Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger (1977)

Director: Sam Wanamaker

Starring: Patrick Wayne, Jane Seymour

Run Time: 113 mins

Certificate: U

 

Plot Outline: Sinbad must travel to the North Pole in the search for a cure for an Asian prince who has been turned into a baboon by an evil witch, desperate to get her hands on his kingdom. On the way he encounters many perils which he must overcome including ghouls, a giant walrus and a sabre tooth tiger.

The Review: Hiring Patrick Wayne, son of John, for the lead role and then getting a supporting cast with the likes of Dr. Who stalwart, Patrick Troughton, the foundations were set were set for another Sinbad film with Ray Harryhausen doing the special effects. But basically that's all it is - just another excuse to see Ray Harryhausen's marvellous special effects on the screen with a story fleshed out around it. This is the weakest Sinbad film by a long way and arguably one of Harryhausen's most disappointing outings. Harryhausen creates another army of stop-motion creatures although the majority of them aren't as good as his previous efforts. The ghouls look good during their fight at the start and the troglodyte is also quite impressive, if looking similar to the centaur and Cyclops from previous films.. Minoton looks good too but is completely wasted in the film in a secondary role. I mean I thought he was gonna duke it out with the troglodyte instead of being crushed underneath a stone! Also for some inexplicable reason, the producers of the film decided to let Harryhausen animate a stop-motion baboon. And this baboon appears on screen for most of the film. This would have taken ages to create. Why not use a real monkey? Then that would have allowed Harryhausen to create something else to fill up some of the boring gaps in the film. Speaking of which, there are plenty of boring gaps. The film starts off well with the fight with the ghouls. It also has a decent finale inside the pyramid. But for the rest of the film hardly anything happens. There is a lot of talk and threatening between characters and unnecessary travelling around the world. What made the other films so exciting was that this was continually inter-cut with action scenes and battles with mythical monsters! Acting was never a strong point for these fantasy films and this one is no exception. Patrick Wayne is quite wooden as Sinbad and Margaret Whiting hams it up completely as the villain. Jane Seymour adds some female presence (and a hell of a lot of flesh too!) to the film but it's a pointless role really.

Final Verdict: It's still got enough going for it at the start and end and despite not being up to his earlier standards, Harryhausen's monsters still look good. But younger viewers (and older ones for that matter) may find themselves falling asleep during the middle.