January 14, 2010 - The Golden Voyage of Sinbad

One of our mainstay family vacations growing up was an annual trip to Lake Tahoe. We'd stay at Harrah's, and while our parents were gambling, we'd hang out in the kids area, which included an arcade full of pinball and electro-mechanical games (if you're my age you'll know the one's I mean - where you shoot the physical 3-D targets that pop-up with a light rifle, or the one where you strapped on a sidearm and had to quick draw against a projected image of a bandit on some cheap Hollywood backlot...). The other main attraction was an in-house theater. As best as I can recall, they only ever showed two movies, both of which I recall quite fondly. The first, the Rankin Bass Mad Monster Party, was right up my alley. The second was Ray Harryhausen and Charles Schneer's second Sinbad feature, The Golden Voyage of Sinbad.

This film is very important to me in that introduced me to the beautiful actress Caroline Munro, whose career I would follow for years, and I'd later have the opportunity to meet and work with, fulfilling a lifelong dream. Is it the best Sinbad film? No, that honor truly belongs to the 7th Voyage. But I wouldn't feel right without finding a spot for Caroline in our 40/40 series (she celebrates her birthday just 5 days before mine - and yes, I probably should have taken this into consideration and scheduled this on her birthday, January 16th).

We hope you'll join us on the 14th as we take a trip to the land beyond beyond...