When I was a kid I saw this and thought it was great fun. I especially loved the gorgeous technicolor and Walter Slezak's hammy but enjoyable performance as the villain.
Seeing it again recently on TCM, I was not quite as enchanted with the whole thing. It's really much too talky, especially in the early scenes which set up the story--and Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., a charming guy, tends to overact enthusiastically to overcome the fact that he is just a wee too old to be playing this kind of role. He leaps about with abandon but is never quite convincing as the daring pirate.
Maureen O'Hara was certainly a beautiful woman--but beyond that, there is little in her performance to admire. She maintains a poised, intelligent look throughout while the camera worships her, but her demeanor gives one the impression that she yearns to be elsewhere rather than being a mere decoration for the Fairbanks heroics. Likewise, lovely Jane Greer is wasted in a brief role as a servant lady.
As such, it's up to the more colorful support of Anthony Quinn, Walter Selzak and an amusing bit by Sheldon Leonard--along with George Tobias as Sinbad's sidekick--to really give the story some zest and credibility. They almost succeed--but in the end, it's merely an amusing romp with an unconvincing Sinbad and a rather dull screenplay bogged down by too much talk and little action.
The chief compensations are the gorgeously photographed stylized sets bathed in some of the best technicolor of the '40s.
Summing up: Kids will probably adore the film despite its faults.
Seeing it again recently on TCM, I was not quite as enchanted with the whole thing. It's really much too talky, especially in the early scenes which set up the story--and Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., a charming guy, tends to overact enthusiastically to overcome the fact that he is just a wee too old to be playing this kind of role. He leaps about with abandon but is never quite convincing as the daring pirate.
Maureen O'Hara was certainly a beautiful woman--but beyond that, there is little in her performance to admire. She maintains a poised, intelligent look throughout while the camera worships her, but her demeanor gives one the impression that she yearns to be elsewhere rather than being a mere decoration for the Fairbanks heroics. Likewise, lovely Jane Greer is wasted in a brief role as a servant lady.
As such, it's up to the more colorful support of Anthony Quinn, Walter Selzak and an amusing bit by Sheldon Leonard--along with George Tobias as Sinbad's sidekick--to really give the story some zest and credibility. They almost succeed--but in the end, it's merely an amusing romp with an unconvincing Sinbad and a rather dull screenplay bogged down by too much talk and little action.
The chief compensations are the gorgeously photographed stylized sets bathed in some of the best technicolor of the '40s.
Summing up: Kids will probably adore the film despite its faults.