The Fountain of Destiny

The Golden Voyage of Sinbad is another shining adventure for Sinbad the Sailor. 15 years after the success of The 7th Voyage of Sinbad, producer Charles Schneer decided to revive the character. Arabian adventures based on One Thousand and One Nights weren’t nearly as common in the 70’s. The Golden Voyage of Sinbad was so popular that it won the first Saturn Award for Best Fantasy Film. It’s not a sequel despite being made by Colombia Pictures and featuring state-of-the-art stop motion effects from Ray Harryhausen. Sinbad is now played by John Phillip Law who makes the effort to put on a Middle Eastern accent. He sails with a crew that discovers a winged creature carrying a golden amulet. The amulet seems to be cursed when Sinbad has visions that lead him to Marabia. It’s there he encounters an evil magician similar to Sokurah.

Tom Baker plays Prince Koura who seeks youth, a shield of darkness, and a crown of untold riches from the long lost Fountain of Destiny in Lemuria. Baker was so good at playing the villain that he was offered the role of Fourth Doctor on Doctor Who. Achmed is his loyal servant, but Koura creates a creepy looking winged homunculus to spy on the heroes. The second piece of the amulet is given by the noble Grand Vizier. Though Douglas Wilmer’s face is covered by a golden mask, his performance shines through. Grégoire Aslan plays Hakim who pawns his lazy son off on Sinbad. The young Kurt Christian plays the inexperienced Haroun who serves as comic relief. Sinbad also meets the woman of his dreams. Margiana is a gorgeous former slave girl marked with an all-seeing eye. Caroline Munro is far more busty than former love interests.

Their voyage is fraught with dangers caused by Koura. The ship’s wooden figurehead comes to life, but it drains Koura’s life force. Sinbad and crew find the Oracle of All Knowledge played by Robert Shaw himself. He cryptically tells them how to find the third piece of the amulet. Sinbad climbing out of the collapsed temple is surprisingly tense. Though it’s not the final foe, the biggest technical achievement is a six-armed statue of Kali coming to life and fighting Sinbad with six swords. It’s so impressive that the Centaur that arrives after feels quaint by comparison. When Kali is defeated, they have to fight off green natives who try to sacrifice Margiana to the Centaur. The Centaur is also a Cyclops and the Guardian of Evil who fights a Griffin acting as the Guardian of Good. Koura gains youth and invisibility, but Sinbad does the right thing and gets the girl in the end. The Golden Voyage of Sinbad is a welcomed return to exotic adventures.

Sinbad fights off Kali