Sinbad the Sailor

Overall Rating: (on a scale of 1 to 5 stars) Starring Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., Maureen O'Hara, Walter Slezak, and Anthony Quinn, this costume drama from 1947 tells of one final adventure that Sinbad had after his legendary seventh voyage. It's the sort of movie that was interesting to watch once, but it wasn't compelling enough to be something I would want to watch again and again.

To purchase this video from Amazon:

Item	Amazon.com in U.S.	Amazon.ca in Canada	Amazon.co.uk in United Kingdom
DVD Edition	NTSC Region 1	Not offered	Not offered
VHS Tape Edition	NTSC	NTSC	Not offered

Have you actually watched this video yourself? If so, offer your own opinion in the poll below! Otherwise, click the "View Results" button to see what worldwide users of shira.net think of it.

The above poll includes responses submitted since December 24, 2002.

The famous cast members starring in this 1947 swashbuckler are not enough to rescue it from mediocrity.

The movie opens with Sinbad the Sailor (played by Douglas Fairbanks, Jr.) looking back on his colorful life as an adventurer and boasting to a group of men about his exploits. He makes some claims about being "Prince Ahmed of Deryabar" which they greet with a hearty dose of skepticism. Our tale begins as Sinbad tells them this piece of his history that they haven't heard before.

The story unfolds following Sinbad's seventh voyage. He is penniless. He and one of his cronies spot a derelict ship off the coast, and swim out to claim it as salvage. On board, they discover the dead bodies of the crew, but naturally this is not sufficient to frighten them away from claiming their rich prize. Securing the right to keep what they have salvaged proves to be more difficult than they anticipated, and in the process Sinbad meets the beautiful gold-digging Kurdish princess played by Maureen O'Hara.

Naturally, Sinbad and the princess are attracted to each other, which is quite inconvenient because she is betrothed to the lord of a neighboring kingdom, a villainous sort (naturally) played by Anthony Quinn.

Sinbad believes this ship may have come from the legendary island of Deryabar, which is believed to be where Alexander the Great stashed all his treasure. So naturally he sets forth on a quest to seek this hidden place, and just as naturally he feels an uncontrollable urge to make a stop en route at the city where Anthony Quinn's character rules, in hopes of catching another glimpse of the lovely princess.

I'll end the plot synopsis here, so that I don't give away too much of the plot to spoil your fun if you should decide you want to watch it.

I was disappointed by this movie. Quite disappointed. I normally enjoy 1940's-era swashbucklers, such as Errol Flynn's Robin Hood and Captain Blood, and I also normally enjoy movies starring Maureen O'Hara. But Sinbad the Sailor failed to live up to my expectations. Douglas Fairbanks, Jr.'s posturing and emoting is overdone. Many of his moves are highly stylized, as if being done in a ballet. For example, if a scene calls for him to run and look over a balcony, he doesn't merely run and look over the balcony. He makes a production out of swooping his way to the balcony, and then as he leans over the edge he lifts a leg elegantly behind him with a delicately pointed toe. His facial expressions are overdone to the point of being campy. The action scenes are also so campy that it's easy to imagine them as part of a Three Stooges or Marx Brothers movie, replacing Douglas Fairbanks with Moe or Groucho. Yes, I realize it is meant to be a light-hearted comedy, but it didn't quite work for me.

Maureen O'Hara has some spunk, but overall she is rather subdued in this one. Only a few weeks earlier, I watched Mclintock (a John Wayne movie in which she was a very strong character), and in Sinbad she seems like a pale shadow in comparison.

You Will Probably Like This Video If

• You're a fan of one of the cast members and you would enjoy seeing even a mediocre movie starring that individual.

You Probably Won't Care For This Video If

• Weak plots and character development spoil your enjoyment of a movie.
• Overacting spoils your enjoyment of a movie.
• You're hoping for some lavish production number harem scenes with music and dance.

In Conclusion

I was disappointed by this movie. I had never seen a Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. movie before, and because of his fame (plus the fact that Maureen O'Hara was co-starring), I had hoped for something in the vein of Errol Flynn's swashbucklers like Captain Blood. Unfortunately, the plot was dull, the character development was weak, and Fairbanks and O'Hara both delivered disappointing performances. Anthony Quinn and Walter Slezak came across somewhat better, but not enough to be praiseworthy. The weak story does an injustice to the wonderful tales of the Arabian Nights that it is trying to emulate. It was interesting to see it once, but I expect a few years will go by before I'm interested in watching it again.

What I Liked

• Maureen O'Hara wore some wonderfully lavish gowns.

What I Didn't Like

• The overacting.
• The weak plot with holes so big you could drive a semi tractor-trailer truck through them.
• The poor character development.

General: | Home | Shira's Classes | E-Mail Shira | About Shira | Shira's Photo Gallery | Shira's Performances | Troupe |

Belly Dancing Information & How-To's: | About Belly Dancing | How-To's | Middle Eastern Culture | Belly Dancing Fun & Frolic | Belly Dancing Poetry & Art | Reviews: Books, Music, Videos | Find Belly Dancing Teachers/Performers | Tech Talk | Links |

Using This Site: | Table Of Contents (Site Map) | Search This Site | Survey | Behind The Screens |