THE WONDERFUL WORLDS OF RAY HARRYHAUSEN: VOLUME ONE: 1955 – 1960 [Dual Format Limited Edition] [Blu-ray + DVD] [UK Release] Adventure Stories That Becomes a Miracle in Screen Entertainment in the SUPERDYNAMATION Process!
‘IT CAME FROM BENEATH THE SEA’ [1955], ‘20 MILLION MILES TO EARTH’ [1957] and ‘THE 3 WORLDS OF GULLIVER’ [1960]. These three spectacular films, each featuring the pioneering special effects in “SUPERDYNAMATION” by filmmaking legend Ray Harryhausen, and are presented on Blu-ray discs for the very first time in the UK. Containing a wealth of new and archival extras, including exclusive new interviews with director Joe Dante, SFX maestro Dennis Muren, and Aardman Animation co-founders David Sproxton and Peter Lord.
IT CAME FROM BENEATH THE SEA Cast: Kenneth Tobey, Faith Domergue, Donald Curtis, Ian Keith, Dean Maddox Jr., Chuck Griffiths, Harry Lauter, Richard W. Peterson, Tol Avery (uncredited), William Bryant (uncredited), Del Courtney (uncredited), Roy Engel (uncredited), Eddie Fisher (uncredited), Sam Hayes (uncredited), Jules Irving (uncredited), Jack Littlefield (uncredited), Rudy Puteska (uncredited), Charles H. Schneer (uncredited), Ray Storey (uncredited) and William Woodson (Opening Narrator) (uncredited)
Director: Robert Gordon
Producers: Charles H. Schneer and Sam Katzman
Screenplay: George Worthing Yates (screenplay/story) and Harold Jacob Smith (screenplay)
Composer: Mischa Bakaleinikoff
Cinematography: Henry Freulich (Director of Photography)
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20 MILLION MILES TO EARTH Cast: William Hopper, Joan Taylor, Frank Puglia, John Zaremba, Thomas Browne Henry, Tito Vuolo, Jan Arvan, Arthur Space, Bart Braverman, Sid Cassel (uncredited), Paul Cristo (uncredited), Noel Drayton (uncredited), Darlene Fields (uncredited), Duke Fishman (uncredited), Michael Garth (uncredited), Ray Harryhausen (uncredited), Ronald Hyde (uncredited), George Khoury (uncredited), Richard LaMarr (uncredited), Saverio LoMedico (uncredited), Mike Morelli (uncredited), Rollin Moriyama (uncredited), George Nardelli (uncredited), Don Orlando (uncredited), George Pelling (uncredited), Paul Ravel (uncredited), Jerry Riggio (uncredited), Barry Russo (uncredited), Stephen Soldi (uncredited), John Sorrentino (uncredited) and William Woodson (Narrator) (uncredited)
Director: Nathan H. Juran
Producer: Charles H. Schneer
Screenplay: Charlotte Knight (story), Christopher Knopf (screenplay) and Robert Creighton Williams (screenplay)
Composer: Mischa Bakaleinikoff
Cinematography: Carlo Ventimiglia (Director of Photography) and Irving Lippman (Director of Photography)
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THE 3 WORLDS OF GULLIVER Cast: Kerwin Mathews, Jo Morrow, June Thorburn, Lee Patterson, Grégoire Aslan, Basil Sydney, Charles Lloyd-Pack, Martin Benson, Mary Ellis, Marian Spencer, Peter Bull, Alec Mango, Sherri Alberoni, John Breslin (uncredited), Joan Hickson (uncredited), Oliver Johnston (uncredited), Waveney Lee (uncredited) and Noel Purcell (uncredited)
Director: Jack Sher
Producer: Charles H. Schneer
Screenplay: Arthur A. Ross (screenplay), Jack Sher (screenplay) and Jonathan Swift (based on "Gulliver's Travels")
Composer: Bernard Herrmann
Cinematography: Wilkie Cooper, B.S.C. (Director of Photography)
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Image Resolution: 1080p (Black-and-White, Colourised and Eastmancolor)
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1 and 1.66:1
Audio: English: 2.0 LPCM Stereo Audio
English: 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio
English: 1.0 LPCM Mono Audio
English: 2.0 Dolby Digital Stereo Audio
Subtitles: English
Running Time: 79 minutes, 82 minutes and 98 minutes
Region: All Regions
Number of discs: 6
Studio: Columbia Pictures / Powerhouse Films / INDICATOR
Andrew’s Blu-ray Review: ‘IT CAME FROM BENEATH THE SEA’ [1955] While on a routine mission, Commander Pete Mathews [Kenneth Tobey] runs into trouble when his submarine is nearly sunk by an unknown monstrous creature. Back at the base in Pearl Harbor, Dr. John Carter [Donald Curtis] and Professor Lesley Joyce [Faith Domergue] identify the beast as a giant octopus from the nether reaches of Mindanao Deep, which has been awakened by nearby nuclear testing. Radioactive and monstrously huge, the rampaging leviathan is heading towards the North American Pacific Coast. The plot follows the formula of the previous films in this genre: A giant sea monster, in this case an monstrous octopus that is unleashed due to nuclear testing after lying dormant for over a very long period of time and then terrorizes the people of San Francisco, while a combination of scientists and military try and work out a way to stop it. The stop-motion animation utilised by Ray Harryhausen in ‘IT CAME FROM BENEATH THE SEA’ is so convincingly frightening and very realistic.
‘20 MILLION MILES TO EARTH’ [1957] A manned space flight from Venus crash lands in the Mediterranean, losing its most precious cargo: a reptilian egg from the planet Venus's surface, and an Italian zoologist Dr. Leonardo [Frank Puglia] comes into the possession of the Ymir, who finds it has hatched out to reveal a rapidly-growing monster with his American granddaughter, Marisa Leonardo [Joan Taylor]. In the meantime the returned astronaut Col. Robert Calder [William Hopper] must battle with the American and Italian military to corral the creature before it destroys everything in its path. Originally shot in black-and-white because Ray Harryhausen did not have the budget or equipment to create the stop-motion animation project in colour, but many years later he authorized a colourised versions of ‘20 MILLION MILES TO EARTH’ and two other early stop-motion animation fantasy films. Ray Harryhausen’s stop-motion animation effects are highly impressive and these represent the blossoming career of Ray Harryhausen and his brilliant inventive of stop-motion animation from the point Ray Harryhausen was merely creating monsters to where he started to craft them into believable characters, and especially with some of the excellent scenes like with the Ymir fighting a dog or battering a farmer. Ray Harryhausen became a true great stop-animation artist of his craft, who is now being recognised as a true genius.
‘THE 3 WORLDS OF GULLIVER’ [1960] Surgeon Lemuel Gulliver [Kerwin Mathews] wants to explore the world before his marriage to Elizabeth [June Thorburn], despite her wishes to the contrary. Surgeon Lemuel Gulliver sets off on a ship, but is reunited with Elizabeth when he discovers she has hidden aboard and their reunion doesn't last long, however. A storm leads Surgeon Lemuel Gulliver to a strange land inhabited by tiny people called Lilliputians. Surgeon Lemuel Gulliver journey then takes him to a rival land called Blefuscu, and finally to a land of giants named Brobdingnag. ‘THE 3 WORLDS OF GULLIVER’ is both an enchanting fantasy and a captivating visual treat. Because the storyline calls for scenes that juxtapose forty-foot giants with six-inch-tall people, special effects wizard Ray Harryhausen perfected a state-of-the-art trick photography process so innovative; they had to invent a new word for it: SUPERDYNAMATION. Imaginative special stop-motion animation effects by the legendary Ray Harryhausen are the highlights of this adaptation of Jonathan Swift's classic fantasy novel. Viewers of all ages will be delighted by the film's spirited action and Bernard Herrmann's rousing composed film music score. Ray Harryhausen’s impressive matte work here is nothing short of something quite spectacular.
THE 3 WORLDS OF GULLIVER MUSIC TRACK LIST
WHAT A WONDERFUL, WONDERFUL, WONDERFUL FELLOW IS GULLIVER (Lyrics by Ned Washington) (Music by George Duning)
GENTLE LOVE (Lyrics by Ned Washington) (Music by George Duning)
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Blu-ray Image Quality – Powerhouse Films + INDICATOR with the cooperation of Columbia Pictures, brings you both ‘IT CAME FROM BENEATH THE SEA’ and ‘20 MILLION MILES TO EARTH’ that offers you the choice of viewing the original black-and-white film versions or revised colourised version, and the latter was approved by Ray Harryhausen himself and by using the angle button on your remote control you can flick between the two films without any problems to compare which version you prefer, whereas I will always prefer the colourised film and both films are derived from a very clean HD master negative and exhibits reasonable levels of detail given the age of the film and of course the squeezed budgets. Grain is quite heavy throughout both films, but not distractingly so. Both presentations feature good tonal range and contrast is strong thanks to some suitably inky black levels. However, ‘THE 3 WORLDS OF GULLIVER’ is clearly the standout presentation here thanks to the 4K restoration. It also has the advantage of being the only film in the collection to have been originally shot in colour. It exhibits much finer grain and a corresponding leap in detail, along with a well-rendered, lush colour palette and there are no compression issues to report. Please Note: Use the Angle button on your remote control to toggle between the Black-and-White and Colourised image versions at any time during playback.
Blu-ray Audio Quality – Powerhouse Films + INDICATOR with the cooperation of Columbia Pictures, presents you ‘IT CAME FROM BENEATH THE SEA’ and ‘20 MILLION MILES TO EARTH’ and offers a choice between the 2.0 LPCM Stereo Audio and the remixed 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio, while ‘THE 3 WORLDS OF GULLIVER’ is limited to just to the 2.0 LPCM Stereo Audio experience. The isolated music score track for the film ‘THE 3 WORLDS OF GULLIVER’ was produced and supplied by Twilight Time/Red Jam, LLC. The 5.1 audio remixed sound presentations is quite reasonable for the age of the films, but they are not exactly awash with pronounced surround effects, so I would say it is entirely up to you which audio version you prefer to hear and also which one you feel sounded the more authentic towards that film, still, it is always nice to have the choice. All three films sound very much of their time, and I felt that there were no major issues and particularly with the dialogue, as I found no problems with the clarity of the actor’s voices and you will definitely not get any better sound presentation experience, as Powerhouse Films + INDICATOR have released the best upgrade you will ever purchase.
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Blu-ray Special Features and Extras:
IT CAME FROM BENEATH THE SEA
‘IT CAME FROM BENEATH THE SEA’ Audio Commentary with documentary producer Arnold Kunert, Ray Harryhausen, and visual effects artists Randall William Cook and John Bruno: Up first to personally introduce themselves is Arnold Kunert, then Ray Harryhausen introduces himself, and finally to introduce themselves is Randall William Cook and John Bruno, who are here to have a lively discussion of one of Ray Harryhausen’s early visual effects extravaganza film ‘IT CAME FROM BENEATH THE SEA,’ and for the first time in the colourisation process. They ask Ray Harryhausen how the film came about and tells them it was because Charles H. Schneer saw the film ‘The Beast From 20,000 Fathom’ and felt they could both work together, as they were on the same wavelength in producing a full length stop-motion animation film, especially about a monstrous creature who attacks the Golden Gate Bridge, that was affected by radiation because of an atomic explosion in the ocean. They also ask how he was able to produce the spectacular animation and goes into great detail of the process. They were also keen to get certain well-known actors to appear in the film, as well as asking Mischa Bakaleinikoff to compose the film music. Ray Harryhausen informs them and us that although the film is like a documentary concept, but at the same time they wanted the film to look realistic and again ray wish he could of filmed in colour, but the budget was so tight, in colour would of doubled the budget and would have been extremely time consuming, whereas working in black-and-white was so easy. When critics reviewed the film, they were very sarcastic in asking Ray Harryhausen if he could of filmed the actors in the stop-motion system, as they felt the actors were very one dimension, but Ray Harryhausen dismissed this, saying the actors were very competent and very reliable. Again Ray Harryhausen kept emphasising that his object of his films is to make them look totally realistic, and because of this philosophy, Arnold Kunert, Randall William Cook and John Bruno still enjoy watching the, and feel Ray Harryhausen’s films are totally enjoyable fantasy experience. They also talk about the stock footage from other films were edited in and are seamlessly edited in by skilled editors. They also ask Ray Harryhausen about the problems in getting permission to use the photograph of the Golden Gate Bridge for background plates when official permission was denied 100%, because Ray Harryhausen had to submit a script to the Fathers of San Francisco and initially turned his request down, because they felt it would cause people to be scared to come to San Francisco, so Ray Harryhausen had to use lot of guerrilla tactics by filming inside a moving vehicle, but when the film was released and the authorities were very pleased and pleasantly surprised in what they viewed, as they realised it was just a fantasy film. As The End Credits appears on the screen, each thanks the other for doing this audio commentary and they also hope the audience watching this film with their comments, enjoyed it as well and to me personally it was a very interesting and informative audio commentary and well worth a listen.
Special Feature: Tidal Wave of Terror! Joe Dante on ‘IT CAME FROM BENEATH THE SEA’ [2017] [1080p] [1.78:1] [7:40] Here acclaimed director Joe Dante discusses the brilliant stop-motion animator Ray Harryhausen and his film ‘IT CAME FROM BENEATH THE SEA’ film, which at the time was shown as a Saturday Morning Double Bill with the film ‘Creature with the Atom Brain’ [1955] and was totally traumatized and terrified, but one thing everyone felt at the time that any kind of romance was not very interesting for a young boy with these types of film. Joe Dante also talks about the leading actor Kenneth Tobey, who has appeared in films like ‘The Thing From Another World’ [1951], ‘The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms’ [1953], ‘Billy Jack’ [1971] and ‘The Candidate’ [1972]. Joe Dante also got to know the actor Kenneth Tobey very personally, who he later hired to play a small role in the film ‘The Howling’ [1981] and found him to be a very nice person. Joe Dante talks about the director Robert Gordon and feels he was a very typical of directing certain types of genre films at the time. In later years Joe Dante got to know Ray Harryhausen very personal and helped him with the legendary editor of “Famous Monsters of Filmland” Forrest J. Ackermann to meet all the fans at the different conventions and became even more adored by fans when he retired from stop-motion animation.
Special Feature: Remembering ‘IT CAME FROM BENEATH THE SEA’ [2008] [1080p] [1.78:1/1.37:1] [21:45] Here we get an intimate interview with the master of stop-motion animation Ray Harryhausen, and talks about how the film ‘IT CAME FROM BENEATH THE SEA’ came to fruition, which especially came about when Columbia Pictures asked him to come to America to make a film about a gigantic octopus, which he felt very excited about the project and also recalls his first meeting with producer Charles H. Schneer, who also became a very good friend to Ray Harryhausen and made a couple of films together. But with this good fortune, Ray Harryhausen insisted in working alone to do the stop-motion animation, and rented a large empty store in Washington Blvd., in Culver City, and was loaned a camera from Columbia Pictures and with his stop-motion machine he used in a previous film, got to work and it took roughly about seven months to finish his part of the film, but was in regular contact with Charles H. Schneer who was involved with live action part of the film and they were able to keep well under budget. We then have a short interview with John Bruno [Visual Effects Supervisor] and came aware of Ray Harryhausen at the tender age of 4 or 5 years of age, because all of his family went to see the film ‘IT CAME FROM BENEATH THE SEA,’ but had to cross the Golden Gate Bridge to get to the cinema, and after coming out of the cinema felt totally traumatised by what he had seen and was even more scared when they had to again cross the Golden Gate Bridge on the way home and was terrified a gigantic octopus would start to attack the bridge, because of the film making a last effect on him as a child and stayed with him until for the rest of his adult life, and because of this decided to go into the business of visual effects and eventually got to actually meet Ray Harryhausen and a convention and told him that story of how the film affected him and became a good friend to Ray Harryhausen. At the same time Ray Harryhausen provides some really fascinating detail about the technical aspects of his stop-motion animation work, especially with the film ‘IT CAME FROM BENEATH THE SEA,’ as well as revealing why his monstrous octopus has only six legs, which turned out to save on time for the stop-motion animation and the story was leaked to the press. Ray Harryhausen talks about the underwater filming of the octopus and was filmed in a dry tank because of logistic problem, so instead they put a distortion glass in front of the lens on the camera. As to the actual model of the Golden Gate Bridge, this was 12 feet long and was all made out of lead. We then get a very short interview with John Canemaker [Filmmaker, Author and Historian] and talks about the intricacies of filming stop-motion animation. On top of all that, finally Ray Harryhausen informs us that at the time of his initial venture into stop-motion animation, there were no books on stop-motion animation available at the time, so they had to invent new techniques and was a process of trial and error, whereas today’s stop-motion animation is now so far advanced, especially with the help of high powered computers.
Special Feature: Tim Burton Sits Down with Ray Harryhausen [2007] [1080p] [1.78:1] [27:10] Here we get to view Ray Harryhausen in an intimate interview in his home with the big enthusiastic animation fan Tim Burton and we get a very engaging and interesting chat about the work of Ray Harryhausen stop-motion animation, and on the table was one of Ray’s model flying saucer, and we are informed that there were three different size models and Tim Burton makes a sarcastic remark that the flying saucers had more character than the actual actors in the film and was amazed at the simplicity of the flying saucer model. Tim Burton also gets to chat about his films such as ‘Earth vs. The Flying Saucers,’ ‘20 Million Miles to Earth’ and ‘Jason and the Argonauts’ that he was a massive fan of and Ray is still amazed how popular his sci-fi animated films are still today, as they were basically “B-movies.” One amazing fact we hear about the film ‘Earth vs. The Flying Saucers,’ is that the sound of the saucer was recorded against some sewage pipes and the interior of that so called nuclear station, was in fact a sewage plant. With all the animated creatures in his sci-fi genre films, Ray Harryhausen wanted them to have some kind of personality and one day went to San Diego to meet George Adamski, the American-Polish con artist, who wrote a book entitled “Flying Saucers Have Landed” and told Ray Harryhausen he had witness a flying saucer landing, been inside and spoke to some aliens who were playing cards. We find out that initially Ray Harryhausen wanted to film all of his films in colour, but if they did the budget would have been double and were on a very tight budget, and Ray Harryhausen says he is very excited that his films in black-and-white are going to be transformed into the colourisation process. Overall the intimate chat with Ray Harryhausen is very friendly, especially from an over enthusiastic fan Tim Burton, and it is also very interesting and well worth viewing.
Special Feature: A Present Day Look at Stop-Motion [2008] [1080p] [1.78:1] [11:38] Here New York University student Kyle Anderson, talks about the techniques and processes involved in creating stop-motion animation. We also get some clips of his stop-motion animation project, and the whole animation only lasts for just over 3 minutes and took six months to shoot, in-between his school work. Kyle Anderson got into stop-motion animation because he went to a film festival and saw two of Ray Harryhausen films and was totally amazed in what he viewed and that set the wheels in motion to want a career in stop-motion animation. You will find it slightly matter of fact and very basic information, especially with the very cheesy and annoying background music.
Special Feature: Original Ad Artwork [2007] [1080p] [1.78:1] [17:52] Here we get to be introduced to producer Arnold Kunert and giving us a look at a gallery of studio promotional artwork, extracts from press books in relation to Ray Harryhausen stop-motion animation films, which includes rare items promoting films like ‘Earth vs. The Flying Saucers,’ ’20 Million Miles To Earth’ and ‘IT Came From Beneath The Sea’ and explains how the manager of the cinema would order certain items to advertise a film outside and inside of the cinema and clearly we have someone who has a real affection for this material, and I really enjoyed this special feature.
Special Feature: IT CAME FROM BENEATH THE SEA . . . AGAIN! [2008] [1080p] [1.78:1] The classic Ray Harryhausen sci-fi epic is re-imagined for a new generation. The following extracts we get to preview are a selection of pages from comic books series first issued in 2008 by TidalWave Productions that inspired Ray Harryhausen stop-motion animation films.
Theatrical Trailer [1995] [1080i] [1.85:1] [2:03] Here we get to view the Original Theatrical Trailer in black-and-white for the film ‘IT CAME FROM BENEATH THE SEA.’
Special Feature: Ernest Dickerson Trailer Commentary [2013] [1080p] [1.78:1] [2:31] Here we get director Ernest Dickerson giving us a personal critical audio commentary on the Original Theatrical Trailer for the film ‘IT CAME FROM BENEATH THE SEA,’ and informs us that he believes that this was the first stop-motion animation film he ever saw in the cinema in Boston with a Saturday Matinee double features with the ‘Creature with the Atom Brain’ and it really scared the living daylights out of him, even sitting with the rest of the cinema audience. This was originally made for the internet “Trailers From Hell” series.
Special Feature: Image Gallery [2007] [1080p] [1.78:1] Here we get to view a wonderful selection of 23 slides of extensive promotional material, including a few on-set promotional photographs, poster art and also archive material for the stop-motion animation film ‘IT CAME FROM BENEATH THE SEA.’
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20 MILLION MILES TO EARTH
‘20 MILLION MILES TO EARTH’ Audio Commentary with Ray Harryhausen, visual effects artists Dennis Muren and Phil Tippet and documentary producer Arnold Kunert: Here we get to hear a very interesting audio commentary, first up to introduce themselves is Arnold Kunert and informs us he is here with three of his friends to discuss the film ‘20 MILLION MILES TO EARTH,’ which you have to view the colourised version, which they now inform us it is now available for the first time in colour. Next up they inform us that there is a special satellite link-up that allows the London-based Ray Harryhausen to be able to participate in a live commentary with Arnold Kunert, Dennis Muren and visual effects wizard Phil Tippett both in Berkley in California and of course they are here to discuss Ray Harryhausen’s wonderful stop-motion animation film made in 1957. They ask with Ray Harryhausen what he thinks of the colour and says it is wonderful and adds new light to the picture and is also tickled pink with the film in colour, but also says if he had the budget would of filmed the film in colour, but because they had available a new type of black-and-white film stock and felt it was much easier to shoot the film much quicker that way, because it cut out a lot of problems with no grain visible that you would experience with previous black-and-white film stock. With the background rear projection shots, this was done by a second unit, and the actual shot of the fishermen in the boats were shot off the coast of a little town called Sperlonga, which is a coastal town in the province of Latina, Italy, about halfway between Rome and Naples. When the rocket ship lands in the sea, with Ray Harryhausen informs us that the wave elements were filmed with a small tank in his studio against black velvet. The shots of the interior of the rocket ship were used in the film ‘The Caine Mutiny.’ They ask with Ray Harryhausen about the rocket ship design and inform them it was a combination of different designs, and on top of that, he informs us that the film was released long before the Russian “Sputnik” satellite was launched into space. They ask with Ray Harryhausen about the Ymir models and says he did lots of different designs until the final design concept and produced three different sized models. Once again they all marvel at the colourisation and with Ray Harryhausen is amazed how the computer does a brilliant job and is so accurate, and we find out that the whole colourisation process took roughly six months to finish, and it helped that SONY supplied a perfect element to work on the film, and every single frame was sharp and clear, and even sharper than when the film was originally released in 1957. As we have heard before, with Ray Harryhausen liked to work alone and be in total control and the stop-motion animation part of the film took roughly six months to finish, and they all say to Ray Harryhausen how marvellous it all looks and so natural the way the Ymir moves and especially reacting with the actors, especially in the barn sequence. As the Ymir is killed off in Rome, we are now coming to the end of Ray Harryhausen’s wonderful film, and the commentators say, “On behalf of Ray Harryhausen, and myself, and Phil Tippett and Dennis Murren, I want to say thank you to our two friends, the Audio House in London, Spears Studio, and the people in Berkley and the Fantasy Studio’s superb work and it has been an international enterprise from beginning to the end, great fun wouldn’t you agree Ray,” which Ray says, “I’m delighted that we could all get together and sounds like we were all in the same room, which I am delighted about” and they all reply back “We are all in spirit indeed.” And so ends a really enjoyable, intelligent and entertaining audio commentary.
Special Feature: Finding Ray Harryhausen [2017] [1080p] [1.78:1] [11:29] Here SFX maestro Dennis Muren, who is a special effects artist and has won nine Oscars. Dennis Muren also talks about the first time he saw a Ray Harryhausen stop-motion animation film at the cinema at the age of seven years old with his mother, which happened to be ‘THE BEAST FROM 20,000 FATHOMS’ [1953] and when the beast finally appeared on the screen, Dennis Muren had to hide behind the cinema seat in front of him, as he was very frightened and felt the beast was after him, and at the same time terrified him, but was also totally fascinated, but while being driven home, he asked his Mum how the beast was achieved and was informed it was done by stop-motion animation. But sometime afterwards, Dennis Muren got hold of the ARGOS Encyclopedia of Fantasy [1997] and found info about Ray Harryhausen and from then was totally fascinated about the legend that was Ray Harryhausen and falling in love with his work and whenever a new Ray Harryhausen film came to his local cinema, he had to be there on the day. But one amazing thing is that Dennis Muren found out that Ray Harryhausen was in the telephone book and decided to telephone him and asked if he could come over to visit him and Ray Harryhausen invited Dennis Muren over and he had to beg his Mum to do a 2 hour drive to visit Ray Harryhausen and eventually came face to face with his hero, on top of all that Ray Harryhausen showed him all around his property and the garage where all his stuff was, and to put the icing on the cake, Ray Harryhausen showed Dennis Muren some rare Super 8 films of famous film that were turned into stop-motion animation and Dennis Muren was knocked out, but was also in total awes of Ray Harryhausen, as he was such a nice guy and very welcoming, especially as Dennis Muren was also a massive fan of stop-motion animation. Over the years Dennis Muren kept in regular contact with Ray Harryhausen, especially also meeting up at Forrest J. Ackerman’s house, and from all those meeting made his mantra to be in the film industry and special effects. We also get to see some nice rare black-and white images of Ray Harryhausen and especially images of Dennis Muren with Ray Harryhausen. Also Dennis Muren also questioned why Ray Harryhausen was very secretive about his stop-motion animation and how he could be very secretive about his working methods, which at the time you can understand Ray Harryhausen’s logic. In the 1970s, 1990s and the 2000 decade, Dennis Muren would have to come to England and would regularly meet up at Ray Harryhausen’s home and also meet all the family as well and slowly Ray Harryhausen started to get the deserved recognition of all his films and especially his amazing stop-motion animation. When the film ‘The 7th Voyage of Sinbad’ got released in the cinema, Ray Harryhausen went to see it seven times in one week, but of course at the time it was difficult for Dennis Muren as he was not old enough to drive, so had to beg people to drive him to the cinema, and Dennis Muren feels if Ray Harryhausen was making films today, people would going to the cinema in droves, that is how popular Ray Harryhausen films are, even still today, because people feel it pulls you into a wonderful world of fantasy pleasure, and it also makes you feel you want to be participating in that film. Dennis Muren also feels that other stop-motion films released in the same period as Ray Harryhausen films, were dull and not a patch on this legendary film genius, whereas Ray Harryhausen films were full of life and so much better to watch, because you really believe what you are watching with a Ray Harryhausen stop-motion animation film.
Special Feature: Remembering ‘20 MILLION MILES TO EARTH’ [2007] [1080p] [1.78:1/1.37:1] [27:03] Here we get an in-depth look via Ray Harryhausen, who looks fondly back at the making of the film ‘20 MILLION MILES TO EARTH,’ and informs us that the original concept of the film was going to be about the “Norse Mythology,” and when with Ray Harryhausen gave the outline of the synopsis to Charles H. Schneer, he suggested that the film would be more appropriate to be based on a story about a creature being brought from the planet Venus to the planet Earth. We also get some contributions from a number of prominent admirers of the process of stop-motion animation films and wondered who this person was who made these amazing films, and so started to delve into the world of Ray Harryhausen, and were equally and totally amazed to find out that Ray Harryhausen was really the sole person who did all the work on the stop-motion animation, and could not believe how realistic and believable all of his films were. We get a number of interesting titbits are revealed, including the fact that Ray Harryhausen set the film originally in Michigan, but was desperate to get an all expenses trip to Europe, so he changed the location to be in Rome in Italy, but with the help of Charlott Knight, who really enhanced the story about a rocket ship crash landing in the sea off the coast of Sicily, and everyone feels the stop-motion animation film ‘20 MILLION MILES TO EARTH’ has a very strong narrative and leads to a very strong climax, but at the same time it leads to a very sad ending where man thinks he is a superior race. But before the film even gets started, Ray Harryhausen says they produced a three page synopsis, but as the film progressed, a lot of changes happened, but at the same time Ray Harryhausen did a really detailed storyboard drawings, so it helped the screenwriters to elaborate the story line, and they also produced a more comprehensive decent script for the actors. Some of the most perceptive observations come from filmmaker and historian John Canemaker, who shares the sympathy for the creature, its plight and sad demise. What was also said was that the Ymir creature from the planet Venus was in the same situation of King Kong and the ultimate demise of both animals by the end of the film, because both animals are in an environment that is so alien to them and both react in their own way to survive against destructive humans who think they are superior. with Ray Harryhausen also goes into great detail to inform us why he put so much effort into the animation of the creatures, to make them look more natural, especially when the Ymir creature was sedative and you could see that he was still breathing. What also amazed all the contributors is that watching Ray Harryhausen films makes feel that you can go out there and make the same type of stop-motion animation film, and opened up a lot of people’s minds to create fantastic magical creatures, and once you believe that, off you go, and you can also believe a man can fly. Ray Harryhausen also felt his films were very challenging, because with Ray Harryhausen was the sole person in charge, especially with animating the creatures, whereas today you have about 15 people working on computers to create the creatures, and Ray Harryhausen says he is not sure with this technology he would sue all these modern technology to make his films, sadly we will never get to find out if Ray Harryhausen would use a computer to animate his creatures. Contributors included: Ray Harryhausen, Terry Gilliam [Director], John Canemaker [Filmmaker, Author and Historian], Rick Baker [Special Make-up Effects Artists], The Chiodo Brothers [Creature and Visual Effects Artists], Stan Winston [Special Make-up Effects Artist] and John Landis [Director].
Special Feature: Interview with Actress Joan Taylor [2007] [1080p] [1.78:1] [17:29] Here we get a very up close and personal interview with the actress Joan Taylor, who appeared in the film ‘20 MILLION MILES TO EARTH,’ and cannot believe at the time of this interview that it was over 52 years ago when Joan made that Ray Harryhausen stop-motion animation film. Joan Taylor looks fondly back at her early stage and screen career and remembers when being a young child, wanted to be like Shirley Temple, so went to dancing lessons and at the weekend went religiously to the cinema to see all her favourite film stars up there on the silver screen and wishing she was up there with them, and to attain their stardom status, and kept dreaming of going to Hollywood. With a lot of hard work, determination and lots of studying, doing USO shows and eventually went to audition at the Pasadena Playhouse near California and despite lots of negativity, Joan Taylor got to appear in their shows and eventually ended up in California in 1946 and eventually met her husband and feels it was the best thing Joan Taylor ever did. Eventually Joan Taylor was offered a part in a Hollywood western, starring Randolph Scott and Victor Jory [American-Canadian actor] and at the same time learnt a very serious lesson from the professional stunt people, and to always listen to their wise words very carefully, and when filming in Death Valley the stunt people were very protective towards Joan. Joan Taylor also remembers about working at M-G-M on its 1954 musical ‘Rose Marie’ that was directed by Mervyn LeRoy, and choreographed by Busby Berkeley and had to learn a traditional Tahitian dance. Joan Taylor recalls meeting producer Charles H. Schneer and landing her role in ‘Earth vs. The Flying Saucers’ film. We also hear some interesting facts, especially about union rights for actor’s from actor from her co-star Hugh Marlowe, whom she describes as a big union guy with a lot of knowledge, and was especially big on the Screen Actors Guild and was also a very professional actor. Joan Taylor also remembers fondly about being in the film ‘Earth vs. The Flying Saucers’ and the privilege of filming on the steps the Capitol Hill building in Washington D.C. and of course today you would not bellowed to film there without permission and also remembers filming at The Pentagon, the headquarters of the United States Department of Defense and again filming without permission would again not be allowed, but at the same time of filming there was a hurricane and Joan Taylor was not allowed to fly home to celebrate her daughter’s first birthday and vowed this would not happen a second time, but despite this, it was a very exciting time overall. Joan Taylor n reflects that the man she met at the Pasadena Playhouse was Leonard Freeman [1920 – 1974] and the father of her three daughters and was the man that created the CBS series ‘Hawaii Five-O’ in 1968 and for that reason Joan Taylor is very proud, as are the three daughters. But as a sort of post script, Joan Taylor wants to thank the person that I truly think is the start of all what’s going on now with the release of DVDs of Ray Harryhausen films and of course Joan Taylor met him on the set of ‘Earth vs. The Flying Saucers’ and didn’t really get to know him very much and at the time did not know how creative he was, but certainly since then, Joan Taylor now realises how creative he was and again thanks Ray Harryhausen for keeping Joan Taylor alive via the release of the DVDs and feels it is a lovely feeling and to also be involved with the two pictures of Ray Harryhausen that Joan Taylor, and again to thank Ray Harryhausen for his brilliant stop-motion animation.
Special Feature: Mischa Bakaleinikoff: Film Music's Unsung Hero [2007] [1080p] [1.78:1] [22:33] Here we get an in-depth interview with the film music expert David Schecter [Soundtrack Producer] who outlines the work of the brilliant film music composer Mischa Bakaleinikoff, who created a number of composed music themes and cues for both “A-pictures” and “B-pictures” film scores that were otherwise comprised largely of recycled material from other earlier Columbia Pictures studio films. David Schecter constantly goes into great detail with a total fascination for specific film music score compositions, but at around the 18 minute mark, starts to keep on repeating the same old information, and for me David Schecter is totally boring and a complete nerd.
Special Feature: The Colourisation Process [2007] [1080p] [1.78:1/1.37:1] [11:02] Here we get a personal tribute to the legend that is Ray Harryhausen and the colourisation to his stop-motion animation films. We also get some intimate comments from Ray Harryhausen himself, and is so excited at what they have done to his films, compared to the last disastrous attempt to colourise some of his films in the early days of the colourisation process, as it was a total insult to the legend that is Ray Harryhausen. We also get to hear from the people and the creative people of Legend Films who are based in San Diego and were established in 2008, especially Barry Sandrew, who talks in great detail about the technical process of colourising three of Ray Harryhausen's early black-and-white sci-fi films, as well as the film ‘Earth vs. The Flying Saucers,’ and Barry Sandrew also talks about all the nuances to get the colourisation just right, and especially for example with the colourisation of the costumes, because they are registered, it will follow this right to the end of the film. Of course Ray Harryhausen reveals that he is absolutely delighted and excited with what he has seen so far and hopes the people who are so negative against the process of colourisation of his films will dispel their prejudice when they see the professional work done by Legend Films and now a new generation can view the original black-and-white Ray Harryhausen films in a new light and have made Ray Harryhausen’s dreams come true. At one point we see Ray Harryhausen at the Legend Films facility viewing some test footage and you can see him getting very excited in what he was viewing, as well at the same time helping the technical people to get the colour balance right for the colourisation of the black-and-white films and of course gave Legend Films the go ahead to colourise his black-and-white films and at the same time Legend Films were so excited to be endorsed by Ray Harryhausen and to help a new generation to see his stop-motion animation films in colour. With their sophisticated computer technology, they can also at the same time remove any scratches, line removal, and also dust busting, and in that way cleaning up each individual frame, in a semi-automatic way, and they feel it has become a true art form. Ray Harryhausen speaks some words of wisdom, and says, “I hope with the three films that they are going to colourise, and I hope it will take away this prejudice that so many people have about colourisation of old black-and-white films.” Contributors include: Ray Harryhausen, Barry Sandrew [Founder of Legend Films], David G. Martin [CEO of legend Films] and Rosemary Horvath [Creative Director of Legend Films].
Special Feature: 20 Million Miles More [2007] [1080p] [1.78:1] The classic Ray Harryhausen sci-fi epic is re-imagined for a new generation. The following extracts we get to preview are a selection of pages from comic books series first issued in 2007 by TidalWave Productions that inspired Ray Harryhausen stop-motion animation films. With each page you view, we also get to view enlarged images of the pages to allow you to better appreciate the artwork and clearly to be able to read the text much better.
Special Feature: Super-8 Version [1957] [480i] [1.33:1] [8:39] Before the popularity of home video format, cut-down Super 8 versions of feature films were distributed for audiences to view selected scenes in the comfort of their homes. The following presentation of ‘20 MILLION MILES TO EARTH’ you get to view a silent and captioned Super-8 version of the film and compresses the dramatic events scenes in the film down to the specific time period and half of the Super-8 film is devoted to the climactic creature hunt and its demise. It is shown in Black-and-White. Sadly, the quality is not very good, and just shows you what the public had to put up with the quality of this Super 8 film.
Theatrical Trailer [1957] [1080p] [1.78:1] [2:00] Here we get to view the Original Theatrical Trailer in black-and-white for the film ‘20 MILLION MILES TO EARTH.’
Special Feature: Image Gallery [2007] [1080p] [1.78:1 Here we get to view a wonderful selection of 36 Black-and-White and Colour images of extensive promotional material, including a few on-set promotional photographs, poster art and also archive material for the stop-motion animation film ‘20 MILLION MILES TO EARTH.’
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THE 3 WORLDS OF GULLIVER
Audio Commentary with visual effects artist Randall William Cooke and film historians C. Courtney Joyner and Steven C. Smith: Here we are greeted first by effete Steven C. Smith and author of a Bernard Herrmann biography, and he is happy to be joined by two distinguished gentlemen, who are Randall William Cooke and C. Courtney Joyner, and are here to discuss the Ray Harryhausen stop-motion animation film ‘THE 3 WORLDS OF GULLIVER.’ They also mention the wonderful music film score by Bernard Herrmann, who was a massive anglophile fan, and this film to him was the most enjoyable project to work on. They talk about the wonderful actress June Thornburn, whose acting career was tragically cut short with a very tragic airplane crash, seven years after finishing this fil. The main actor Kerwin Mathews who plays Gulliver was not the first choice for the part, but because other actors were otherwise busy, got the part, because of his appearance in the film ‘The 7th Voyage of Sinbad,’ as they felt he would be perfect for the leading man. They also wanted to give a high five to the actor Martin Benson, who was a stalwart in the british cinema, and also great praise to British actor Peter Bull, They also praise Ray Harryhausen for his famous travelling matte process, which they think looks so good in this film. They also mention about near the end of the film and Gulliver and wife are escaping, and you get to hear the brilliant film score by Bernard Herrmann that is so wonderful and also has a lot of depth of emotion for the film. They talk about the actress Mary Ellis who had an extraordinary career, who appeared in the film ‘Rose Marie,’ a big opera start, appeared opposite Caruso in his last film, and went onto appear in a bunch of films and eventually passed away at the grand age of 105. While the film was being filmed, there was a big concern about Ray Harryhausen’s health, as he got very sick and went down to 90lbs and especially as he was 6’ 3” and was a double concern. Anyway despite this, Columbia Pictures were very pleased with the finished film, that they decided to have a Royal Command Premiere on the 30th November, 1960 at the Odeon Cinema, Marble Arch, London and Princess Margaret attended and when Gulliver and bride end back on the beach at the end of the film and are informed Wapping is not far away, the whole audience laughed, as Wapping is in London and not by the sea, and this was caused by American writers, who have no idea about locations outside America. When the film was finally released, the critics were very positive about the film and felt it not only was an adult film, but was also aimed at children, and is a classic, without being condescending or burlesque. As we get to the end of the film, they all thank each other and enjoyed seeing the film again in a pristine print, and thanks us for viewing the film with them. Overall, I found this audio commentary not as interesting and would have been vastly improved if they had Ray Harryhausen joining in the conversation like he did in the previous audio commentaries.
Special Feature: The Making of ‘THE 3 WORLDS OF GULLIVER' [1960] [480i] [1.33:1] [5:22] Here we get to view a short personal intimate interview with stop-motion animation legend Ray Harryhausen and says the film was not full of stop-motion animated figures and also tells us about the great challenge of convincing the powers at the studio of showing people of vastly different sizes on screen together, and also informs us about the intricate process of using the travelling matte shots process, and in Hollywood it was seldom used, but Ray preferred using it and used between 350 to 400 travelling matte shots, and was able to use the Rank Film Laboratories (later rebranded DeLuxe Laboratories (UK) in England, where they used a sodium lighting, which produces an instantaneous travelling matte process, but despite it cost a lot of money and effort, it was well worth the effort to create the special effects, and it took at least four to five weeks to produce the finished results. But at the same time creatively cutting corners by positioning Gulliver in the foreground and put the Lilliputians people at a distance of about 200 yards and to have Gulliver look at a certain position and explains it is a technique known as forced perspective and in that way you would have the illusion in the final picture that you would think Gulliver is talking to the Lilliput people, and doing this method they could do a lot of filming in a shorter filming schedule and also less expensive to produce. For location purposes, they filmed mainly in Spain, which was the same location for the film ‘The 7th Voyage of Sinbad,’ plus some new locations were used. On top of all that, they had to build a number of miniatures for Gulliver and they were built by the Spanish crew. When you see Gulliver taking away the other people’s ships, which of course were model and those scenes were shot in a big tank in Pinewood Studios. Ray Harryhausen had to do very detail storyboard sketches, so the actors knew precisely how they were to perform in the film. With the Gulliver film, they had to do completely new ways of filming, but all in all, Ray f Harryhausen feels that the Gulliver film came out really well, and most of all he was totally delighted that they had the brilliant music maestro Bernard Herrmann who produced a brilliant composed film music score, and Ray Harryhausen feels with his team, the film was a totally enjoyable experience.
Special Feature: Peter Lord on Ray Harryhausen [2017] [1080p] [1.78:1/1.37:1] [10:14] Here we get a very personal tribute and appreciation of the legend that is Ray Harryhausen and his craft by the celebrated Aardman Animations co-founder Peter Lord. When Peter Lord was at Primary school, went with some friends to see the stop-motion animation film ‘Jason and the Argonauts’ [1963] and was a film everyone was talking about and talks about the massive impact that the film had on him, as what happened when Ray Harryhausen first saw the Willis H. O'Brien stop-motion animation film ‘King Kong’ [1933] and feels todays films worked on computers for the special effects do not have the same impact, because he feels Ray Harryhausen’s stop-motion animation films were so convincing and realistic. Another film that had a big impact on Peter Lord was the film ‘The 7th Voyage of Sinbad’ and was very conscious and aware the way it was made, and that is what gave him the ambition and determination to make stop-motion animation films, which at the time was very crude and primitive “Claymation” films compared to what Ray Harryhausen’s films that were released in the cinema at the time and recalls the lack of available technical information on Ray Harryhausen's stop-motion animation technique, and gives great praise on the sophistication of Ray Harryhausen's model-making. Peter Lord also credits Ray Harryhausen with inventing the visual language for how monsters and mythological creatures should move naturally in a stop-motion animation film. The ultimate pleasure for Peter Lord and the team at Aardman Animations studio is that Ray Harryhausen visited them three times to talk to everyone, especially the crew and again felt totally honoured, and especially when Peter Lord shook hand with Ray Harryhausen, that had shook the hand of Willis H. O'Brien. Peter Lord feels people who use computers and CGI have a different outlook, perspective and attitude, to people who prefer to do stop-motion animation with figures, because Peter Lord feels Ray Harryhausen is a true craftsman.
Special Feature: David Sproxton on Ray Harryhausen [2017] [1080p] [1.78:1/1.37:1] [9:29] Here we get another personal interview with the co-founder of Aardman Animations David Sproxton. When David Sproxton was a child, he was totally mesmerised by Ray Harryhausen’s stop-motion animation films, because these films took you to another world, and was also fascinated by the technical aspect of these films and also gives great praise on the sophistication of Ray Harryhausen's model-making, especially as these films came out long before CGI films were ever thought of, and again David was very intrigued how the stop-motion animation was produced and felt it was a totally magical experience. David Sproxton looks back at his first experiment in stop-motion animation using his father's 16mm Bolex camera. When David became professional, they did the “Morph” stop-motion animation series for the BBC, but like Ray Harryhausen, there was no facility for video playback to see how the work was progressing, you had to shoot the film and wait for the film rushes to come back the next day to see if there were any mistakes. With David Sproxton and all the colleagues at Aardman Animations, felt Ray Harryhausen was totally ground-breaking and totally influenced a new generation of stop-motion animators and their ability to create complex animation movement with the models, and feels that doing stop-motion animation, you make the audience believe what a character is thinking, even when they do not speak, and this is what Ray Harryhausen did with his animated characters and this is the mantra of Aardman Animation. As we come to the end of this special feature, David Sproxton describes the world of Ray Harryhausen, where he created a totally “magical realism.”
Special Feature: Dave Alex Riddett on Ray Harryhausen [2017] [1080p] [1.78:1/1.37:1] [8:38] Here we get another personal interview with Dave Alex Riddett, who is Aardman Animations director of photography, and considers Ray Harryhausen’s importance and legacy with stop-motion animation. When Dave Alex Riddett was around 12 or 13 years of age and recalls owning a 8mm projector and at the time it was very hard getting hold of 8mm feature films, but somehow got hold of a 50 feet copy of the 8mm film version of ‘Earth vs. The Flying Saucers,’ and became obsessed wanting to know how Ray Harryhausen was able to do his stop-motion animation and almost wrecking the 8mm print by watching it frame-by-frame, also running the film backwards, forwards and still frame in an attempt to discover how Ray Harryhausen had worked his “magic realism.” Dave Alex Riddett recalls in detail about his early experiments with stop-motion animation and again also recalls the lack of available technical information on Ray Harryhausen's stop-motion animation techniques, when starting out with his Ray Harryhausen homage in his early attempt at stop-motion animation. Dave Alex Riddett feels today’s CGI films have lot that feel for realism and good storylines that you can only get with stop-motion animation films, and again feels Ray Harryhausen was a totally brilliant filmmaker, as well as a brilliant designer and storyboard illustrator, in fact he was the one and only one man army of filmmaking, and of course Dave Alex Riddett tried to emulate Ray Harryhausen’s style with his 8mm attempt at stop-motion animation and it was a total disaster, but instead had to film crude puppets that in the end he had to blow up. Dave Alex Riddett feels working at Aardman Animation studio, realises why their animators like to work alone like Ray Harryhausen did, as you cannot have any kind of interruptions. At the time of recording this interview, Aardman Animation were working on their new stop-motion animation Fantasy/Adventure feature film ‘Early Man’ [2018] and as they progressed, they all kept thinking, what would Ray Harryhausen do?
Special Feature: Isolated music score on ‘THE 3 WORLDS OF GULLIVER’ by Bernard Herrmann: Here we get to experience composer Bernard Herrmann and his brilliant majestic film music score without any distraction, and you really get to hear how this music master worked at his best and especially for this brilliant Ray Harryhausen, but despite getting lots of silent gaps, it is still well worth listening to the amazing Bernard Herrmann conposed film music score.
Theatrical Trailer [1960] [1080i] [1.85:1] [3:21] This is the Original Theatrical Trailer for the film ‘THE 3 WORLDS OF GULLIVER.’
Special Feature: Image Gallery: Here we get to view a wonderful selection of 44 stunning 1080p black-and-white and colour images of extensive promotional material, including a few on-set promotional photographs, poster art, plus some of those hand-coloured front-of-house stills and also archive material for the stop-motion animation film ‘THE 3 WORLDS OF GULLIVER.’
BONUS: Beautiful exclusive limited edition 78 page booklet with new essays, which includes: IT CAME FROM BENEATH THE SEA by Kim Newman. IT CAME FROM BENEATH THE SEA: And The Beginning Of The Ray Harryhausen/Charles H. Schneer Partnership: AN ORAL HISTORY Edited by Jeff Billington. 20 MILLION MILES TO EARTH by David Whitehead [2017]. 20 MILLION MILES TO EARTH: AN ORAL HISTORY Edited by Jeff Billington. BERNARD HERRMANN: THE REAL GIANT OF THE 3 WORLDS OF GULLIVER by Charlie Brigden [2017]. THE 3 WORLDS OF GULLIVER: AN ORAL HISTORY Edited by Jeff Billington. THE COLOUR VERSIONS Edited by Jeff Billington. SOURCES & FURTHER READING. ABOUT THE PRESENTATIONS. SPECIAL THANKS. ACKNOWLEGEDMENTS. INDICATOR CREDITS. You also get lots of wonderful rare Colour and Black-and-White promotion photographs and also some rare Film Posters.
Finally, THE WONDERFUL WORLD OF RAY HARRYHAUSEN: VOLUME ONE: 1955 – 1960 Limited Edition Blu-ray Collection, brings you three hugely and very entertaining stop-motion animation films, that further showcase the extraordinary artistry and technical skills of the brilliant Ray Harryhausen, and his long-time filmmaking partner Charles H. Schneer, of showing us spectacular and inventive special effects, long before CGI was ever thought of. This wonderful and special Dual Format Limited Edition, also includes lots very special features to view, that will keep you entertained for hours. If like me you are a massive fan of Ray Harryhausen’s brilliant films, then this is a must have to add to your collection, as it has a very limited release and you will kick yourself if they get all sold out and is a very highly prized essential purchase. Very Highly Recommended!
Andrew C. Miller – Your Ultimate No.1 Film Aficionado
Le Cinema Paradiso
United Kingdom
