Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger is often considered the worst out of all the Ray Harryhausen films and I whole heartedly agree. It is a film riddled with inconsistencies from the acting to the special effects. The script itself is more or less a rehash of the earlier film The 7th Voyage of Sinbad, sans any of that movie's memorable set pieces. Yet, if Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger is representative of Harryhausen at his worst, then his films are a lot better than previously believed.
The biggest flaw in Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger is Patrick Wayne's incredibly stiff performance as the famous sailor. Words cannot adequately describe the sheer awfulness of Wayne's acting; it's sounds like he's reading his lines from cue cards. The filmmakers do Wayne no favor by casting him opposite such acting pros like Jane Seymour and Patrick Troughton. It's extremely jarring to see Wayne exchanging dialogue with much more talented actors; it would have actually served the film better to cast lesser actors in supporting roles, because it would have greatly disguised Wayne's limited acting abilities.
The two previous films, The 7th Voyage of Sinbad and The Golden Voyage of Sinbad, weren't exactly acting tour de forces, but both Kerwin Matthews and John Phillip Law were fairly likable as Sinbad. They also were fairly energetic leading men and, more importantly, had great screen presence. They may have given one note performances, but it was the right note. Wayne's Sinbad is not only wooden, but fairly passive as well; to the point that he often seems to disappear from the narrative, while all the other actors take center stage.
It also seems that the filmmakers were content with rehashing the plot from The 7th Voyage of Sinbad, albeit with a few variations. In the 7th Voyage, Sinbad must voyage to the island of an evil sorcerer to restore his love, princess Parisa, to her normal size; she has been shrunken to the size of an action figure. In Eye of the Tiger, Sinbad must journey to a far away land to restore a prince (who happens to be the brother of Farah, his love interest) to his original form; he has been transformed into a baboon by the evil witch Zenobia. An air of familiarity hangs over the proceedings. This wouldn't be a problem if there were a few eye popping set pieces to divert our attention, but sadly, the special effects in Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger are fairly forgettable, especially when compared to the previous movies.In The 7th Voyage of Sinbad, we were given such jaw dropping sequences like the Cyclops menacing Sinbad's men and the duel with the Skeleton.In Golden Voyage of Sinbad, there was the masthead of Sinbad's ship coming to life and the battle with the six armed statue of Kali.
Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger is loaded with special effects, but they're more likely to produce shrugs of indifference rather than enthusiastic cheers. The fight with a giant walrus should be a exciting, but it is completely incomprehensible due to the snow that was optically added into the foreground. A battle with ant-like monsters should be fun, but it's hard to see what's happening, because it occurs at night time. The Troglodyte that Sinbad and company befriend should be charming, but it is completely lacking in personality, which is surprising for a Ray Harryhausen creation; it sort of just meanders about before it comes to an untimely end. The coolest, and most menacing creature is the Minaton, a bronze mechanical monster that resembles a Minotaur. However, it is essentially a walking prop. When we first see it, we think, "Uh-oh!" It's only certain that this clockwork creation is going to pose a serious threat to our protagonists. How will Sinbad and company get out of this one? When the Troglodyte appears, we shout, "Eureka!" Trog and the Minaton will duke it out and Trog will come out victorious. Sadly, no such battle occurs. In fact, our heroes never encounter the Minaton; it comes to rather inglorious end when it falls off a ledge and gets crushed by a block of stone that it was removing for Zenobia. Otherwise, it spends most of it's screen time rowing Zenobia and her son, Rafi, to their destination.
(Warning to the any feminists reading this review, the next few sentences are going to be me drooling over Jane Seymour. Sorry!) In fact, the most memorable thing about Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger, at least for me and many other males (maybe even a few females) is Jane Seymour strutting her stuff in a bedlah. I hate to admit it (actually I don't), but whenever she is onscreen my eyes gravitate toward her, regardless of the action transpiring in the foreground; Sinbad and company could be battling a group of Cyclops with laser shooting out their eyes and yet my undivided attention would be on Seymour, standing in the background, in her skimpy outfit. I know...I know..pathetic! On a side note: Jane Seymour is probably my favorite Bond girl, despite being in one of my least favorite Bond films, Live and Let Die.
It is to Seymour's credit that she is able inject some personality into a horribly underwritten role; unlike Wayne, she's able to deliver her lines in a naturalistic manner. Her character, princess Farah, starts off promising; she actually threatens to kill Zenobia with a dagger. She is ready to go through with it before Sinbad and her uncle intervene. Her uncle states that killing Zenobia would put a curse on their kingdom. Of course, this doesn't make any sense as Zenobia already cursed their kingdom by turning Kassim into a baboon. However, if Farah killed Zenobia, then there would be no movie. Damn it! Why did Sinbad have to intervene? The film would be fifteen minutes long and hailed as a classic. It's actually a jarring moment given how feeble Farah was up until this point in the story. You expect her to cower and whimper as Zenobia chews the scenery, instead she brandishes a knife and dominates the scene.
Sadly, as the film progresses Farah's role diminishes and she's reduced to an attractive piece of scenery; as demonstrated by her nude scene (in a G-rated film). Granted, all of Farah's bits and pieces are covered up, but it's still jarring to see such casual nudity in a family film. The filmmakers were probably hoping it would keep the dads in the audience from falling asleep. However, despite her eye candy status, Farah is still infinitely more interesting than Sinbad, which makes it kind of tragic that she is betrothed to such a dullard. Sinbad definitely gets the better end of the deal.
While Jane Seymour is easy on the eyes, the best thing about Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger is Patrick Troughton as the alchemist Melanthius. Troughton nearly salvages this movie by adding a much needed sense of fun to the proceedings. As mentioned before, Patrick Wayne is a complete stiff, so it really falls on Troughton's shoulders to bear the burden of the load and he nearly pulls off a miracle. Unfortunately, the flaws are so numerous that even Troughton's spirited performance can't overcome them. He brings a lot of humor and warmth to the role of Melanthius; the film's best moment is his child like joy at the thought of traveling with Sinbad to the land of Arimaspi. He has heard about it all his life and now he finally has a chance to see it first hand. It's a nice moment that aptly demonstrates what a talented actor can do with even the lousiest of dialogue; Troughton makes it sound credible.
Taryn Power is pretty, but forgettable as Melanthius' telepathic daughter, Dione. Her main function in the story is that she gets the Trog to show them where the magical pyramid of Arismaspi is located. That's about it. Otherwise, she melts in the shadows for the majority of the film. Sorry, Taryn. Margaret Whiting's performance as Zenobia is so bad to the point that it is enjoyable. She screams, bugs out her eyes, and does all sorts of body spasms to convey that she is evil. Hell, at least she is giving it her all, as opposed to just going through the motions. Her scenery chewing is certainly preferable to Patrick Wayne's disappearing act. Zenobia's motivation for transforming Kassim into a baboon is so her worthless son, Rafi, can be crowned Caliph. Wouldn't it just be simpler to murder the guy? She has all sorts of magical powers and foresight, yet it never occurs to her that the spell can be undone.
This also brings up the second biggest flaw in Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger: the audience doesn't really care about Kassim's plight. In the 7th Voyage of Sinbad, we get to know Parissa before she gets miniaturized by the evil magician, Sokurah, hence we care what happens to her. She's a likable character and we desperately want to see her restored to her normal size. In Eye of the Tiger, we never get to know Kassim; his transformation happens in the opening seconds of the film. We are told good things about him (Sinbad claims he owes him life), but we are never given any visual evidence to back up these claims. He is a stranger to us and remains a stranger, so it's really hard to get involved in the story line. The only reason the audience wants to him restored to his normal form, at least theoretically, is so that Sinbad and Farah can live happily ever after. Farah, for some unknown reason, loves Sinbad, but she won't even think of marrying him until her brother is back to his original state. It should be Kassim in baboon form (done by stop motion animation) is far more lively than he is human form. The actor, Damien Thomas, is a handsome fellow, but is given nothing to do. While the baboon animation is less than convincing, it's actually the one special effect that manages to elicit tears and laughter from the audience, because Harryhausen is able to invest it with some personality. The scene in which the baboon Kassim sees his reflection in a mirror is absolutely heart breaking. In fact, Kassim is far more likable as baboon than he is as a human. OOPS!!!!
As much as I complain about this movie, I still rather enjoy it. It's not a good movie, but the sincere performance of Patrick Troughton and a hilariously over the top Margaret Whiting, not to mention a scantily clad Jane Seymour, make it watchable. While Ray Harryhausen's special effects are lackluster for the most part, there a couple of effective moments scattered throughout the movie; the fight between Trog and the saber tooth tiger is fun, if not particularly awe inspiring.
Cast: Patrick Wayne (Sinbad), Jane Seymour (Farah), Taryn Power (Dione), Patrick Troughton (Melanthius), Margaret Whiting (Zenobia), Kurt Christian (Rafi), Nadim Sawalah (Hassam), Damien Thomas (Kassim).
Director: Sam Wanamaker
Screenplay: Beverley Cross. Story by: Beverley Cross and Ray Harryhausen.
Running Time: 113 min.
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