xianplanet 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.

Bill357 I've only seen the dubbed version so I'm relying on that alone to write my review.The Magic Voyage Of Sinbad (Sadko to the purists) is a mildly interesting relic of Soviet propaganda film-making, mixing Marxist philosophies with children's fairy stories.Sinbad returns home, having gave away a fortune, looking a bit like Lenin in a blonde wig and finding the merchants rich and fat while the rest of the city remains poor and hungry, deviating from the west in that usually the poor people in these types of movies are being subjected to harsh taxation by the state.Nowhere is it stated how these fat cat merchants got so rich selling to people with no money nor does it matter. They're the villain that needs to be straightened out by Lenin/Sadko/Sinbad.After outsmarting the capitalists and giving away all their wares, the now brainwashed merchants are portrayed as happy only to have a smiling Lenin take one last dig, "Stupid merchants".Sadko then embarks on a quest to spread Communism and find the "bird of happiness" only to find treacherous, warmongering, inferiors that reject enlightenment, inhabiting the outside world.One thing I find very ironic is the racist portrayal of Indians from the supposedly enlightened Soviet Communists, the USSR having formally outlawed racism.In the end Sinbad/Lenin/Sadko realizes that the bird of happiness (religion) does not exist and orders the ships home. They then drop their blue sails and hoist the red ones while Lenin changes from a gray cape to a crimson one, essentially wrapping himself in the Soviet flag!

Woodyanders Brave and noble sailer Sinbad (the hopelessly wooden Sergei Stolyarov, who sports a wicked pointy Van Dyke beatnik beard) wants to bring happiness to the poor people in his land. When he discovers out that giving folks money and material goods doesn't do the trick, Sinbad decides to go on a perilous journey to find the fabled Blue Bird of Happiness. Boy, does this radically doctored American version of a popular Russian fantasy film possess all the right wrong stuff to qualify as an amusingly inane yukfest: we've got stiff acting, cruddy dubbing, ripe narration, an agonizingly poky pace, a drawn-out and meandering narrative (it takes over thirty minutes for Sinbad to finally embark on his quest!), infrequent and ineptly staged action scenes, a few inspired goofy touches (you gotta love Sinbad's laughing horse and the creepy singing bird lady), laughably lousy (not so) special effects, and a groan-inducing cornball climactic message. This honey hits its gloriously gut-busting campy zenith when Sinbad swims underwater and pays a visit to the legendary kingdom of Atlantis, which comes complete with a hearty king and a bitchy queen, a giant cheesy puppet octopus, and an equally tacky hand puppet catfish. Another hilarious sequence occurs when various foolhardy souls participate in a test to prove they got the correct tough stuff to be members of Sinbad's crew: Most of these dudes take a slug of hard liquor and get punched in the chest by Sinbad while one especially crazy guy wrestles a bear! And let's not forget the cringeworthy moment with Sinbad forlornly warbling a horrendous song next to a lake. An absolute kitschy hoot.

InzyWimzy 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!