tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12380553.post5603727940250122725..comments2024-03-28T14:49:36.133-04:00Comments on John Kenneth Muir's Reflections on Cult Movies and Classic TV: From the Archive: The 7th Voyage of Sinbad (1958)John Kenneth Muirhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15629979615332893780noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12380553.post-75335713441330444022013-03-02T15:36:52.681-05:002013-03-02T15:36:52.681-05:00I have been a Harryhausen fan since I was a kid. H...I have been a Harryhausen fan since I was a kid. He inspired me so that I purchased an 8mm movie camera in the 1970s with single frame capacity so I could do my own stop-motion animation. Sadly the wheels were in motion even then for the next steps in technology to replace this great art form.<br /><br />The Seventh Voyage of Sinbad is one of my favoriate Harryhausen films, perhaps even over the often-cited Jason and the Argonauts. The Cyclops is a particularly frightening and fascinating creature, and the battle between him and the dragon at the film's climax makes a WWE or UFC bout pale by comparison.<br /><br />I would disagree over your analysis of CGI. Not in terms of comparison of quality, but the appropriateness of comparing the two at all. Special effects must be considered within their historical, cultural, and technological context, and in my view it is unfair to contrast such forms of SFX, just as it would be inappropriate to contrast early forms of sound in film with Dolby. <br /><br />Finally, I've enjoyed Golden Voyage of Sinbad over the years, but in my view it still does not hold up to Seventh Voyage. True, the context of the 1970s permitted greater freedoms in the representation of Sinbad and darker explorations, but with the exception of Kali, much of the creatures seemed an attempt at repeating the glory of Seventh Voyage that could not be reclaimed.<br /><br />A while back I ran into two young boys with plastic swords and shields. When I asked them if they were playing pirate, they said no. Their mother told me that their dad had introduced them to Harryhausen's Seventh Voyage and Jason and they were living out these fantasies. It is good to see your children exploring these things too, and it would seem that these films still have a special magic.John W. Moreheadhttp://www.theofantastique.comnoreply@blogger.com