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The 7th Voyage of Sinbad (1958)
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Gord Green
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PostPosted: Mon Jan 01, 2018 10:07 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I realize my last post kind of drifted off SINBAD and went toward JASON AND THE ARGONAUTS, so here is some more trivia and "goofs" from THE SEVENTH VOYAGE OF SINBAD as reported on IMBd.
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-This was the first feature using stop-motion animation effects to be completely shot in color.

-Initially, Ray Harryhausen wanted Mikl??s R??zsa or Max Steiner to score The 7th Voyage of Sinbad (1958), but Charles H. Schneer persuaded Harryhausen to agree to hire Bernard Herrmann instead.

Herrmann's score was so well received, and he worked so well with Schneer and Harryhausen, he ended up scoring three more of their films: The 3 Worlds of Gulliver (1960), Mysterious Island (1961), and Jason and the Argonauts (1963).

Harryhausen eventually got his wish, however, when Mikl??s R??zsa scored The Golden Voyage of Sinbad (1973).

-"Dynamation" (a portmanteau of "dynamic animation") the name of the visual effects technique created by Ray Harryhausen, was introduced for this film. The name was coined by producer Charles H. Schneer, who decided that he and Ray needed a gimmick to sell this technique, and distinguish the model animation technique from cartoon animation (which was not taken seriously, even back in the day).

Schneer got the inspiration from a car he owned, a Buick (which he rode along Sunset Boulevard to the studio each morning), with the name "DynaFlow" printed on the car's wheel, and was so impressed that he wanted a name similar to this, but dropped "flow" and added "mation" (from "animation").

This new brand was heavily promoted, especially in the film's original 1958 "This is Dynamation" theatrical trailer, and billed as "The New Miracle of the Screen" in the opening credits.

The "Dynamation" process would also go by different names in some of Schneer & Harryhausen's later films: "SuperDynamation" for The 3 Worlds of Gulliver (1960) and Mysterious Island (1961), and as of The Golden Voyage of Sinbad (1973), "Dynarama".

Ironically, the 1975 reissue of this film (re-released to capitalize on the success of "Golden Voyage") bills the process as "Dynarama", rather than "Dynamation".

After making his previous film, 20 Million Miles to Earth (1957) (which was his last in black & white), Ray Harryhausen's interests have shifted from modern-day sci-fi monster thrillers to fantasy adventures (with monsters, of course) set in a romantic past, beginning with this film.





-The cyclops was given satyr-like legs so that audiences would know he was not a man in a costume.

-"To receive the original 'A' certificate in 1958 and then a 'U' certificate in 1962 the original UK cinema release was heavily cut by the BBFC who completely removed the skeleton fight, as well as making edits to the man roasting on a spit, the dancing snake woman, close-up shots of the Cyclops, and scenes of minor violence including fighting and shots of dead bodies. All later video releases were restored and uncut.




-A soundtrack album of Bernard Herrmann's score was released on Colpix, Columbia's record label. In later years it would become one of the most sought-after albums by soundtrack collectors. It was finally released on CD, along with the full score, in 2009.

-In the opening scene, Ali defends Sinbad's courage against the Gaunt Sailor's accusation that no man would set foot upon any land they might come across. In the original script, however, their roles were reversed.

This was likely changed because it made more sense for Ali, who returns with Sinbad on his later voyage and mans the giant crossbow, to defend the captain over a sailor who would later decline to return for the dangerous mission to Colossa.



-In 2008, The 7th Voyage of Sinbad (1958) was added to the National Film Registry by the United States Library of Congress.

-In an early 1980s interview, star Kerwin Mathews, the actor playing Sinbad, recalled that, to go and do the film, he went on a plane, landed in Paris on Easter Sunday, then got on another plane, which landed in Granada, Spain, in the middle of the night; once he got off the plane, he was driven in a horse & carriage to a palace in Granada, where the palace scenes were filmed.

Once there, he was introduced to the film's special effects creator, Ray Harryhausen, and was put into his costume (with jewels and a turban on his head).
Once ready, in the middle of the night, he was taken to a beautifully decorated bedroom in the palace.

Kerwin then asked Ray, "Well, what are we gonna shoot?"

Ray said, "Well, down here on the pillow is this little girl." The scene where Sinbad was shocked to find that Princess Parisa (Kathryn Grant) was shrunken to tiny size by the evil wizard Sokurah (Torin Thatcher) in her palace bed was the first scene in which Kerwin worked on.

-With one last scene left to shoot, star Kerwin Mathews, playing Sinbad, got very ill in Barcelona, in bed with a 107-degree fever.

Producer Charles H. Schneer came to Kerwin, and kindly asked him, "Would you come and do this one shot?"

Trooper that he was, Kerwin agreed to do the scene, where Sinbad was steering his ship through a storm (with everyone else on board in agony from the sounds of screaming demons from a nearby island).

In the middle of the day, he was propped up against the ship's wheel, and the fire department siphoned water from the local harbor, pelting him and the rest of the cast on the ship with water, dead rats and other things.

A still from this scene was on the cover of the film's original 1958 Colpix Records LP (mono) soundtrack by Bernard Herrmann, something that Kerwin was very proud of. (Varese Sarabande Records reissued the album with this same cover in 1980, but for the first time ever, in stereo.)

-Spoilers ----

The trivia items below may give away important plot points.

-The film was originally intended to end with a narration stating that Barani, having become a real boy after being released from his role as a genie, would grow up to be a captain like Sinbad and marry a princess of his own.



-Jafa, the former prisoner who goads Golar into testing the allegedly poisoned waters, had a smaller role in the original script. Nearly all of his dialogue was originally intended for Golar.

-Conversely, what was meant to be his standout moment, being the captive of the cyclops who attempted to hide beneath the cyclops's treasure, went to Harufa instead.

Jafa's only moment from the script to make it into the final film is his role as one of the original four mutineers.

---Goofs---

-The princess wears a dress, during the magic show ceremony, that has an obvious long zipper in the back. Clothing zippers did not appear until the 20th century.

-A different man grabs the king cobra. Sokurah reaches into the basket to pick up the cobra during his magic act. A switch to closeup shows a man with different sleeves, and three-to-four closeup frames show a hairy-headed man. Sokurah the magician is completely bald.

-When Sokura throws the serpent into the jar, it is blue-colored, not brown. (This is not a problem in the correctly framed 1.85:1 theatrical aspect ratio, only the full frame version.)



-On their first encounter with the cyclops, they are rowing out to their boat when the cyclops hurls a boulder at them. The boulder hits the water, makes a splash, but then it starts to float rather than sink like a rock.

-In his close-up on the poop deck, Karim's big hoop earring can be clearly seen to be tied to his (unpierced) ear by a string emerging from his bandanna.

-When Sinbad fights off the mutineer up on the mast, he acts with his left arm as if he had stabbed him on his side, but he doesn't hold a knife.

-Before the crew reached the island for the 2nd time , the villainous Kareem, head of the mutineers, perished when he fell from the crows nest during the storm. he can be clearly seen at the very end, manning the mast rope with other crew members, as Sinbad and the princess are talking to the genie...



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Pow
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PostPosted: Mon Jan 01, 2018 12:45 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

RKO's "Son of Sinbad''(1955) did poorly at the box office, so Ray realized that his Sinbad movie was going to be a hard sell to a studio. Sinbad films & costume dramas were considered poison.

Producer Charles Schneer saw the potential in Ray's material & pushed for the movie to be made.

An idea dropped from the movie was a giant Toad in the underground kingdom of the evil sorcerer.

Shooting the movie in color would require longer times to do the stop-motion animation for a host of technical reasons.

The Cyclops was originally designed to look more human. However, Ray was afraid audiences might think the creature was a man-in-a-bodysuit.

Ray's fave Cyclops moment is when we see the creature roasting a sailor.

Since the skeleton had to look realistic in the dueling scene with Sinbad, Ray enrolled in a 6-month long fencing course. Due to an injury he was unable to finish the course.

The animation for the skeleton scenes took 3-months to complete for 4-minutes of screen time.
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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Mon Jan 01, 2018 3:00 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

________________________________

Wow, guys, you two certainly super-charged this great thread! Thanks! Very Happy

The paintings above gave me the notion to add the one done by an old friend of mine — Bryan Bustard — who has a few nice pieces in a gallery of his work here on All Sci-Fi.



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Pow
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PostPosted: Tue Jan 02, 2018 11:22 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Bryan's poster really captures what the movie is all about with his composition of all the characters & creatures beautifully.
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Pow
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PostPosted: Tue Jan 02, 2018 11:51 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

More ''7th Voyage of Sinbad'' Trivia:

The movie was shot in Spain utilizing facilities in Madrid & Barcelona. Outdoor locations were S'Agaro on the Costa Brava, the Alhambra Palace in Granada, & the island of Mallorca.

Ray felt that all the great locations in America had already been used by film & television companies. He considered the Middle East but there was then, as now, political turmoil.

Italy was considered but for unknown reasons dropped.

Ray & his wife, Diana, loved Spain so much that they had a house there for many years.

In the movie, the scenes that take place at the Alhambra Palace are in the daytime. However, in order to shoot the scenes without tourists milling about, the actors filmed their scenes at nighttime. A huge battery of lights needed to be set up so as to make it appear it was daylight.

Four or five hoses were set up by the Barcelona Fire Department in order to simulate rain & waves pounding Sinbad's ship during a storm sequence.

The water came from the harbor & was primarily raw sewage. A chain bucket brigade was formed to throw clean water upon the actors faces.
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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Tue Jan 02, 2018 12:58 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

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Pow, that is a terrific post!

The 7th Voyage of Sinbad is coming on the Sony channel tomorrow, along the Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger and Golden Voyage of Sinbad. You and Gord have gotten me in the mood for all three! Very Happy

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Pow
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PostPosted: Tue Jan 02, 2018 3:43 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Sinbad & the Eye of the Tiger is a fave of mine, Bud. I think it has the most stop-motion creatures of all Ray's films.

(1.) Baboon
(2-4.) 3 Ghouls
(5.) Minaton
(6.) Wasp
(7.) Giant Walrus
(8.) Trog
(9.) Sabre tooth Tiger.

And while I do enjoy this movie, I wish Ray had made some other choices regarding his creatures. The walrus is beautifully sculpted, detailed, & animated. However, it isn't a truly compelling creature to me.

The Tiger just isn't that fantastic a payoff for the finale to me compared to such Harryhausen creations as the Ymir, Talos, Hydra, skeleton army, Cyclops, and Dragon from his earlier films.

I still enjoy it on a certain level & don't really mean to trash this movie. It gets hard to top yourself with each film & I sure understand that reality.
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orzel-w
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PostPosted: Tue Jan 02, 2018 4:07 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I, too, was less than thrilled by Ray's later choices of "real life" animals. For one thing, the fur never looked realistic.
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PostPosted: Wed Feb 14, 2018 12:00 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I read once, where R.H. was asked which actor he thought did the best job of convincing you that he was really interacting with his creatures. He said that it was Kerwin Mathews.

Mathews trained hard with a sword master for the skeleton sword fight. They worked out the moves, and practiced over and over until Mathews could do them alone. When they filmed the scene, the sword master was on the set clapping his hands in time to the moves to help Mathews. Bernard Herman saw this, and used it as his inspiration for the castanets music for the sword fight.

David.
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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Mon Aug 20, 2018 9:58 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

________________________________

The site at the link below has great scans of the full comic! The artwork is really good, but the artist made no attempt to style the cyclops after the one Harryhausen gave us.


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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Thu Feb 07, 2019 1:32 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

________________________________

I started looking for "making off . . . " videos about Harryhausen movies like the ones I posted for Mighty Joe Young and The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms, and I discovered The Harryhausen Chronicles in six parts on YouTube.

Section #3 starts with a few scenes from It Came from Beneath the Sea and then goes through the movies between it and The 7th Voyage of Sindbad. The rest of the Sinbad portion is at the beginning of section #4.

Enjoy!
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___________The Harryhausen Chronicles 3/6


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The Spike
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PostPosted: Sun Sep 29, 2019 6:38 pm    Post subject: Hear my curse, for it seals your doom. Reply with quote

Dynamic Dynamation.

Captain Sindbad and his crew land on the island Colossa and come under attack from a Cyclops. Aided by the magician Sokurah and his magic lamp, they manage to escape back on board with their lives intact. However, the lamp which contains a helpful genie, is left behind in the Cyclops' hands. Once back in Bagdad, Sokurah sets about getting a crew together to reclaim the lamp off of Colossa, but the chiefs of Bagdad refuse to sanction such action. After failing to impress all with his magic tricks, Sokurah shrinks the princess of Bagdad to the size of a hand, then craftily offers to restore the princess to normal the next day. Only trouble being that the ingredients needed for the cure are of course on Colossa. So Sinbad and his men, and the dastardly magician, set sail for an adventure that is fraught with danger...

From the land beyond beyond - From the world past hope and fear - I bid you genie now appear.

Stop-motion maestro Ray Harryhausen, for his first film in colour, delves into the mythical legend of Sinbad The Sailor. Thus, along with director Nathan Juran, putting life into the Sinbad legacy that had been viewed as a no go area after less than favourable responses to prior attempts at the legend. Though not adhering to the Persian fable source, the 7th Voyage was nothing like this one and The Rocs for instance actually appear in the 5th voyage fable, Juran and Harryhausen turn the merchant seaman of the origin into a dashing hero figure. Someone that children and adults of both sexes can easily get on side with.

Visually it's a treat, admire as Sinbad (in the form of a handsome sword swashing Kerwin Matthews) does battle with Cyclops', Rocs and a Harryhausen calling card, the Skeleton. Throw in a fire breathing Dragon, a genie of the lamp, a pretty princess (Kathryn Grant) and a devilishly creepy magician villain (the always great value Torin Thatcher) and the result is unadulterated joy. Some churlish folk will point to being able to see the lines between the real footage and Harryhausen's marvellous creatures, but quite frankly those people should be rounded up and sent to live on Colossa with all the other monsters. For to not appreciate the craft and genius on offer here is as sad as it is foolish. And with master composer Bernard Herrmann laying a brisk mystical flecked score over proceedings, it's a treat for the ears as well.

When you consider the budget afforded this production, it's high quality film making, and it's now, along with the two sequels that followed it, still being enjoyed by those of us who remember before computers controlled such magical things. 8/10

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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Sat Nov 09, 2019 10:05 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Just to show how much I love stop motion, here's a treat for all us stop motion fans, a short-but-wonderful video I found.

Note: I posted this on The Thing from Another World thread during our discussion abut stop motion, and it obviously belongs here, too. Very Happy


I've include two other videos by StopmotionNike which show (very guickly!) how he made the dragon head and the castle set.

The third one is a time-lapse video of how a stop motion monster is designed and built, from start to scratch.


_________________ Sinbad Skeleton Fight HD


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_______________ MakeDragonHeadH264.mov



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__________________ CaveSetAudioH264.mov


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____________ A Monster is Made - DARK EARTH


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Eadie
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PostPosted: Tue Nov 26, 2019 12:28 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

It's almost CHRISTMAS!

Did you know that the 7th Voyage of Sinbad was released on December 23, 1958?


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PostPosted: Mon Dec 27, 2021 11:41 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

After rescuing Sokurah from the Cyclops on the island of Colosus, Captain Sinbad informs him that they'll be in Baghdad in 5 days sailing on Sinbad's ship.

Leaving Baghdad on Sinbad's ship to return to the island of Colosus later on Sinbad states that they've been at sea for a week and will reach the island in a few more days. That's almost twice as long compared to their original trip.

Did the island move farther away?

Sokurah cannot convince Sinbad or the Caliph to provide him a ship and crew to return to the island. We saw the evil sorcerer leave a fortune in rubies on Sinbad's desk & simply walk away. Why can't he use it to recruit another captain, crew and ship to take him back to Colosus? True, word has spread around Baghdad about the dangers on the island. But it is still worth a try since people will take risks for money.

Sinbad says that some of his bravest crew members will return with him to Colosus, but he'll still have to recruit from the prison of Baghdad at least 25 men in order to man his ship.

The prisoners rebel at sea and have a fight with Sinbad and his loyal crew. The prisoners eventually win and imprison Sinbad and plan to execute them all in the morning. Sokurah and one other man besides Sinbad are in a cage below deck.
So did all the other loyal crewmen die in the fight?
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