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5[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/GoldenVoyageOfSinbad_9200.jpg]]
6[[caption-width-right:300:''"Trust in Allah, but tie up your camel."'']]
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9''The Golden Voyage of Sinbad'' is a 1974 fantasy film directed by Gordon Hessler and starring John Philip Law, Creator/TomBaker, Creator/RayHarryhausen's [[StarringSpecialEffects special effects]] and Creator/CarolineMunro. Music/MiklosRozsa (who scored ''Film/{{The Thief of Bagdad|1940}}'' in the same vein) composed the soundtrack. It is the second Literature/SinbadTheSailor film on which Harryhausen worked after ''Film/The7thVoyageOfSinbad'', and has a different cast and crew.
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11Sinbad the Sailor searches for the lost continent of Lemuria with the help of his trusty crew along with the disfigured Grand Vizier of Marabia and the perpetually under-dressed ex-slavegirl Margiana. Along the way they will battle the evil sorcerer Prince Koura and encounter fantastic creatures such as the griffin and -- in the film's most technically stunning moment -- a six-armed statue of Kali brought to life through Koura's magic.
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13Harryhausen worked on a third and final Sinbad film, ''Film/SinbadAndTheEyeOfTheTiger'', which had a completely different cast and crew once again.
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15Not to be confused with the [[Series/MysteryScienceTheater3000 MST3K]]-featured ''The Magic Voyage of Sinbad'' (actually the Russian film ''{{Film/Sadko}}'').
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17!!This movie provides examples of:
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19* AmazingTechnicolorPopulation: The tribesmen of Lemuria all have green skin, though it's possibly paint.
20* BeautyEqualsGoodness: Sinbad's RagtagBunchOfMisfits are all conventionally gorgeous [[PrettyBoy young men]] and [[MsFanservice women]], except for the character whose disfigurement is part of the plot (and even he hides his face under a beautifully-designed metal mask except for one significant scene). Koura has a striking but not remotely pretty appearance, with CreepyBlueEyes and a huge, hooked nose, and becomes visibly older and uglier (with cracked skin and red-rimmed eyes) from the effects of his magic overuse. His allies consist of sailors with more asymmetrical faces than Sinbad's crew, heavily painted tribespeople, and monsters.
21* BeardOfEvil: Koura has a much larger beard than Sinbad.
22* BenevolentBoss: Believe it or not, Prince Koura. He never indulges in a KickTheDog moment with his second-in-command, Achmed, and as the final confrontation with Sinbad approaches Koura actually ''sends him to safety'' rather than place his life at risk.
23* BirthmarkOfDestiny: Margiana's eye-shaped brand on the palm of her hand. It doesn't actually amount to much, plot-wise.
24* BishounenLine: Koura starts off middle-aged, becomes increasingly elderly and twisted-looking as he starts throwing around more and more magic power, and then finally becomes younger looking than we've yet seen him for the final confrontation.
25* BloodIsSquickerInWater: Prince Koura in the Fountain of Destiny, which runs a sickening red after he is killed.
26* BloodMagic: The evil wizard Prince Koura uses his own blood to create a homunculus.
27* CallBack: Like ''Film/The7thVoyageOfSinbad'', this one ends with a new friend swinging through the rigging and asking to stay on as a permanent member of Sinbad's crew.
28* CastFromLifespan: Prince Koura can use black magic, but at the price of aging every time he casts a spell. You have to wonder if he'd been a teenager before he started his sorcerous reign of terror...
29* CatchPhrase: Sinbad's recurring piece of advice: "Trust in Allah, but tie up your camel." A somewhat more colourful version of the modern "Hope for the best, but plan for the worst."
30* CreepyCute (InUniverse): The bat-homunculus. A tiny demon made from Koura's blood, Achmed is scared of it but Koura clearly finds it adorable, his eyes melting as he looks at it and clucking at it to lure it onto his arm like it was a pet.
31* CrouchingMoronHiddenBadass: Haroun starts off as an idle, womanizing drunkard and hashish-smoker whose father makes Sinbad hire him in an attempt to whip him into shape. Towards the end of the film, however, he saves Sinbad's life twice, once by shooting down Koura's homunculus when it attacks Sinbad whilst he's climbing a rope out of the Oracle's temple, then again when Sinbad is pinned down by the statue of Kali, and he tackles it over a ledge, shattering it.
32* DeadpanSnarker: Sinbad. For example, when Haroun's father says Allah will smile upon Sinbad for taking on lazy Haroun, Sinbad quips, "More likely He will laugh in my face."
33* DecapitationPresentation: Played with. Achmed raises the head of the Kali statue aloft for the green men of Lemuria to see, but he's not the one who destroyed it. Haroun did, and Achmed and Koura are both trying to rile the green men against Sinbad.
34* DualWielding: Kali, with '''six''' blades.
35%%* DullSurprise: John Phillip Law, all the time.
36* EverybodyLaughsEnding: At one of Haroun's goofs and the joke Sinbad and the Vizier make about Sinbad's CatchPhrase.
37* EvilIsHammy: Sinbad's crew lives in a world of DullSurprise and {{Eye Take}}s. Koura, however, is a universe unto himself, thanks in part to being played by Creator/TomBaker. Koura is marked by copious ChewingTheScenery, [[EvilLaugh evil laughter]], wailing, trembling, moaning magic words in an ecstatic sort of way and [[SayMyName shouting people's names really loudly]].
38* EvilWearsBlack: There's a reason they call Koura the Black Prince.
39* TheEvilPrince: Prince Koura, though what exactly he is prince ''of'' is never clear. He seems to have a castle of his own somewhere within riding distance of Marabia, though.
40* FacialHorror: Below his golden mask, the Vizier's face is horrifically scarred, stemming from Koura setting fire to it after the Sultan of Marabia died naming the Vizier his heir. [[spoiler:His face is healed by the end of the film after Sinbad puts the crown of untold riches on his head.]]
41* {{Fanfare}}: For the Grand Vizier.
42* {{Flynning}}: All over the movie, particularly pronounced in the fight with Kali. The fight with Koura might be justified, as he's invisible at the time and the only visible part of him is his sword.
43* FreeSamplePlotCoupon: The Grand Vizier of Marabia gives Sinbad a quest to find the three golden tablets before the evil Koura does. Luckily Sinbad accidentally acquired the first tablet from Koura before meeting the Vizier, and uses it to locate the area where the other two tablets can be found.
44* GenreThrowback: To an earlier era of swashbuckling adventure movies, including Harryhausen's own ''Film/The7thVoyageOfSinbad'', released back in the '50s, and the even earlier ''Film/TheThiefOfBagdad1940'', whose influence on this movie is very clear.
45* GiveMeASword: Sinbad gives Koura a sword when challenging him to a duel at the temple of Lemuria. Instead, Koura gives his sword to Kali... and Kali magically grows ''five more swords'' for each of her hands.
46* TheGoodChancellor: One of the few Arabian Nights movies with a good Grand Vizier instead of an evil one.
47* GoodScarsEvilScars: The Grand Vizier (who, as mentioned above, is a good guy, unusual for these sorts of stories) had his entire face burned off thanks to the mischief of Prince Koura, and so now wears a golden mask. He takes it off to scare some hostile tribesmen away, and later [[spoiler:regains his face when Sinbad crowns him Sultan]].
48* TheGrotesque: The Vizier again, under that golden mask. Unusual for this type of character, he [[spoiler: gets a happy ending: his old face is restored and he becomes the next sultan!]]
49%%* HollywoodTorches
50* HornedHumanoid: The Oracle has some truly impressive ram horns.
51* HopelessBossFight: Sinbad and his crew have no chance against the statue of Kali. Not only is it surprisingly fast and skilled with its swords, but since the statue is made of stone, their swords are useless against it. They only win because Haroun manages to knock it off a ledge while it's busy fighting Sinbad, shattering it on the ground below.
52* HumanSacrifice: Mariana's birthmark signals that she is supposed to be one for the Cyclops Centaur.
53* LargeHam:
54** It's Tom Baker, what do you expect? This is especially true when he's controlling the [[LivingFigurehead figurehead]] and when he swordfights with Sinbad near the end. It's true from his very first scene:
55---> ''SINBAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAD!''
56** Likewise, an uncredited (and unrecognizable) Robert Shaw absolutely devours the scenery as the Oracle of All Knowledge.
57--->''"...and then the WORLD shall KNOW and YOU shall KNOW which way the fates have chose you shall GO!"
58* LivingStatue: Famously, the statue of Kali, the most iconic scene in the whole movie. Less well known is the [[LivingFigurehead figurehead of Sinbad's ship]] that Koura animates remotely to steal the map for him.
59* MadOracle: The Oracle is certainly hard to talk to, though it doesn't even seem to be conventionally human in the first place.
60* MacGuffinLocation: The Fountain of Destiny, where wishes are granted.
61* MaskingTheDeformity: [[TheGoodChancellor The Grand Vizier]] of Marabia, named heir to the throne after the sultan died without a son, wears a solid golden mask that covers his entire head. Below it, his face is nightmarishly scarred, with hairless, waxy skin, thanks to [[BigBad Koura]] the [[EvilSorcerer Black]] [[TheEvilPrince Prince]] [[KillItWithFire setting fire to it]], just to prevent the Vizier from becoming an obstacle to the throne he wants for himself. Towards the climax of the film, the Vizier [[DramaticUnmask takes off his mask]] to reveal his face and scare away the [[HollywoodNatives green men]] who are threatening to kill Sinbad and his crew, and at the end of the film, [[spoiler:once Sinbad puts the "crown of untold riches" gained from the Fountain of Destiny onto the Vizier's head, the mask melts away into thin air, revealing that the Vizier's face is now magically restored back to its full healthier glory, along with a full head of hair and a nice beard]].
62* MsFanservice: Margiana, played by Creator/CarolineMunro. Essentially her only role in the story is to look pretty in not very much clothing and her cleavage is oiled up to attract the eye. Even her significant birthmark turns out [[spoiler:to just mean that she's supposed to be a sacrifice to the Centaur]].
63* MultiArmedAndDangerous: Kali fights with six arms and swords.
64* NavelDeepNeckline: PlayedWith in regards to Margiana's outfit. It's open in such a way that it leaves most of her torso exposed, from cleavage to midriff, with only a tiny string of cloth holding it together beneath her breasts.
65* NeutralFemale: Margiana stands by idly during most fights. Sinbad's entire quest would probably be a lot easier if he hadn't brought her along. Ironically, Haroun -- whom he only accepted as a companion because it would mean Margiana could come too, and initially views as TheLoad -- ends up coming through on several occasions.
66* NoSell: The figurehead shrugs off an axe being lodged in her chest and continues attacking Sinbad's crew.
67* OccultBlueEyes: Koura has strangely-colored, unearthly blue eyes (courtesy of Creator/TomBaker, whose eyes naturally looked like that) that receive a lot of camera and color-contrast attention whenever he uses his magic. Played up with copious {{Eyedscreen}} and some truly stunning {{Idiosyncratic Wipe}}s where the scene transitions from a shot of his face ''around'' his eyes, leaving them staring disembodied over the emerging scene for a very unsettling effect.
68* OfferedTheCrown: After he kills Koura, Sinbad sees the third and final treasure that emerges from the Fountain of Destiny, a golden crown. Despite seeing himself reflected with the crown on his head and royal robes on his body, Sinbad refuses the crown and gives it to the Vizier instead. As he tells Margiana later, "I value freedom. [[TheChainsOfCommanding A king is never truly free]]. Why, he is even told who he must marry."
69* OhCrap: Haroun has this reaction when, after drunkenly flirting with the ship's figurehead, he sees it come to life and look at him.
70* OohMeAccentsSlipping: It's about 50/50 whether Tom Baker can be bothered to affect Koura's vague Arabic accent in a scene.
71* OurCentaursAreDifferent: The {{Cyclops}}-centaur.
72* OurGryphonsAreDifferent: It lives underground and is apparently the manifestation of the forces of good
73* OurHomunculiAreDifferent: Koura creates two of them. These flying imps are an extension of their creator's senses of sound and sight.
74* PetTheDog: As evil as Koura is, he has a surprisingly close relationship with his minion, Achmed. For one, he never grows angry with Achmed when the latter expresses concern about the negative effects Koura's magic has upon him. Second, Koura takes care to send Achmed back to their ship near the climax, so he won't be in danger if Koura is defeated by Sinbad.
75* {{Plunder}}: The Crown of Many Riches.
76* PowerDegeneration: See CastFromLifespan. Koura gets increasingly frail as he keeps casting spells.
77* RecycledSoundtrack: Music/MiklosRosza re-used part of his score from ''Film/BenHur1959''. Ironically, on that film, he re-used part of his score for ''Film/QuoVadis''.
78* RhymesOnADime: The Oracle speaks in this manner.
79* SadlyMythtaken: Kali, though strictly speaking it's a statue of her instead of Kali herself. Lemuria too, if mistaking a failed biogeographic hypothesis from 1864 for an "ancient myth" counts.
80* SavedByThePhlebotinum: Prince Koura's youth is restored by one of the fountains.
81* SlaveLiberation: Sinbad values freedom and doesn't like slavery, so he frees Margiana as soon as she's brought to his ship. Later, [[spoiler:he does this for himself by refusing the Crown of Many Riches. As he puts it, "A king is never truly free."]]
82* StepIntoTheBlindingFight: At the end Sinbad must fight Koura while Koura is invisible after being granted a "shield of darkness".
83* TheStoner: Haroun's father is tired of him lying around all day smoking hashish, so he pays Sinbad gold and a slave girl to take the boy away.
84* TookALevelInBadass: Haroun, who's initially a lazy, good-for-nothing [[TheStoner stoner]], actually learns to stand on his own two feet and is one of the few members of Sinbad's crew to fight the statue of Kali and live.
85* VillainsActHeroesReact: The second half of the movie is just Koura overdoing the magic and variously attacking Sinbad's crew with possessed statues, magic exploding temples, green-skinned savages and so on, hoovering up the PlotCoupons as he goes. The only thing Sinbad's crew is really capable of is fighting off whatever he throws at them and chasing after him.
86* WhatHappenedToTheMouse:
87** What happened to Koura's second-in-command and the ship he came on? Koura sends the sailors who row him to Lemuria and later his second back to the ship, and that's the last we hear of it.
88** Also, what exactly happened to Omar, the sailor in Sinbad's crew with a shaved head? He just disappears halfway through the battle with the centaur. We can see his legs sticking out from behind a rock but what happened to him? How did he die?
89** What happened to the other unnamed men in Sinbad's island expedition? They apparently disappeared right after the battle with Kali. One of them did get injured in the battle, but it was uncertain whether or not it was fatal. As for the others, were they captured like their comrades by the Lemurians but failed to escape? If so, what was their fate?
90* YouDidntAsk: Haroun is glad to finally be on land. When Sinbad asks him "Even dangerous land?" he panics, asking why Sinbad didn't tell him this was going to be dangerous. Sinbad responds with this trope.

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