Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger
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| Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster |
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| Directed by | Sam Wanamaker |
| Produced by | Charles H. Schneer Ray Harryhausen |
| Written by | Beverley Cross Ray Harryhausen |
| Starring | Patrick Wayne Jane Seymour Taryn Power Patrick Troughton Margaret Whiting |
| Music by | Roy Budd |
| Cinematography | Ted Moore, BSC |
| Editing by | Roy Watts |
| Distributed by | Columbia Pictures |
| Running time | 113 min. |
| Country |  United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $3.5 million |
| Preceded by | The Golden Voyage of Sinbad |
| IMDb profile | |
Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger is a 1977 fantasy film, the final installment of Ray Harryhausen's "Sinbad trilogy" (the others being The 7th Voyage of Sinbad and The Golden Voyage of Sinbad) and the penultimate movie in which Harryhausen would use the stop-motion technique he had pioneered since the late 1940s. The movie was directed by Sam Wanamaker and cost 7 million dollars to make, making it the costliest of the Sinbad series. The live action was filmed in Spain, Malta, and Jordan (at the tombs of ancient Petra) between June and October of 1975, with Harryhausen's stop-motion animation work lasting from October 1975 up to March 1977.
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[edit] Plot
Sinbad (Patrick Wayne), sailor and Prince of Baghdad, seeks permission from Prince Kassim to marry his sister Princess Farah (Jane Seymour). A spell is placed on Kassim by their evil stepmother Zenobia (Margaret Whiting) turning him into a baboon (one of Harryhausen's stop-motion creations) just as he was going to be crowned caliph. Sinbad sets off with Princess Farah to find an alchemist named Melanthius (Patrick Troughton), who knows where to discover a cure to break the evil spell.
Sinbad and his crew eventually find Melanthius and his daughter Dione (Taryn Power), who agrees to help them with their quest. Melanthius tells Sinbad and his crew that they must travel to the land of Hyperboria to find an ancient pyramid where Kassim can be cured. Zenobia, her son Rafi, and the Minaton (a mechanical version of the Minotaur) secretly stalk them. On their quest, Sinbad and his crew encounter creatures such as a trio of ghouls, a killer wasp(effected by Zenobia's magic), a giant walrus, a troglodyte (a creature that is friendly to Sinbad and his crew), and a smilodon (whose body gets possessed by Zenobia).
[edit] Production
- Originally Laurence Naismith was considered for the part of Melanthius but at the time he was busy with another production.
- The exterior of Zenobia's palace was a 16-inch model matted into the Almeria coastline, with the actors standing on the rocks.
- Ray Harryhausen visited London Zoo and spent hours observing the baboons and tigers, making sketches and filming them on 8mm.
- Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger took three years to complete and cost $3.5 million, almost three times as much as The Golden Voyage of Sinbad.
- Sinbad's ship is the same one used in the previous Sinbad film, The Golden Voyage of Sinbad. In fact, there is a brief sequence in the film in which the figurehead from the previous film, that was brought to life and attacked Sinbad's crew, is clearly visible.
- The stop motion model of the Troglodyte, was later dismantled, so that the armature could be used to create Calibos in Clash of the Titans.
- A fourth film, Sinbad's Voyage to Mars, was written and locations were scouted, but the film was never made. It had Sinbad hitch a trip to Mars on a jewelled flying saucer and was loosely inspired by the novels of Edgar Rice Burroughs.
- Patrick Troughton who plays Melanthius also played the blind seer Phineas in Harryhausen's masterpiece Jason and the Argonauts (film) and is famous for his portrayal on television of the second incarnation of Doctor Who.
- Kurt Christian who plays Zenobia's son also appeared in The Golden Voyage of Sinbad as the more sympathetic Haroun.
