BEFORE: The last of my Sinbad movies - and I promise to not transition to movies starring Sinbad the comedian. I had to wait an extra day to tape this one off of TCM - and once again, FX are provided by Ray Harryhausen.
THE PLOT: Sinbad and his crew intercept a homunculus carrying a golden tablet. Koura, the creator of the homunculus and practitioner of evil magic, wants the tablet back and pursues Sinbad.
AFTER: This time Sinbad isn't motivated by bringing peace, or restoring his miniature girlfriend, but seems to be motivated purely by profit, though he follows a chart not knowing exactly what he'll find. But interlocking golden tablets suggests a golden treasure, right?
Sinbad matches the amulet he finds (steals) with one in the possession of a Vizier, who wears a golden mask after his face was burned off in a fireball of Black Prince Koura. Koura (Tom Baker of "Dr. Who" fame) practices the black arts, which enables Ray Harryhausen to show off again, as Koura brings to life a ship's wooden figurehead, and later a six-armed sword-fighting statue of Kali.
The plot here is rather minimal, and relies heavily on coincidence - what are the chances that Sinbad's slave girl has EXACTLY the right tattoo to make the natives of Lemuria worship her?
And I still haven't watched the Sinbad movie I remember from my childhood, which had future Chewbacca star Peter Mayhew as a minotaur-like robot. I've now figured out that must have been "Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger". Oh well.
RATING: 4 out of 10 turbans
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