How 'The 7th Voyage of Sinbad' Raised The Bar For Fantasy Adventure Films

It's Ray Harryhausen time again with the 1958 fantasy classic "The 7th Voyage Of Sinbad"!

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[TheBrandonTenold]

Hate when fantasy movies show barely any fantasy stuff? So did Ray Harryhausen!

[robwalsh]

The dragon killing the cyclops was pretty brutal, then and now. It really seems like a wild animal giving a death bite.

[EvilDoresh]

"I'm gonna make my _own_ fantasy epic, with cyclops and rocs!"

I'm glad you did, Ray.

[DVAcme]

This is a childhood favorite of mine, and holy crap, the fact that it was made in 1958 blows my goddamn mind. There's 60's and 70's movies that don't have cinematography and effects of that quality.

[fafnirdragonbane]

Ray Harryhausen really had a magical touch on films. There's a reason his films are talked about as Ray Harryhausen films first and foremost and not their director's or writer's.

[LiamDalley-jdkc]

Ray Harryhausen is probably the great effects artist to ever live; from Science Fiction B movies to the Sinbad trilogy, The Valley of Gwangi to Jason and The Argonauts and Clash Of The Titans. He is an Hollywood legend

[cayoooga]

This was the ultimate Harryhausen film for me. One the greatest fantasy films on all levels.

[beastmaster]

Somebody really ought to make a fighting game that's similar to Primal Rage, but with Ray Harryhausen creatures.

[TheBwing]

I met Ray Harryhausen back in the 90's at the San Diego comic con. I told him that his work inspired me he asked me what I did. When I sheepishly told him that I just wrote and designed video games, he smiled and said he thought that was wonderful, that I was "at the forefront of a new media for telling stories". He said always aim to entertain and inspire with your stories. More than twenty five years later and I still hold to that maxim.
Thanks Ray!

[MSTKNJ]

Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger was the first film I ever saw, at a drive-in theater, no less. These films just fired my young imagination and molded my artistic endeavors for life. Long live Harryhausen!

[cameronwiscovitch]

Fun fact!

When Brandon commented about the filming site in Spain passing well for Bagdad, it's because Spain, and much of the Iberian Peninsula, was once occupied by the Umayyad Caliphate from 711 to 1492. Known as Al-Andalus at the time, when the Spanish and Portuguese took back the region, much of the original Islamic architecture was left standing and kept during the transition.

[halfbrokestudio]

I'm so thankful my grandparents showed this movie to me!

[davidmatoushek]

This is the second time that a movie that is in the National Film Registry at the Library of Congress gets spotlighted on this show after The War of the Worlds.

To anyone who is curious, this film got in in 2008, the same year as Deliverance, Sergeant York and The Terminator. It is THAT influential.

[markfifer]

Harryhausen's stop motion effects are old school movie magic which even high-quality CGI cannot truly replace. I saw Clash of the Titans at a movie theater, the only Harryhausen movie I was fortunate enough to see like that, and it was awesome. Technology can improve the process, but it cannot replace the heart and the passion for the art and magic of movie making and storytelling. Maybe it even becomes a crutch like, autotune and digital quantizing have become for music. Maybe the best results can only really be achieved when you really have to work and sweat for it.

[Hellbutterfly]

One of my mother's favorite movies growing up. She loves all of Harryhausen's movies and so do I thanks to her.

[georgeowain]

Fun fact. In the UK, for several years, the skeleton fight was omitted for being considered too scary for children.

[bensneb]

I remember in middle school we were learning about Greek mythology, and our teacher showed us the opening Cyclops scene.... it was fun

[TheGojira]

The 7th Voyage of Sinbad was the first Harryhausen film i saw as a kid and is still my favorite film to this day.

[framedavinci]

I loved this movie as a kid. My dad used to project it on my bedroom wall with a super 8 projector.

[sawyer]

God I remember marathoning my dad’s Harryhausen collection every summer vacation as a kid. I wish I wasn’t so busy with work so I can do it again