The 7th Voyage of Sinbad - 50th Anniversary Edition on Blu-ray Disc

The 7th Voyage of Sinbad was Harryhausen's first color feature, which made it a groundbreaking film in the annals of cinefantastique.

As straightforward an action/fantasy film as a Harryhausen movie can be, it stars Kerwin Matthews in the title role, with Kathryn Grant as the girl/princess/requisite love interest.

The story follows Sinbad on his usual quest (this time to the Island of Colossus - a couple of times) where he meets and faces an evil magician, a genie in a lamp, and a terrific variety of Harryhausen's trademark critters, from two headed Rocs and giant Cyclopses to a skeleton swordsman and a mean, firebreathing dragon.

Harryhausen is in great form in this outing, as is Bernard Herrmann's musical score, and the Sony Blu-ray does the film justice; this is definitely the best video version yet.

The picture quality, which the company says is from a new high definition transfer, looks good in its 1.66:1 widescreen (which leaves "keyholing" bars to the sides of the 16x9 picture) glory. Alas, the 1080p picture is full of grain, especially (and not surprisingly) during the effects scenes. We'd love to see a complete restoration, but such isn't the case.

That said, there are times here when the picture displays that lovely depth we've grown to love so much with Blu-ray discs and it comes through even with the grain.

The audio has also been remastered and sounds as good as it can, with dialog coming from the center front channel and the music mixed to the main front channels. The music in particular sounds great in this Dolby TrueHD version.

Harryhausen fans will love the extras on this disc. Not only do you get a repeat of the John Landis interview from the DVD, but there's an audio commentary with Ray Harryhausen, visual effects experts Phil Tippett and Randall William Cook, author Steven Smith, and Arnold Kunert and what appears to be a new feature "Remembering 7th Voyage of Sinbad" featuring Mr. Harryhausen himself, with his insights.