Stream it now Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger 1977

 

Great sci-fi film. I grew up watching the Sinbad films. I love the claymation.

SINBAD AND THE EYE OF THE TIGER
(SAM WANAMAKER, 1977)
G
1 HOUR 53 MINUTES

Sinbad stops off on an island for a break while on his voyage of the seven seas. While on the island fetching food, women, and supplies, he encounters the beautiful daughter of the ruler of the local town. The family asks Sinbad to partake in an extraordinary mission to find Melanthius. A witch has cast a spell on the air to the throne and turned the prince into a baboon. Melanthius may be able to turn the prince back to his normal form. The evil witch will stop at nothing to stop Sinbad on this mission.

"The beast is playing chess."
"I know; he's beat me twice."

SamWanamaker, director of The Executioner, The File of the Golden Goose, and Catlow, delivers Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger. The storyline for this film is exactly what you would expect from this genre; however, the action sequences are easily the best of the series. Ray Harryhausen created the marvelous special effects and also wrote the story for this brilliant picture. The action scenes are compelling and breathtaking.

"She's more dangerous than a scorpion."

The fight in the tent, the baboon scenes, the chess games versus the baboon, the ship without the sails, Minoton killing the guy thrown over the side of the boat, the rock throwing sequence, the seagull transformation, the bee growing and attacking, the giant walrus, the "more frightened" reference, and the saber tooth tiger scenes were amongst my favorite portions of the film.

"A normal baboon wouldn't have recognized its reflection and attacked it thinking it was another baboon."

Patrick Wayne (Young Guns & Her Alibi) and Jane Seymour (Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman) were perfect for their roles. Jane Seymour was stunning and vibrantly beautiful. This is my favorite Sinbad picture. The script is not the best, but the overall storyline and action scenes are magnificent. Ray Harryhausen outdid himself with this picture.

"That's not a bee, it's a mosquito!"

Grade: A-

'Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger' is an old-fashioned action film about the sailor hero. This time, he tries to defeat a witch who has transformed the rightful king into a monkey so her son can be king. Throughout the journey to defeat her and restore the throne to its rightful owner, Sinbad and the others fight mythological creatures and provide several entertaining action sequences throughout the film. Although it is packed with action, the acting seems a little fake, and the direction seems somewhat lost throughout the film without a strong, defining characters and conflicts as one action sequence blends into another. Overall, it is not too bad for an older action film, but do not expect much in the way of a plot. It could have probably been a better story as the ideas were interesting.

Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger (1977)


Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger is the third entry into Ray Harryhausen's Sinbad Trilogy, although thre three Sinbad movies have nothing to do with each other except that the hero is Sinbad, the sailor. Even as a fan of the classic Harryhausen movies from when I was a kid, this is definitely the weakest out of the five "epic" movies that he did. Nothing can reach the level of Jason and the Argonauts which was was perfect for it's genre. Fortunately Harryhausen didn't go out too bad because he followed this up with Clash of the Titans a few years later, which was pretty good if you're a fan of his films. Jason and the Argonauts, Clash of the Titans, The 7th Voyage of Sinbad, and The Golden Voyage of Sinbad are all much better movies, but if you liked this one then you should definitely enjoy the others. My problem with this one is the weak story and the annoying villain who acts like an evil step-mother. Her voice can be very irritating at times. Although there was a lot of interaction between the actors and Harryhausen's creations, there weren't really any big battles between them like in his previous films, which was disappointing.

How can I give a fairly cheesy movie an 7/10? Its easy. Its got Harryhausen effects, a semi-nude young Jane Seymour and Taryn Power, Sinbad's red shirt ship crew that are mostly doomed to die, and some decent supporting cast.

It doesn't help its case that it was released about the same time as the original Star Wars and Close Encounters; by then film audiences could expect a bit more than whats on the plate here. Wayne is the weakest of the 3 Sinbads from the Harryhausen filmography. It does have the highest production values of that group. Although the music is weak, they do manage to keep Sinbad in pretty much the same cool looking miniature boat and there's some decent fx now and then beyond the expected stop motion work.

The DVD is anamorphic and it has sharp colors and good definition, with just a bit of dirt noticeable in some light backgrounds. Even so, the mono audio dates the movie more than anything else so you have to use a DSP mode to get it off the center channel. Modern rock-em sock-em audio tracks like Underworld or Blue Crush get elevated ratings simply because they sound so bitchin', and an old mono track like this is a letdown; its like piping the sound to $0.30 TV speakers. I can give the DVD an 8/10 because of the good video transfer and the documentary on Harryhausen narrated by Leonard Nimoy.