7th Voyage of Sinbad, The (DVD)

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Video:
I've said it before and I'll say it again, the push for High Definition has also had a positive effect on standard definition DVDs. The quality just seems to be getting better and better as studios realize that fans care about picture and sound quality as much as they do about film quality. Though 1080p still gets the nod for sharpest detail, best black levels, and 3-dimensionality, this DVD remastered in High Definition is still awfully good. I watched it before I watched the Blu-ray, actually, and wondered how the Hi-Def version could top it, unless it could somehow repair those rough sequences that were undoubtedly the result of the B-movie trade. This was, after all, a low-budget film and the film stock and camera equipment weren't exactly top-of-the-line, but there are plenty of places where figures in the foreground display an astounding sharpness and edge detail. Then there are those exteriors where the atmospheric grain is so heavy you just have to remind yourself this is an old film and a cheap film that's been lovingly restored and preserved. If you're not ready for Blu-ray yet, this disc is pretty darned close. It's one of those you'd have to compare frame-by-frame to tell the difference (though there certainly is one).

Audio:
As with the Blu-ray version, fans can choose between a juiced up soundtrack and the original, restored and remastered English Mono. I actually prefer the English or French Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround, because with a movie like this and all those Harryhausen monsters and all that screaming it's fun to get some action on the effects speakers. As with the Blu-ray, the bass is strong but not overly pulsing, and the treble is bright, though perhaps a little on the metallic side--which leads me to believe that the master itself has limitations.

Extras:
Like the other films in the Sony Harryhausen collection, this one contains some nice bonus features. Harryhausen offers a commentary with visual effects experts Phil Tippett and Randall William Cook, author Steven Smith, and Arnold Kunert. Like the other commentaries, there's some overlapping, but if you like Harryhausen's work you enjoy just listening to the master speak. Then there's "Remembering the 7th Voyage of Sinbad," a roughly 23-minute feature in which Harryhausen is shown talking alone in front of a black-and-white sketch screen, with plenty of rough sketches and models-the coolest photo showing the models on the floor of Harryhausen's house, with the special effects master kneeling down by them. He talks about how studios told him "costume pictures were dead," and that he filed away his models and got the film made years later when Columbia Pictures acquiesced. Those are the coolest features. Rounding out the extras are short features on "The Harryhausen Legacy" and "The Music of Bernard Herrmann," a photo gallery, a repeat of the John Landis interview with Ray Harryhausen, a "This is Dynamation" teaser and three-minute feature, and an audio presentation of "Sinbad May Have Been Bad, But He's Been Good to Me," set to a full-color sideshow of lobby cards and movie posters.

Bottom Line:
Harryhausen has to be pleased with the treatment his films have been getting from Sony Pictures. The studio has recognized him as the bona fide star of B-movies that he is, and have remastered and restored some of his best loved films. This title is part of the "Ray Harryhausen Blu-ray Collection," but like "20 Million Miles to Earth" it's also available singly. I suspect that the other two films in the collection will be too. If you're into adventure and wanting a good old-fashioned family film, rather than being diehard Harryhausen fans, then this film is a great place to start.

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