An Exercise In Nonsense

Great movie! If you want to be entertained and have a few good laughs, see this movie. The music is also very good,

While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

There are moments in this movie where the great movie it could've been peek out... They're fleeting, here, but they're worth savoring, and they happen often enough to make it worth your while.

Sometimes I will buy a DVD on a whim if it is cheap enough. This is one of those cases. I paid about 14 bucks including shipping. I am a fan of Sinbad films, but the ones I like are Ray Harryhausen made. I never even heard of this movie before. But I saw the cool cover and the bird with the chicks head on it. It also came with another movie so I went for it, figuring it couldn't be all that bad. It wasn't till after I watched it and researched it that I discovered it was actually the subject of an MST3K episode. I can only imagine the job that Joel and The Bots did on this barely watchable film. In fact I only learned afterward that it was originally a Russian film called 'Sadko' and had no connection to Sinbad. Now that makes perfect sense after watching it. 'Sadko' was made in 1953 and actually an award. But the dubbed version is what I am reviewing here. I can forgive it just for the simple fact it was made in 1953. The American distributors obviously tried to cash in on The Sinbad films. The movies even starts out with a reference to The Cyclops and The Roc. And that's where it ends any similar connection to the character of Sinbad. This 'Sinbad' is a bearded, singing and harp playing guy who is totally disrespected by the rich merchants of his home village. He has the best intentions of ending the poverty, starvation and overall plight of the people. He sets off of with several ships to find this bird of happiness that he has no clue where it lives to save his village. Great idea genius. He gets help from Neptune's daughter to finance the trip via some golden fish. His crewmen must past an important test to be admitted- they must chug a couple pints of wine and get punched without falling! They encounter some Vikings who don't seem all that formidable and then travel to India where cock fighting is a popular sport. In India they learn about a magic bird that sings of happiness. Sinbad wins a chess match to get the bird. And to be honest, the bird is the only cool effect in the whole film. A relatively hot chick who looks like Evil-Lyn from He-man with a bird's body. She is not the bird they are looking for but use her sleep inducing song to escape India. During a storm Sinbad jumps overboard as a sacrifice to Neptune and visits the non impressive undersea kingdom of Neptune which includes a dopey fish puppet and a cool octopus prop. Sinbad decides to give up the search for this bird and return to his true love. Upon his return he is welcomed back to the cheers of the villagers despite his failure to bring that bird home. He tells the people that happiness is here, at home or something like that. And somehow, the people accept this statement. What a load of BS. The guy fails and returns to the village under the same condition. What is so happy about that ?! I found this ending so contrived. I would definitely not recommend this movie. I only give 2 stars of 10 and that is because it was made in 1953.

This film is beyond description......Yeah, it's that bad!Let's put it this way, if Ed Wood had been making films in the Soviet Union and had had a big budget.........Ta daaaaa! "Sadko" would likely be the outcome.This film in it's original Russian format was overly talky - even for a Russian film...The dubbed version just goes on and on and on....Yakkety yak.......Some of the most inept rewrites I've ever heard/seen.....Lotsa' boring goody goody Soviet propaganda messages here....Especially in the opening part of the film with the nasty guys with all the goodies are keepin' it from all the deserving poor....Awwwwww! Enter Sinbad/Sadko and woosh! The nasty types head for the hills and Sadco/Sinbad sees to it that all the goods are properly distributed among the poor.......How quaintly soviet!Sadco sets off on a quest that takes him 'round the world in search of goodies to bring back to all those deserving peasants .......He meets the "uber budgie" in the form of a half bird/half woman.......Rather creepy looking.....Kind of like sitting through the end of Tod Browning's "Freaks" for the first time, but not as satisfying.The highlight (if you can call it that!) of the film is when Sadko comes up against a couple of totally twisted Hindu cats that look like a pair of New York drag queens - oh pleeeeeezzzzze! These clowns wear enough makeup to make Tammy Faye Baker Blush, in addition, their dialog is an absolute riot......It's as if the voice/over guys thought the same about their appearance and actions and played them to the campy hilt.Overall the film seems to meander in such a way that screams: "lookit all the money we spent on this gem, praise Lenin!" Big scenes, sprawling vistas would make a nice travelogue if it weren't for the plodding script and banal dialog....I can't imagine those drones with MST3K even wasting their so-called "talent" on this one, it doesn't need any embellishment. As Jay Sherman of "The Critic" fame was known to say: "It stinks!"Robert Hill

Seldom do I have goosebumps from watching a fun fantasy film as I did with this wonderfully restored Russian FAMILY VIEWING film. I applaud the restorers for doing this timely work (and the translators for the subtitles!). I pray that they endeavor with more restorations of many Russian classics that we American's have not had opportunity to view. I have not watched the other version with the English language dubbing (The Magic Voyage of Sinbad), but I can gather from another user's comments that it had to have been pretty bad. I prefer original language in such films anyway and don't mind reading the movie.Considering the film was done in 1953 without our cgi stuff and other advanced technology of today, the visuals are absolute gems (well done). I had a flash forward of a Finding Nemo type fish in one of the scenes, which was about the only part that was more of a hokey cheaply done prop filler, which could and perhaps should have been edited out. However, due to the nature of that fishy prop, it was rather unique and funny, and added more to the fantasy theme of the movie.Even though the acting was somewhat stiffly hokey by mollywood viewers of the Americas, Russians have a certain flair akin only to their culture. It was refreshing to listen to the Russian men's deep voices that we usually associate with ruffians in many movies. And the Russian dancing! Loved it! So, to comments about the acting? Well, methinks ya need to know a few Russians (and their flair), and to turn back the clock in remembering when this movie was made ... without this "acting" this movie would have been the Pitts ... it gave the film that certain further flair of saying, "This is a fantasy flick, so don't take anything too seriously." Excellent family film (as long as the kids can read)!

What have you fiends done with Sinbad?One goofy russo-finnish tale starring Sinbad a.k.a. the guy with the evil looks. He gives guys free drinks and then proceeds to smash their chests in! Sinbad enjoys spending leisure time playing harp at local coffee shops. Don't miss his encore performance by the lake in one of the goofiest dub songs ever. Definitely lost in translation.Confused yet? You will be. You've also got maniacal laughing horse, chess duel, jester party (those nuts!), a bear in Hammer pants, plywood surfing, and so much more. By the way, were vikings ever enemies of Sinbad? It's also not good to have sleep inducing magic in your movie because it may tend to affect even the audience! This film's chock full of schlock including an underwater rave in Neptune's kingdom and a whole lot of wackiness. Oh, and some hokey moral about how money can't bring happiness and that girls really dig guys with golden fish. I know this is a dubbed movie version, but the bad voice acting and hilarious Sinbad "solo" to Neptune's daughter really up the kampiness factor!Watch this one MST style. It's a keeper!