THE 7TH VOYAGE OF SINBAD (1948) 4K Ultra HD Review

THE 7TH VOYAGE OF SINBAD (1958) 

4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray + Digital 

Label: Sony Pictures Home Entertainment 

Region Code: Region-Free

Rating: G 

Duration: 88 Minutes 5 Seconds 

Audio: English DTS-HD MA 2.0 Dual-Mono or 5.1 Surround with Optional English Subtitles 

Video: Dolby Vision HDR10 2160p Ultra HD Widescreen (1.66:1) , 1080p HD Widescreen (1.66:1) 

Director: Nathan Juran 

Cast: Kathryn Grant, Kerwin Mathews, Richard Eyer, Torin Thatcher

Synopsis: The legendary Sinbad (Kerwin Mathews, The Boy Who Cried Wolf) sets off on a dangerous journey to the mysterious Island of Colossus to break the spell cast over his beloved princess (Kathryn Grant, Anatomy of a Murder) by the diabolical magician Sokurah (Torin Thatcher, Jack the Giant Killer) who is out to recover his magic lamp. Before he can save her, Sinbad must battle an awesome collection of mythical monsters: the man-eating Cyclops, a saber-wielding skeleton, a ferocious two-headed bird called the Roc and a fire-breathing dragon, all animated by the stunning visual effects mastery of Ray Harryhausen.

I am almost certain that this was the film that introduced me to the magic of Ray Harryhausen and his stop-motion wonders, probably catchy in on a Saturday matinee TV airing on WPIX in the late-70s. I'm sure I was curled up in front of the TV with a big bowl of sugary cereal, which how I usually watched the monster movie matinees in TV as a kid. As Sinbad encounters the gigantic Roc bird-of-prey, the cyclops, and a fire-breathing dragon I was in absolute awe of Harryhausen ability to bring these creatures to life in a way that actually felt real, or director Nathan Juron's ability to bring Barani (Richard Eyer, The Invisible Boy), the magical Genie in the lamp seem real. Watching it again in 4K I am still in awe of the artistry, and of how these creatures each have their own personalities, which is no small feat and still quite an achievement nearly seventy years later. To this day I prefer the vintage stop-motion to slick CGI creations of the modern era, which are more often than not soulless creations with no weight to them, while these creatures have a physics and physicality that brought them to life, they have a cinematic soul that so few digital creations can even come close to matching.  

This is a film that I am delighted to say still holds up, what  director Nathan Juron (The Brain from Planet Arous) with the immeasurable assist from Ray  Harryhausen created with The 7th Voyage of Sinbad is a timeless tale of the fantastic, fraught with swashbuckling adventure, terrifying stop-motion creatures and fantastical happenings - what more could you ask for? Well, I'd ask Sony to get on a 4K restoration of Jason and the Argonauts next, please and thank! 

Audio/Video: Huzzah! The 7th Voyage of Sinbad (1958) gets a 4K upgrade from Sony sourced from a brand new 4K restoration of the film from the original camera negative in 1.66:1 widescreen aspect ratio, with Dolby Vision / HDR10 color-grade enhancements. How's it look, well, simply stunning. This is a film I've seen on pretty much every format since VHS with the exception of the Pioneer Special Edition Laserdisc, I never did get my hands on that. The 4K resolution combined with the loving restoration has reinvigorated this film, plus the WCG offers gorgeous hues and excellent contrast. The live-action footage looks stellar, grain is intact and is nicely resolved but looks less grainy-looking compared to DVD and Blu-ray presentations. the renewed colors look terrific, we get wonderful primary blushes and vibrant hues, deep blacks, and authentic looking coppery skin tones.  The costuming and set designs benefit greatly, as do the locations shot in Granada, Spain, Wilkie Cooper’s cinematography has never looked better on home video. The Dynamation stop-motion scenes are revelatory, the finely detailed textures of Ray Harryhausen's monster creations have never looked better, some of the composited scene are little softer and grainer, but are still quite an improvement, they even remedied the flicker of past releases. 

It should be noted that the accompanying Blu-ray is not a a 1080p version of the new 4K restoration, but merely a repress of the previous Blu-ray, which was an adequate upgrade 18 years ago, but pales when stacked up against this new restoration, just be aware of that. I found it a bummer that to listen to the commentary you have to watch the 2008 Blu-ray and not enjoy the downsampled 4K restoration. I certainly appreciate the gorgeous 4K restoration on the UHD, but just repressing the 2008 Blu-ray instead of pressing new Blu-ray discs of the restoration feels a bit cheap. 

Audio options include both English DTS-HD MA 2.-0 dual--mono and 5.1 surround with optional English subtitles. The tracks are clean and well balanced, dialogue is nicely prioritized in the mix, and the sounds of creatures, men screaming and the terrific  Bernard Herrmann score have plenty of bombast. The surround track is fine, mostly spreading the Hermann score into the surrounds, but I preferred the more direct mono track myself, it has a nice bottom end that carries the brassier moments of the score quite nicely. 

All of the extras are archival in nature and have appeared on past releases in one form or another, which is not to say they're not appreciated, these were terrific in their day and still offer a wealth of information for those who have not seen them, or just have not watched them recently. We get the 59-min The Harryhausen Chronicles Documentary, plus the Audio Commentary with Ray Harryhausen, Visual Effects Experts Phil Tippett and Randall William Cook, Author Steven C. Smith and Arnold Kunert, which is a fantastic listen. 

Other archival bonus features include the 24-min Remembering The 7th Voyage of Sinbad (2008), the 24-min The Harryhausen Legacy (2008), 12 -min A Look Behind the Voyage (1995), 3-min “This is Dynamation” Special Effects Featurette (1957), 12-min Ray Harryhausen Interviewed by Director John Landis (1995), 26-min The Music of Bernard Herrmann (2008), the 3-min “Sinbad May Have Been Bad, But He’s Been Good To Me” Music Video (1958), plus the 10-min Photo Gallery. The single-disc release arrives in a black keepcase with a single-sided sleeve of artwork featuring the '74 reissue poster artwork, which I prefer to the '58 poster to be honest, so that did not bother me. The same artwork is featured on the Slipcover, which I would assume is limited tot he first-pressing of this release. Inside the 4K disc features an excerpt of the wrap artwork while the reprinted Blu-ray is simply a white background with black lettering. Inside there's a redemption code for a Digital Copy of the film, which when redeemed does not port over any of the archival extras aside from the Trailer. . 

Special Features:

Disc 1: 4K Ultra HD - Feature + Trailer  

- New 4K restoration of the film from the original camera negative in 1.66:1 ratio

- The Harryhausen Chronicles Documentary (57:56) 

- Theatrical Trailer (1:41) 

Disc 2: Blu-ray - Feature + Extras 

- Audio Commentary with Ray Harryhausen, Visual Effects Experts Phil Tippett and Randall William Cook, Author Steven C. Smith and Arnold Kunert

- Remembering The 7th Voyage of Sinbad (23:31) 

- The Harryhausen Legacy (25:32) 

- A Look Behind the Voyage (11:47)

- “This is Dynamation” Special Effects Featurette (3:25) 

- Ray Harryhausen Interviewed by Director John Landis (11:52) 

- The Music of Bernard Herrmann (26:52) 

- “Sinbad May Have Been Bad, But He’s Been Good To Me” Music Video (3:07) 

- Photo Gallery (9:34) 

- Slipcover

- Digital Copy 

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LEGION OF THE DEAD (2001) Unearthed Films Limited Collector's Edition Blu-ray Review + Screenshots

LEGION OF THE DEAD (2001) 

Limited Collector's Edition

Label: Unearthed Films

Region Code: A
Rating: Unrated 

Duration: 92 Minutes 27 Second (Producer's Cut), 108 Minutes 39 Seconds (Director's Cut) 

Audio: English LPCM 2.0 Stereo or DTS-HD MA 5.1 Surround with Optional English Subtitles (Producer's Cut), Enlish and German DTS-HD MA 5.1 or 2.0 Stereo Surround with Optional English Subtitles  

Video: 1080p HD Widescreen (1.85:1)

Director: Olaf Ittenbach

Cast: Russell Friedenberg, Kimberly Liebe, Michael Carr, Matthias Hues

In the Olaf Ittenback (Burning Moon) directed From Dusk Till Dawn riff, Legion of the Dead (2001) two likable down on their luck losers William (Michael Carr, Dream Stalker) and Luke (Russell Friedenberg, Wind Walkers) are hitchhiking through the California desert when they are picked up by Psycho Mike (Christopher Kriesa, The Man Who Wasn't There), who unbeknownst to them is a notorious hitchhiker-killer dubbed The Kern River Killer. Once in the car with him they find themselves on a journey straight to Hell. In a separate storyline a mysterious blond man (Matthias Hues, I Come In Peace) and a his henchmen, the craggy faced Jeff (Hank Stone, Last Shift) and comic relief Nicholas (Harvey J. Alperin, The Artist), are travelling from place to place are killing people to create a Legion of the Dead to wage an unholy war on humanity. Another storyline involves a small town diner where waitress Geena (Kimberly Liebe, Maniacts), who surely was cast because she brought to mind Salma Hyeck, holds a secret connected to the Blond Man. Eventually all the storylines converge at the roadside diner, where Luke instantly falls for Geena, and the demonic Blond Man and his sadistic henchman, as well as their Legion of the Dead, prove they are willing to slaughter everyone at the diner to get to Geena, for reasons that are revealed, eventually. 

What we have hear is Ittenbach channeling his inner Tarantino, the film is clearly influenced by From Dusk Till Dawn, it's action-packed and chock full of bloody violence and demonic menace, with nods to Kevin Smith's Dogma and Lamberto Bava's Demons. The story has a lot of subplots which can get somewhat confusing initially, it took me a bit to catch up to it, but it does decent working bringing the various plot lines together during the bloody finale at the diner. 

It starts off a bit slow but the various characters are pretty interesting, especially Christopher Kriesa as the seizure-prone serial killer - he is a fucking hoot, and the movie could have used more of him. The lengthy dialogue exchanges feel very Tarantino influenced with a healthy dose of comedy, mostly by way of the demonic henchman as they incessantly argue about petty stuff, like what color suits they should wear. They're comically adversarial, while not all the laughs land they did manage to get a couple of laugh out of me.  

Let's talk about the special effects, we get a blend of gory practical effects and some not so great digital effects that tend to detract from the practical stuff, mostly by way of transitional digital morphing flourished which looks utterly shite, but the practical stuff looks fantastic. We get bullet riddled bodies, severed limbs, heads exploding, and we even get a truck plowing into another car with a huge fireball stunt, once the action and gore kicks in the flick picks up considerably. 

The acting is honestly pretty spotty, but it is energetic, everyone seems to know exactly what sort of movie they're making which works in it's favor, the heightened acting style perfectly matches the vibe of the flick. If you're a fan of stuff like The Prophecy (1995) and From Dusk Till Dawn (1996) and the low-budget gore-fests from Olaf Ittenbach this Tarantino homage should go down pretty well for you, but it does feel like Ittenbach is perhaps restraining himself here, holding back his darker more macabre impulses. 

 

It should be noted that this version of the film is not the same R-rated version that was released in 2005 on DVD from Artisan, which ran 8-minutes shorter than this Producer's Cut. We get quite a bit more gore and violence this time around, it's imperfect, but it is an entertaining flick and quite a step up in production value and style from Ittenbacjh's previous film Premutos: The Fallen Angel (1997)

Audio/Video: Legion of the Dead (2001) makes it's North American Blu-ray debut from Unearthed Films as part of their heralded Unearthed Classics line-up. The 1080p presentation is framed in 1.85:1 widescreen and appears clean and free of blemishes. Grain is present throughout, having been shot on 35 mm, whites can have a bleached blow-out look, particularly in the outdoor desert and the flashback sequences, which might a stylistic choice to convey the heat of the desert, and generally colors have a slightly desaturated look to them. Some of the scenes are rather dark in some scenes which appear underlit due to budget constraints, but generally I thought it looked solid. Audio comes by way of English DTS-HD MA 5.1 surround or 2.0 stereo with optional English subtitles. The tracks are clean and well-balanced, dialogue exchanges are nicely prioritized, and the score, gunfire and sounds of carnage sound terrific. 

Extras include for the Producer's Cut star off with an Audio Commentary with director Olaf Ittenbach. We also get a 22-min archival Making of Legion of the Dead, 9-min of Deleted Scenes, 16-min of Outtakes, 9-min of Festival Premieres footage, a 6-min Photo Gallery, plus the 2-min Original Trailer, 2-min Alternate Trailer, and the 1-min U.S. Trailer. 

The sole extras on disc two is the 109-min Director's Cut Version (2007, 108:39) which "was created by Olaf Ittenbach for the Austrian market in 2007" featuring additional and alternate scene with German dialogue. This version features both uncompressed English/German hybrid 2.0 and 5.1 audio options with English. I did not do a side by side comparison but these looks very similar to me as far as A/V quality. The added/altered scene add over 15-min of additional footage, the film is also re-sequenced/edited, so it's actually quite a different movie in that respect, not just simply re-inserting deleted footage. 

The 2-disc Blu-ray set arrives in a dual-hub keepcase with a single-sided wrap, plus the first-pressing includes a limited edition Slipcover with the same artwork. 

Special Features: 

Disc 1: Legion of the Dead Producer's Cut + Extras 

- Audio commentary with director Olaf Ittenbach and composer

- Unrated Festival Producer's Cut Version 

- Making of Legion of the Dead (21:43) 

- Deleted Scenes (9:16) 

- Outtakes (15:37) 

- Festival Premieres (9:17) 

- Photo Gallery (6:01) 

- Original Trailer (2:14) 

- Alternate Trailer (2:2 

- U.S. Trailer (1:00) 

Disc 2:

- Director's Cut Version (2007, 108:39) English/German DTS-HD MA with Optional English Subtitles) 

- Slipcover 

The 2-disc Limited Collector's Edition Blu-ray set from Unearthed Films offers the longer, gorier Producer and Director's cuts of Legion of the Dead with solid A/V presentations and an decent array of extras to support it. It's great to finally see Ittenbach's entertaining Tarantino riff fully uncut and in all it's gory glory on home video, the way it was mean to be seen!

Screenshots from the Unearthed Films Blu-ray: 

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