The Dragon

Creator: Ray Harryhausen

Film: The Seventh Voyage of Sinbad 1958

Dragon Video Clip

 

When Sinbad finally reaches Sokurah's castle he is greeted by this monstrosity, The Cave Dragon was Sokurah's pet and guardian. He guarded the entrance to the cave from the many Cyclops of the island. The creature was locked down with chains against the wall, after Sinbad defeats the skeletal warrior him and Parissa leave the cave but are greeted by a yet second Cyclops. Sinbad lets loose the Dragon who lunges at the Cyclops and the two beasts begin to fight to the death. Soon the Dragon over-powers the Cyclops and takes a bite from his neck and kills the creature. Sokurah rushes out of the cave and commands the Dragon to follow Sinbad and Parrissa.

 

 

Sinbad arrives at the shore and commands Ali to man the giant Cross Bow, as the Dragon emerges from the Cave they launch the giant arrow and it pierces the Dragon's thick skin right on his chest! The Dragon growls in pain and falls to the floor landing on top of Sokurah killing him instantly. Sinbad and his men rush towards the ship as the Dragon tries to get up and follow the men. Sinbad and his crew escape the island as the Dragon finally falls to the ground and dies.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Dragon Facts

 

  • The actual model of the Dragon was over three feet long and very difficult to animate, this made the fight between him and the Cyclops very difficult for our animator which took him two to three weeks to complete.

 

  • Originally it was planned to have the Dragon breathing fire out of its mouth during the fight sequence with the Cyclops but the cost to do this would have been way to much. For the scenes where the Dragon does breathe fire, Mr. Harryhausen used a flamethrower against a night sky and shot it at about 30 to 40 feet, Then he superimposed the shot in the area close to the Dragon's mouth.

 

  • In the original script as I stated before there was supposed to be a fight between two Cyclops, but in the end the Dragon was created to fight the other Cyclops

Credit: An Animated Life

By Tony Dalton

 

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