Sinbad And The Eye Of The Tiger [DVD] [1977]

'Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger' is the third film to feature the intripid Captain Sinbad and co-starring a whole host of fantastically lifelike monsters, bought to life by Ray Harryhausen, who is of course the King of stop motion animation!

If you have already watched through 'The 7th Voyage of Sinbad', 'Jason and the Argonauts' or 'The Golden Voyage of Sinbad', (which are also fantastic films), then you'll know, more or less, what to expect. If you haven't, then trust me, you're missing out, but here's roughly what to expect from 'Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger'. You can expect, good, evil, magic, adventure, monsters and another princess.

Captain Sinbad (played by Patrick Wayne), having apparently decided that neither the princess from his Seventh Voyage, or the slave girl from his Golden Voyage, were good enough for him, is now after another Princess. This time it's Princess Farah (played by Jane Seymour). Okay, nothing wrong with going for another notch in his belt. The problem is, that before he can wed her, he must seek permission from her Brother - Prince Kassim, who is soon to be crowned. Okay, still not a problem, since nothing is mentioned of Sinbad's two previous 'voyages'. The problem comes when Sinbad learns that Prince Kassim has been put under an evil spell by his wicked stepmother, Zenobia, who wants her own wet-blanket of a son to become ruler instead of Prince Kassim.

So, Captain Sinbad has no choice but to grit his teeth and set out on yet another daring voyage, to find a way of reversing the evil curse. On his way he and his crew are faced by a variety of semi-mythical, but wholly-ferocious beasts and monsters, including a trio of ghouls and a gigantic, prehistoric walrus, which doesn't look as silly as it sounds to read, trust me.

A first for Sinbad, is that among the monsters encountered, is a powerful ally, in the form of a strong but ultimately friendly troglodyte, who proves to be invaluable during the quest.
Unfortunately, the evil Zenobia is also aided by a stop-motion monster, in the form of the giant, bronze Minoton, who has the strength to row their ship completely unaided by a crew! His creation is the one, single useful thing that Zenobia's inept son actually does, and even then, it is Zenobia who uses the magic that actually brings the colossus to life!

During his quest, Captain Sinbad and his crew, meet up with an old, Greek wiseman, played by Patrick Troughton. Patrick Troughton had a role in 'Jason and the Argonauts', and who could forget his role as the second incarnation of the strange Time Lord in the BBC Television series of 'Doctor Who', during the latter half of the 1960s, when the show was still in black and white?
With extra plees from Princess Farah, the wiseman finally agrees to help them reverse the spell upon Prince Kassim.

This is probably one of the most ambitious of all the films in this unofficial series thus far - wait till you see the main chamber of the temple in the climax of the film! I think you'll be impressed. Although the special effects may seem a little dated by today's standards, it is worth baring in mind that when it was made (during the late 1970s), computer generated monsters were still quite a way off.

The DVD's special features are fairly plain to be perfectly honest.
There is a documentary called 'The Harryhausen Chronicles'. This was also featured on the DVD releases of 'The 7th Voyage of Sinbad' and 'Jason and the Argonauts'. It's a good documentary though, and worth watching if you haven't seen it before.
There is also a featurette called 'This is Dynamation', which has previously been featured on the DVD of 'The 7th Voyage of Sinbad'. This featurette mainly applies to that film, so its inclusion here is more of a 'stocking-filler' than a necessity.
There are the usual crop of filmographies, though obviously, these relate to 'Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger' and not to any of the other films.
There is also the theatrical trailer for this film.

So, all in all, great film on an adiquate DVD. This is fantasy of the very best kind. If you want an alternative, then you can go for any of the other films I have also mentioned, which are all out on DVD. You could also track down a video copy of 'Clash of the Titans', which was the last film to feature work from Ray Harryhausen, and is of course, a great film because of it.

However, if you like your fantasy films to be quite literally perfect, and if you want something that is one-hundred percent up-to-date, than I can not really sing enough praises for the recent DVD release of Peter Jackson's fantastic adaptation of the first part of J. R. R. Tolkien's epic masterpiece - 'The Lord of the Rings - The Fellowship of the Ring', which is superb in every respect, including special effects and brilliant acting.

FIVE STARS!