Ray Harryhausen Film Discussion Thread

[LegendZilla]

It would be cool if they made a modern Sinbad film in the same vein as the ones done by Harryhausen and co. That is, besides the Dreamworks animated film.

[o.supreme]

I would love a new Blockbuster Sinbad film as well. I actually liked the DW one aside from changing the mythology from Arabic to Greek. The knockoff Asylum films don't do the stories justice either.

I just don't know if it could be done now without being problematic.

[LegendZilla]

I would love a new Blockbuster Sinbad film as well. I actually liked the DW one aside from changing the mythology from Arabic to Greek. The knockoff Asylum films don't do the stories justice either.

I just don't know if it could be done now without being problematic.

I even have an idea for the plot. It takes place circa 750 AD right when the Ummayid Caliphate was overthrown, with the Abbassids taking control and Sinbad was part of a noble family who helped overthrow the former, only to be all killed save for Sinbad himself. This causes Sinbad to become a vagrant who survives scavenging his way through thew newly-established city of Baghdad, getting arrested one day only to be found by a mysterious individual who bails him out and hires him to partake on a voyage.

[Cryptid_Liker]

I know this is off-topic but apparently, Talos is 70 meters tall. That means he's one of few Harryhausen monsters that could go head-to-head with Godzilla. Would he last? Probably not.

Added in 2 minutes 27 seconds:
By the way, doesn't The Fifth Voyage fit the modern Sinbad concept you're talking about?

[LegendZilla]

Added in 2 minutes 27 seconds:
By the way, doesn't The Fifth Voyage fit the modern Sinbad concept you're talking about?

I no nothing about Sinbad's Voyages 1-6.

[Cryptid_Liker]

Added in 2 minutes 27 seconds:
By the way, doesn't The Fifth Voyage fit the modern Sinbad concept you're talking about?

I no nothing about Sinbad's Voyages 1-6.

In 2014, an homage to the Harryhausen Sinbad films called Sinbad: The Fifth Voyage was released. Wasn't a huge film but it is notable for using stop-motion for the creatures instead of CGI.

[Terasawa]

Added in 2 minutes 27 seconds:
By the way, doesn't The Fifth Voyage fit the modern Sinbad concept you're talking about?

I no nothing about Sinbad's Voyages 1-6.

Quote Wikipedia, "While similarly named, the film does not follow the storyline of the tale "The Seventh Voyage of Sinbad the Sailor" but instead has more in common with the Third and Fifth voyages of Sinbad."

[The Octopus]

This is how the Cyclops looked in the original story.

[Cryptid_Liker]

This is how the Cyclops looked in the original story.

Imagine how many nightmares and childhood trauma this thing would cause if it was in 7th Voyage.

[H-Man]

Added in 2 minutes 27 seconds:
By the way, doesn't The Fifth Voyage fit the modern Sinbad concept you're talking about?

I no nothing about Sinbad's Voyages 1-6.

(in a nutshell)
1st Voyage - Sinbad lands on an island that's actually a giant whale. The bonfire awakens it and Sinbad almosts drowns.

2nd Voyage - Sinbad encounters a Rock and a valley of giant snakes.

3rd Voyage - Sinbad encounters a man-eating cyclops (see picture above).

4th Voyage - Sinbad discovers a tribe of cannibals that use a special herbs to drive men mad and render them harmless. He then marries into wealth, but his wife dies and the local custom dicates he be buried alive with her corpse.

5th Voyage - Sinbad's colleagues eat a Roc chick, and the parents drop boulders on the ship. Sinbad meets the Old Man of the Sea and a visits a city that is visited by man-eating apes at night.

6th Voyage - Sinbad's ship crashes and all the survivors die of starvation but Sinbad. He arrives in the insanely-rich country of Ceylon. Fortunately, no one is beaten to death with their own shoes in this tale.

7th Voyage - In one version, a group of pirates task Sinbad with hunting elephants for ivory. The elephants lead them to a graveyard where he harvests the ivory from the skeletons without having to kill any living creature. In another version, Sinbad marries the princess of a tribe of people who can transform into birds. He takes her back home and lives with her the rest of his days.

[The Octopus]

by man-eating apes at night.

I didn't know my mother-in-law and her sisters were in Sinbad.

[LegendZilla]

This is how the Cyclops looked in the original story.

I thought the cyclops was not in the original story. They are from Greek legend, not Arabian.

[Angilasman]

^ the story of Sinbad and the giant is very obviously inspired story of Odysseus encountering the giant cyclops in The Odyssey. Back in the day, translator Richard Burton made this obvious connection in his Arabian Nights translation and said it was the same cyclops from The Odyssey. So, in a way it's the merging of two different characters, but the second was obviously inspired by the first.

[Gigantis]

I wonder how many projects Harryhausen had planned but never saw the light of day. I think that could make a nice book much like Kong's lost projects.

[ROMG4]

I would love to see a biographical book on Ray Harryhausen and/or his unproduced films in the vein of Steve and Godziszewski's Ishiro Honda's a life in film biography

It could be utterly brilliant

[edgaguirus]

I remember watching a show on Harryhausen and him telling about a film with bat like monsters attacking Paris. He came up with the idea because he wanted to see Europe, and a film was his way of doing it. The film never happened, but he eventually got his Europe trip with the Ymir.

[Cryptid_Liker]

I wonder how many projects Harryhausen had planned but never saw the light of day. I think that could make a nice book much like Kong's lost projects.

There is. It's called Harryhausen: The Lost Movies and it's really good. Unfortunately, there's not much info on Force of the Trojans but since they're still making that movie, I'm not surprised.

Added in 1 minute 1 second:

I remember watching a show on Harryhausen and him telling about a film with bat like monsters attacking Paris. He came up with the idea because he wanted to see Europe, and a film was his way of doing it. The film never happened, but he eventually got his Europe trip with the Ymir.

That movie's called The Elementals. He even made test footage of him fighting one of the bats with a stick.

[VoyagerGoji]

It Came From Beneath the Sea is my favourite since I’m terrified by octopi. A giant one would give me the shits.

[The Octopus]

since I’m terrified by octopi. A giant one would give me the shits.

[VoyagerGoji]

since I’m terrified by octopi. A giant one would give me the shits.

I’m already terrified by you merely replying to me let alone this graphic image of a poor man being mauled by Satan spawn.