The Golden Voyage of Sinbad - SPOILERS

[Rowe]

Tom starred in this as Prince Koura back in the 70s, and I've watched it many a times.

This film was made by Ray Harryhausen, aka that stop motion animator who did the Skeleton sequence in Jason and the Argonauts, and it's fantastic!

Apparantly this role won the part of the Doctor for Tom too!

Anybody else seen it?

[biddenden_sue]

Oh yes, haven't seen it for years though. I love Ray Harryhausen, and I have this on DVD...somewhere. *goes off to find it*

[pattie anne]

Yes, I do. And I love it. Koura is just so very evil! And yet at the same TIME very human and vunerable. Also, another Doctor (#2 - Pat T.) did a film in the series too. The Seventh Voyage of Sinbad. And yes I have a copy of it also !

[Gold Usher]

I watched it tonight (it made laminating 144 sheets of paper much more fun) and I always love the colorful costumes when it comes to those kinds of fantasy stories. I was thinking...Tom must have had a tough time during that last swordfight keeping his eyes where they needed to be while filming.

Being a bit of a history buff regarding ancient statuary - it was amusing to see India temple carvings and Buddah statues used for the background settings I especially like the mask on the native (Japanese style demon face) with the added skulls on the top.

But Tom got to do work in a style of film making that's gone by the wayside with all the CGI effects now. He got to be part of a Hollywood legend's.efforts to really amaze viewers with the animation work and layering. My favorite is the multi armed statue and when he commands it to 'dance for me'. That voice would charm a stone to rock and roll .

I wonder if while under makeup, Tom ever wondered if that is how he would look in the future?

[Rowe]

Kali (the multi armed statue) is one of my favourite stop motion creatures from Harryhausen's pictures, just the entire fight sequence is amazing!

I'm a film buff, and currently doing a presentation on Ray Harryhausen for my A2 in one of my Film classes. And guess what I'm using? This film!
Had to get a bit of Baker in my coursework somewhere

[biddenden_sue]

Wow, I'd love to see that presentation. Sounds cool.

[merlinsseer]

Being a bit of a history buff regarding ancient statuary - it was amusing to see India temple carvings and Buddah statues used for the background settings I especially like the mask on the native (Japanese style demon face) with the added skulls on the top.

Usher , the Indian statues and backgrounds on the island of Lemuria are actually accurate.
Lemuria , also known as Kumari Kandam and other much older names, is the " Atlantis " of the Indian ocean and the fable of its existence goes back to ancient times. While it's location varies from tale to tale it is mostly believed to have stretched between Madagascar and Southern India. They should have used one of the older names in the film since " Lemuria " didn't pop up until around 1860 or so . A zoologist looking to explain the reason for matching fossils on both sides of the Indian Ocean used the old sunken Continent theory and named his imaginary land bridge after Lemurs. There isn't one there but it seemed like a good idea at the time. In all fairness " Lemuria " does have a more lyrical quality than "Kumari Kandam " and is the more popular name
As for the mask , I think they might be trying for the goddess Durga. I don't know why it has skulls since Kali is the only one that wore skulls.( The dancing Kali in the film does wear a belt of skulls) but you are right in that the mask does have an oriental flavor.Maybe they just found this in a pile of props somewhere , gave it a good paint job and hoped no one would notice, after all this Sinbad movie did have the smallest budget of all them that they made.
I agree with Patti in that Kuora is very human and vulnerable- but evil ? noooooo....

[Sarah]

I havn't seen the movie yet, but I must. I have a small statue of Durga slaying a demon, and a large wall hanging of Kali, only she dosn't wear a necklace of skulls as such... she actually wears a necklace of severed male heads... but it is understandable they would use skulls instead in a film, and some depictions of her have the less graphic 'skulls'. She is the creator and the destroyer. The mythology gets quite complicated I have heard different versions of it, one saying Kali is the destroyer aspect of Durga. I have an interest in these things

[Nebula]

OMG talk about bringing back memories of childhood!

I loved this film, but saw it years after it was made. I was born in 1974



Am I getting old?

[Moderator]

Dear Neb -

Probably. But when one considers the alternative in not having birthdays ...

Best,
DIrk