Before she can deliver the message, however, El Kerim has his guards transformed into giant human falcons, which manage to sink Sindbad's ship using large rocks.

Sindbad breaks free and stabs him directly in the heart with a sword, but El Kerim cannot be killed, protected by one of Galgo's magic spells.

Sindbad goes to Galgo and finally convinces the magician to reveal El Kerim's secret: The evil ruler had his vulnerable heart removed, and it is now kept safe in a distant tower, guarded by supernatural forces.

With their numbers reduced, they finally arrive at the tower, where they face a huge dragon-like creature with nine heads which they dispatch with a giant rock in order to enter.

Sindbad, with the aid of a hook, begins climbing the tower's immense rope, which rings a huge warning gong, alerting El Kerim.

New York Times review, July 4, 1963[4] "Until about the last 20 minutes, it's strictly a broad mishmash of fantasy-comedy, spilling out over some lavishly gaudy sets of Old Arabia.

As for plot, there's sinewy Sindbad (Guy Williams) trying to rescue a dead pan princess (Heidi Bruhl) from a wicked ruler (Pedro Armendariz), aided by a tippling, belching old magician".

"Throw in a tired "Scheherazade"-type of score, as Mr. Williams braves anything from crocodiles to a 12-headed monster (our count, anyway), and you have the kind of harmless trash some kids may tolerate".

She also perked up, leaning forward, for that final reel, when the picture slips from mediocrity into a wildly funny, eerie and casually beguiling adventure, not hard to take".