The third and last in the Schneer/Harryhaussen trilogy is sadly the weakest. Patrick Wayne plays the title role and Jane Seymour is the love interest. They are joined by another Doctor Who! Patrick Troughton plays the hermit who guides them to mythical island where they think they can find a cure for a prince who has been turned into a baboon by and evil sorceress who’s son will become king if the prince cannot be transformed back into a human in time for the crowning ceremony.
Some of the creatures in this film are a little sub par. A giant walrus and a couple monsters that look borrowed rather than inspired by other Harryhausen films. The saber-toothed tiger is a little too cuddly looking but the troglodyte is good and the baboon was so good you forget it’s an animated puppet in some shots. The overall creature effects are up to standards but some other shots are just plain awful. The actors were obviously not on location and were matted in over a background plate and those shots really stand out. I thought Wayne was fine in the role, he was sexy and shirtless enough as was Jane Seymour in some discrete shots and the evil son also looks pretty hot in a couple scenes that felt out of place as Schneer tried to bring the series up to the times with more sex appeal.
The sorceress is also interesting and transforms herself into a gull with a magic potion, which spills and there isn’t enough to change her back completely so she is left with a gull’s foot for the last part of the film and that was pretty horrifying!
This film suffered a bit by coming out the same year as Star Wars… like all films did that year! So maybe it was time for this series to end, but even at it’s weakest it was great fun!
Note: The Sinbad movies were without a doubt a product of their time and I am well aware of that. Women’s roles weren’t very much more than damsels in distress, though all of the main women showed streaks of independence and were crucial to the story. The cast in all the films is almost completely white with rare exception despite being set, in effect, in the Middle East and no one looks like they are Middle Eastern in any way. It’s pretty obvious none of these problems are malicious in any way, just things not thought about in movie making of the time and I could see this trilogy being remade as a streaming series with better plotting in the same storylines with actors that match the locals better and maybe all three strung into one three season storyline with the same Sinbad and and princess/love interest having more equal roles with modern effects that pay homage to Harryhaussen’s aesthetics. Netflix, Apple TV, whatever I am waiting for your call to develop this idea and bring this character back to modern day thrill seekers!
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