CAPTAIN SINDBAD is a colorfully cheesy kiddie adventure from 1963. Here, the cheerful rascal returns to ‘Baristan’ for a showdown with an evil Sultan (any other kind?). With help from a fidgety magician he rescues a princess, duels with monsters and grins his way through numerous entanglements spiced equally with farce and fright. Well, that’s stretching it a tad.

Guy Williams makes a dashing hero (lots of practice from 86 episodes of Zorro), Pedro Armendariz looks like he’s having fun being utterly foul. Shot over in Bavaria, it’s a cut-rate production, though the sets and costumes in bright color are neat, in a gaudy sort of way.

Not much here to hold anyone over eight (the age I was when I saw it, and then wore out the comic book tie-in), but there’s nothing wrong with that: it beats a lot of the slop kids can get their eyes on nowadays. 

With Heidi Bruhl, Abraham Sofaer, Bernie Hamilton, Henry Brandon, John Crawford, Guy Doleman.  85 fast minutes directed by Byron Haskin. Parents took their kiddies and dropped $7,100,000 into Sindbad’s treasure chest. That put it sharing 37th place with Savage Sam and Flipper, in a great year for kids—Jason And The Argonauts, The Sword In The Stone, Son Of Flubber, The Nutty Professor, The Birds, Summer Magic, The Raven, Incredible Journey, The Comedy Of Terrors, The Day Of The Triffids….