Sinbad the Sailor (1935): A weird, wild fever dream

Should you watch this? Honestly, only if you're into the weird, jittery history of early animation. It’s for the folks who like digging through dusty archives or maybe someone who just wants to see how chaotic a story can get in under ten minutes.

If you prefer a coherent plot or, you know, character development, you’re probably going to hate it. It moves like it’s had way too much coffee.

The chaotic energy of it all

The whole thing is just a blur of limbs and swords. Sinbad doesn't really have a moment to catch his breath, and neither do we. At one point, he’s fighting a pirate, and the next, he’s basically being carried off by a giant bird like he’s a sack of potatoes. It’s all very aggressive.

The animation style feels like it’s fighting itself half the time. It reminds me a bit of the frantic pacing in Felix Cops the Prize, where everything just sort of happens because it needs to happen, not because it makes any sense.

• The bird is terrifyingly large. Seriously, the scale is all wrong.
• The pirates look like they’re having a bad day every single frame.
• The treasure hoard at the end is comically oversized.

There’s this one shot of Sinbad standing on the deck where his legs look like they’re made of wet noodles. I don't know if that was a stylistic choice or just, well, 1935 problems. It’s charming in a 'did they really draw that?' kind of way.

Does it stick?

Not really. It’s more like a weird dream you have after eating too much cheese before bed. It’s not quite as moody or strange as The Monkey's Paw, but it has that same feeling of being a piece of a world that doesn't quite fit into our own.

It ends so abruptly I actually checked to see if my player glitched. Nope. Just over. Just like that. 🦜