ada the leading man is my tpye

Konterr Brilliant and touching

Beystiman It's fun, it's light, [but] it has a hard time when its tries to get heavy.

PiraBit if their story seems completely bonkers, almost like a feverish work of fiction, you ain't heard nothing yet.

Leofwine_draca I saw this movie under the title THE MAGIC VOYAGE OF SINBAD but thankfully it was the Russian version of the story, complete with the original character name of Sadko and English subtitles. This is a Soviet slice of fantasy about a roaming adventurer hero based on classic Russian folklore. The film is quite episodic and involves Sadko getting involved in various heroic deeds, including some Robin Hood-style redistribution of wealth and alms to the poor and some more fantastic adventures later on.When watching Russian epics from the 1950s, the thing that you most notice about them is just how much they've dated over the years. This looks and feels like a 1930s-era film with mannered performances and old-fashioned scenery and shooting styles. The film is certainly larger than life in respect of the heroic deeds that the main character performs, some of which are reminiscent of the later sword and sandal films to come out of Italy. My favourite part involves a visit to an undersea kingdom, achieved by putting an aquarium in front of the screen. Fun stuff!

Bill357 I've only seen the dubbed version so I'm relying on that alone to write my review.The Magic Voyage Of Sinbad (Sadko to the purists) is a mildly interesting relic of Soviet propaganda film-making, mixing Marxist philosophies with children's fairy stories.Sinbad returns home, having gave away a fortune, looking a bit like Lenin in a blonde wig and finding the merchants rich and fat while the rest of the city remains poor and hungry, deviating from the west in that usually the poor people in these types of movies are being subjected to harsh taxation by the state.Nowhere is it stated how these fat cat merchants got so rich selling to people with no money nor does it matter. They're the villain that needs to be straightened out by Lenin/Sadko/Sinbad.After outsmarting the capitalists and giving away all their wares, the now brainwashed merchants are portrayed as happy only to have a smiling Lenin take one last dig, "Stupid merchants".Sadko then embarks on a quest to spread Communism and find the "bird of happiness" only to find treacherous, warmongering, inferiors that reject enlightenment, inhabiting the outside world.One thing I find very ironic is the racist portrayal of Indians from the supposedly enlightened Soviet Communists, the USSR having formally outlawed racism.In the end Sinbad/Lenin/Sadko realizes that the bird of happiness (religion) does not exist and orders the ships home. They then drop their blue sails and hoist the red ones while Lenin changes from a gray cape to a crimson one, essentially wrapping himself in the Soviet flag!

vave1 The reissuing of this film on DVD is just simply remarkable. The colors , costumes and scenes are just that -a Russian fairy tale shown in its maximum glory to enjoy. As the previous comment, this is not meant to touch on reality at all, a complete fantasy from an old Russian myth. To see the Phoenix Bird with the Song of India playing in the background is stunning. For a truly magnificent experience you must see this on a high definition LCD or Plasma TV, despite not being hi-def itself. My 35" Mitisubishi tube TV just does not do this film justice. I've been inspired so much by this film that I've decided to learn the Russian lyrics to a Song of India, accompany myself on the Er-Hu and my music Teacher will accompany me on the piano for a recital. In my Theatre Company Write Act I've called Sadko my favorite SuperHero.

junagadh75 _Sadko_ is a masterpiece of cinematic fantasy - there doesn't seem to be one frame that doesn't enthral, and the recreations of medieval Ukraine and India are unsurpassed by any other historical/fantasy film. The dubbed American version, _The Magic Voyage of Sinbad_, is a bit of a travesty, but I recently saw the complete Russian version with subtitles at a Ptushko retrospective which was going around the country, so it may soon be possible to finally get the real thing on video.