Blu-ray

1958's The 7th Voyage of Sinbad finds the legendary adventurer (Kerwin Matthews) planning to settle down and marry Princess Parisa (Kathryn Grant). Luckily for us things don't go to plan and a scheming magician (Torin Thatcher) shrinks Parisa down to the size of a Barbie doll, forcing Sinbad to set sail in search of a cure.

Presumably the path of true love still didn't run smoothly for our hero as 1971's follow up The Golden Voyage of Sinbad finds him (now played by John Phillip Law) still sailing the high seas in search of adventure. This time he's aiding the golden-masked Grand Vizier of Marabia (Douglas Wilmer) and sultry slave Margiana (Caroline Munro) in a race to find the fabled Fountain of Destiny before the wicked Prince Koura (Tom Baker).

By the time of 1977's Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger, Sinbad (Patrick 'son of John' Wayne) is thinking of marrying yet another princess (Jane Seymour's Farah), only to end up embarking on a quest when her brother is transformed into a baboon by the evil Zenobia (Margaret Whiting).

Straight-forward and unpretentious in their ambitions and construction, the three Sinbad films still make for fantastic Saturday matinee viewing. And for that, thanks almost entirely lies with the late great Ray Harryhausen. It really doesn't matter who is playing Sinbad or how wooden they are, because Harryhausen's bestiary of stop-motion centaurs, troglodytes, dragons, animated statues, griffins, giant walruses and sabre-tooth tigers are the real stars here; still imbuing the films with a genuine sense of surprise and excitement, as well as having personality to spare.

Picture: The set gets off to a fantastic start with a new 4K restoration of The 7th Voyage of Sinbad. Presented at 1.66:1, the imagery is noticeably more refined than that of the 2008 US Blu-ray, with enhanced detailing and a tighter grain structure evident throughout.

The 1.66:1-framed 2K restoration of The Golden Voyage of Sinbad is another success, highlighting the film's bold colours and intricate textures.

Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger is another story. Comparisons with the 2013 Twilight Time US release indicates that this boxset's 1.85:1 encode stems from an older HD master that suffers from blown-out highlights and edge-enhancement. It's far from a disaster, but is still disappointing knowing that better-quality source material does exist.
Picture rating: 4/5

Audio: All three films feature LPCM mono and DTS-HD MA 5.1 audio options. The sound quality across the board is excellent, with the biggest beneficiaries of the remixes being the scores – especially Bernard Herrmann's for the first film.
Audio rating: 4/5

Extras: Each disc is absolutely loaded with extra goodies including a commentary on The 7th Voyage of Sinbad, extensive interviews (both new and archival), image galleries, documentaries, Super 8 cut-down versions of the film, isolated scores and trailers. Indicator's epic boxset also houses a superb 78-page book containing new essays and 'oral histories' for each film, plus other Harryhausen-related bits and bobs.
Extra rating: 5/5

We say: Despite the issue regarding ...Eye of the Tiger, there's still lots to love about this feature-packed boxset.

The Sinbad Trilogy, Indicator, All-region BD & R2 DVD, £60
HCC VERDICT: 4/5