The Figure-Head

Creator: Ray Harryhausen

Film: The Golden Voyage of Sinbad 1973

FigureHead Video

 

As Sinbad travels with his ship and crew, Koura uses his dark powers to bring to life the figure head from Sinbad's ship. Made of wood the figure wakes up from her eternal and lifeless sleep slowly detaching her body from the ship and begins to attack the unsuspecting crew. The Figure-Head attacks one of Sinbad's men and strangles him and tosses him overboard. The statue breaks the cabin where Sinbad kept the map to Lemuria and steals it.

 

Sinbad runs out of his cabin with his men try to fight with it with swords and sticks any anything they can muster but nothing seems to harm her not even an axe that was plunged into her chest until Sinbad uses a torch that seems to scare her away. But in the end she manages to steal the map which shows the correct location of Lemuria and plunges her self into the ocean. Commanded by Koura...

 

 

 

         

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Figure Head Facts

 

• In the scene where the "Siren" removes herself from the ship, was done as a two part process. First the sequence was shot with the actor on it, this was then used as a rear projection plate from which Mr. Harryhausen aligned the actual model to the proper position and animated.

 

• When the Figure Head throws herself to the sea the water was clouded to make it seem that it was the bottom of the ocean. Guess what was used to create the bubbles that emerge from the Figure Head??? when it sinks into the ocean........ an Alka Seltzer tablet! yeah really...

 

• In the Muslim world figure heads are not used in boats at all, so Mr. Harryhausen took that liberty to create this very unusual creature.

 

Credit: An Animated Life

By Tony Dalton