seeing 'Margiana' in his vision. She's very pretty, for sure, and she does keep Sinbad from being killed (because of the eye on her hand). But I agree with you, not a strong role for her, but she did fine.
There was one scene that caught my eye the first time around, but maybe it adds to the mystery of the island (or the editors didn't think it would be noticed). It's when they arrive at the island by ship. The scenes on the ship (showing the ocean behind them) shows a sunrise or sunset(?). But the film cuts to them looking at the island, which is clearly in mid-day sunlight. Took me out of the story, just a bit, but no big deal.
I enjoyed the film, and have my own copy now, and looking forward to your summary program.
Thanks so much for having this out by the Christmas weekend. Made for an more enjoyable holiday weekend! Really looking forward to your 11th program.
Thanks very much, Linda!
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