Arabian Nights: The Adventures of Sinbad (1962) on Netflix

NR19621h 21mAction Adventure Animation Family Fantasy

An old sailor washes ashore with a map to a hidden treasure, and he gives it to Sinbad, a young sailor, and his friend Ali. The two stow away on a ship.

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Netflix3.1/5
IMDb6.1/10184 votes
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Plot summary

Sinbad, a young sailor, and his friend Ali are two would-be adventurers. An old seafarer washes up on the shore where they are, and with his final breath he tells them of a treasure that lies hidden and puts into their hands the map he had kept through hardships of his own. The pair set off after it and stow away on a ship. Aboard, they talk the captain, Hamdi, into changing his course so that the vessel heads for the spot the map marks. A vizier who wishes them ill, a giant bird and violent whirlpools are among the dangers that wait along the way.

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Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Arabian Nights: The Adventures of Sinbad (1962)

Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.

For Sinbad's pet aboard ship, Osamu Tezuka proposed a kitten while Morio Kita proposed a baby whale. Tezuka was taken aback but drew storyboards for the whale anyway, until Toei Animation rejected the idea because a whale could not possibly ride on a ship.
The film's sea was modelled on the sea off Izu. Because it was made in full animation the motion of the waves could not be frozen, and the burden led the staff to nickname the production "Shindoibad".
Osamu Tezuka, who co-wrote the script, was also unhappy with Toei Animation's interference, writing that this film and Wanwan Chushingura (1963), which he likewise worked on for the studio, were changed into an awful mess with nothing of his own feeling left.
Morio Kita, one of the two scriptwriters, was pleased when the project began, writing to his friend Kunio Tsuji that it might suit him unexpectedly well, but as work went on he complained in his letters about interference from Toei Animation's executives, saying the film was turning out completely different from what he had imagined.
It was the fifth feature-length theatrical animation made by Toei Animation, and the studio's first to leave Chinese and Japanese folk tales behind and set a story in the Middle East.
When the staff researched Middle Eastern women's clothing they found that it hid the women's faces entirely, so they ignored the research and designed the costumes freely instead.