‘Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger’ (1977)

I was trying to read my ITIL notes last night, exam on Friday, and I couldn’t even finish them, let alone read an actual book. That’s how my week seems to be going so far, how about you? It was far too hot last night for anything apart from watching a bit of telly, so that is just what I did 😊 It’s not just books that pile up in my flat… Despite Prime Video, Shudder and Disney+ all wanting a piece of me, I’ve got a bit of a habit of picking up DVDs that look like they could be fun. Just in case all the streaming services collapse, erm… it’s just me that thinks that, isn’t it? Anyway… At the bottom of a pile of books, I found ‘Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger’ and a little bit of Ray Harryhausen action felt like just the thing for me…

Sinbad, daring sailor and Prince of Baghdad, sets sail towards Charnak seeking permission from Prince Kassim to wed his sister, Farah. But Sinbad discovers that Kassim has been placed under a spell by their fiendish stepmother, Zenobia. To break the wicked spell, Sinbad must set forth on a journey unlike any ever travelled. A race against time where even the slightest delay could mean that Kassim remains under Zenobia’s spell forever…

While some older films are as fun as they ever were, they don’t age well in other ways and ‘Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger’ is unfortunately one of those movies I’m afraid. Casual racism is not a good look and using the black man as a step was pointed and cruel. If that wasn’t bad enough, facing down a giant walrus sees his friend ‘joke’ about the colour of his skin. Not cool, ‘Sinbad’ movie, not cool at all. There’s plenty of good stuff to recommend this film but that is overshadowed by stuff that is just unnecessary, I suspect this was the case even back in the day so don’t tell me that it’s a movie of its time either.

It’s real shame that these moments caught my eye, more than they did when I watched this film as a kid, as the rest of the movie is fun and full of adventure, the kind of movie that I would have been all over as a kid (and was). Most importantly though, it’s another opportunity for Ray Harryhausen to do what he did best, create all manner of beasts and monsters that even now (what with all the advances made), I find it really easy to suspend a little disbelief and just go with. His work is just amazing. It makes the adventure bits all the more thrilling, especially as the puppets are blended so well the live action bits. I’ve seen this movie a number of times now but it’s so easy to fall back into the groove of it and that’s all Harryhausen.

It’s a shame then that watching ‘Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger’ now can drag things into the light that should never have been there in the first place but Harryhausen’s creations and some high adventure do their level best to make you forget those moments. They don’t quite manage it but a little bit of Harryhausen will always go a long way.