The sorcerer El Kerim usurps the city of Baristan from its weak king. The princess Jana tries to warn her beloved, Sindbad. Her intentions are discovered by El Kerim who turns men into rocs to bomb Sindbad's ship with boulders. Sindbad survives and comes to Baristan disguised as a thief to stop El Kerim. However, El Kerim has removed his heart and cannot be killed. And so Sindbad must undertake a perilous journey to the tower where El Kerim's heart is guarded by a hydra.
In Captain Sindbad you get flying rocs, miniature storms, the hydra, a hand that extends several metres, an invisible dragon (great cost cutting excercise), giant-gloved fist trying to smash the hero, and a head-spinning effect - Some of them are pretty good in a workmanlike and dreamy fashion and have offbeat ideas, but the hydra, though, definitely isn't in the Ray Harryhausen league. Nevertheless, this is a thoroughly entertaining fantasy romp with lavish sets (a chintzy palace with vaulted purple ceilings, and blood red carpets), costumes, a strong imagination, an ostentatious show of splendor, sword fights, riots, shipwrecks, magic - the long arm scene is chintzy and campy. The plot is sharp, flows really well and there's nary a boring moment. The garish proceedings are tight and a sense of a dreamy fantastique is thrusted in the forefront.
Guy Williams is suitably dashing as Sindbad, Heidi Bruhl is beautiful and charming as the princess, Abraham Sofoar is funny as the eccentric magician who is entrapped by the villain, and, speaking of which, Pedro Armendariz is a pure pantomime villain as El-Karim. He chews the scenery with relish.
Captain Sindbad isn't going to give Ray Harryhausen's Sinbads a run for their money in monsters/FX but purely on an imaginative and entertainment level they are on the same playing field.
In Captain Sindbad you get flying rocs, miniature storms, the hydra, a hand that extends several metres, an invisible dragon (great cost cutting excercise), giant-gloved fist trying to smash the hero, and a head-spinning effect - Some of them are pretty good in a workmanlike and dreamy fashion and have offbeat ideas, but the hydra, though, definitely isn't in the Ray Harryhausen league. Nevertheless, this is a thoroughly entertaining fantasy romp with lavish sets (a chintzy palace with vaulted purple ceilings, and blood red carpets), costumes, a strong imagination, an ostentatious show of splendor, sword fights, riots, shipwrecks, magic - the long arm scene is chintzy and campy. The plot is sharp, flows really well and there's nary a boring moment. The garish proceedings are tight and a sense of a dreamy fantastique is thrusted in the forefront.
Guy Williams is suitably dashing as Sindbad, Heidi Bruhl is beautiful and charming as the princess, Abraham Sofoar is funny as the eccentric magician who is entrapped by the villain, and, speaking of which, Pedro Armendariz is a pure pantomime villain as El-Karim. He chews the scenery with relish.
Captain Sindbad isn't going to give Ray Harryhausen's Sinbads a run for their money in monsters/FX but purely on an imaginative and entertainment level they are on the same playing field.