Captain Sindbad (1963)

Save your money for something good and enjoyable

Perfect cast and a good story

Excellent but underrated film

It is interesting even when nothing much happens, which is for most of its 3-hour running time. Read full review

Saw this on TV in the 1960s. So I was 10 or younger. Here's what I remember. Sindbad asking one of his mates for use of his hook hand to climb the big (tree trunk size) up rope into the mist. My thoughts: "Lucky the guy carries spares, and how does a hook for an amputee fit into Sindbad's good hand? Now he's climbing up - how far? They can't see the top. Looks like miles. That's pretty risky, betting you're not going to slip or get tired on the way up. Not safe." When carnivorous vines reach down and grab one of Sindband's sailors when going through the swamp: "How horrible! Did you hear him scream?! Wow, Sindbad is sure writing him off quick. They're just walking away. Guess life and death are like that. Out of sight, out of mind." Lastly, when the big bad guy's (separately located) heart is destroyed, it sure looked like he made an effort to stagger over to the railing and climb over it in order to make a dramatic fall to his death. I thought, gee - if he has that much still in him, why doesn't he kill Sindbad or the girl or someone with his last moment? Whatever, seared into my brain for almost fifty years. Can't remember what I had for breakfast yesterday, though.

After completing his voyages Sindbad the Sailor and his hearty crew have come home to find a palace coup d'etat has occurred and his home city is being run by a brutal dictator played by Pedro Armendariz. He's got designs on the beautiful young princess, Heidi Bruhl both lustful and political.Captain Sindbad which appears to be a joint German-American production stars Guy Williams who if he had come along a decade earlier might well have inherited the mantle of Errol Flynn. He certainly was a dashing Zorro for Walt Disney television. Williams's greatest challenge was keeping a straight face through a lot of very hokey dialog which he does admirably. Armendariz is invincible, we see proof of that when Williams runs a scimitar through him and he doesn't flinch. Finding out the secret of Armendariz's invincibility and rescuing his princess from a fate worse than death is the sum and substance of the film.I remember seeing this in the theater when it first came out and liked it. I still like it somewhat, but I certainly was a lot younger in 1963.The special effects are good, not DeMille or Harryhausen quality, but still good. I fear though that the hokeyness of the script will probably limit Captain Sindbad to the juvenile trade.

People who complain about the special effects in this 1963 adventure flick just don't understand how different the state of film fx was 45 years ago. I suspect that they're all too young to know much of anything. Back in the day, it wasn't the quality of your CG artists that counted. It was "how do I find simple photographic tricks that tickle the imagination, still tell the story and are fun"? This movie is full of well done yet low budget effects that beat all hell out of all the crappy, cookie cutter CG stuff out there today. Tell me you didn't smile when the magician's arm grew out about two miles long. Go on, tell me. And if you're answer is "I didn't" then why are you even watching this movie? Go somewhere and crow about how great the effects in that snorefest remake of King Kong was and leave the fun to the rest of us. I mean, really--so it's not Harryhausen. Get over it. It's still great fun.

Through many viewings I've enjoyed this Sin(d)bad film much more than any in the better-known Columbia/Harryhausen series, which I thought had great monsters but dull stories and heroes. This one has it all: gorgeous color photography, interesting plot and characters, and unusual monsters (including an invisible (!) dragon. The late Guy Williams is fine as Sinbad, and more mature and dignified than any in the Columbia films. And Pedro Armendariz, in one of his last roles before his untimely cancer-related death, is simply wonderful as the villain, El Karim. This film (produced by the same folks who gave us "Gorgo") is aimed at young audiences, but I've watched it with viewers of varying age, and never run across anyone who wasn't delighted with it.