The 7th Voyage of Sinbad

One of my first memories of seeing Ray Harryhausen's stop-motion magic was the Cyclops from The 7th Voyage of Sinbad ,the scene where it comes out of the cave and the Genie is summoned to build a wall between the Cyclops and Sinbad and his crew.
Directed by Nathan H. Juran, who also directed 20 Million Miles to Earth for which Ray Harryhausen had created the FX, the film was the first in a trilogy of Sinbad films made by Columbia Pictures. Sinbad, played by Kerwin Mathews, is on his way to Baghdad with his fiancé Princess Parisa (Kathryn Grant) when they stop at the island of Colossa for provisions,
they find evidence of a giant creature when they find footprints on the beach, then they encounter Sokurah the magician (Torin Thatcher) who is being pursued by a giant Cyclops, carrying a magic lamp Sokurah summons a genie who builds a wall of energy between the Cyclops and the men allowing them to escape in a boat, but the lamp is lost overboard and the Cyclops recovers it. On their return to Baghdad the Caliph refuses Sokurah a ship and crew to retrieve the lamp.That night Sokurah secretly shrinks Parisa to a small size. Sokurah then claims that he knows of a potion that can restore her, but it requires ingredients only to be found on the island of Colossa. The Caliph of Baghdad has no choice, so Sinbad enlists loyal men from his previous voyage, they also have to recruit thieves and murderers from the Caliph's prison to help make up the crews numbers.
For me The 7th Voyage of Sinbad is the best of the Sinbad films, once back on the island of Colossa Sinbad and his crew encounter the Cyclops, a two headed bird called a Roc, Sinbad fights a skelton swordsman, 5 years before Harryhausen's groundbreaking skeleton fight in Jason and the Argonauts , Sokurah's castle is protected by a fire breathing dragon, who later fights with a Cyclops. Harryhausen's personal favorite was the Snakewoman, created by Sokurah with a combination of Princess Parisa's maid, and a cobra for a scene in which she dances to entertain the Caliph of Baghdad and the Sultan, Parisa's father.
The music in this film by Bernard Herrmann is very memorable, but sadly although he worked on Jason and the Argonauts he never returned for 1974's The Golden Voyage of Sinbad and had passed away by the time Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger was made in 1977.
Nathan H. Juran also directed Kerwin Mathews and Torin Thatcher in 1962's Jack the Giant Killer, which was a stop-motion feature in the vein of the Sinbad films and an attempt to cash in on 7th Voyage's success.