Ray Harryhausen on Blu-ray

[The Great Owl]

I just finished watching The 7th Voyage of Sinbad, and I thoroughly enjoyed revisiting this film for the first time in ages via a great Blu-ray presentation.

I had forgotten how much I used to enjoy this movie. It's the first of the latter-day Harryhausen films (I simply define "early" Harryhausen vs. "late" Harryhausen according to which films are in black-and-white and which are in color.), and it set the standard for faster-paced awesomeness. Great stop-motion animation, fun magic, amazing creatures, beautiful women, etc.

The lovely Kathryn Grant also stars in Anatomy of a Murder (1959), which is available in an amazing Criterion Blu-ray edition. She also stars in the film noir, The Phenix City Story, which takes place near where I grew up. If you look closely in Alfred Hitchcock's Rear Window, you can also see her as a guest at the songwriter's party in one of the neighboring apartments across from James Stewart.

Onward to Jason and the Argonauts...

[The Great Owl]

I just finished watching the Blu-ray of Jason and the Argonauts, and I never expected to see this movie looking so good.

This was an epic way to close an entire day of enjoying Ray Harryhausen films, and I was happy to revisit this one again for the first time in a couple of decades. Jason and the Argonauts is not my absolute favorite of the Harryhausen effects films, but it is close to the top, and its most memorable scenes still command attention in this day and age. I believe that the sequence with Talos coming to life is still the effects highlight of the film, but the story and the human interactions keep me engaged for the remainder of the time.

Hats off to Honor Blackman, who played ***** Galore in Goldfinger, for her work in this film as Hera. Jack Gwillim, who played King Aeetes in this film, would later appear as Poseidon in Clash of the Titans, which remains my personal favorite of the color Harryhausen effects films because of my strong 1980s nostalgic ties to that film.

This ends my five-movie marathon of Harryhausen flicks today. I missed out on the Twilight Time sales of Mysterious Island and the two later Sinbad movies, and there's no way that I'm paying the current asking price for those, but I'll be on the lookout if they're available again on Blu-ray someday.


Edit: No way Blu-ray.com just blacked out the name of the character in Goldfinger. Hahaha.

[Sinbad75]

Originally Posted by Bluyoda

Seems like this list is rather incomplete: https://www.blu-ray.com/Ray-Harryhausen/69178/#Bluray

I love Harryhausen films, and my favourite is definitely Jason and the Argonauts, as it has a great atmosphere, and some of the most memorable creations of his, such as Talos, and the legendary skeleton fight at the end.
Pure Sunday morning magic!

I still want Mysterious Island, Journey to the Center of the Earth, and First Men in the Moon.

Does anyone have this?:
https://www.blu-ray.com/movies/Myste...0456/#Overview

When can we expect a re-release of the US version?

Otherwise, I might was well get this one, and make my own cover.

While one of my all time favorite fantasy adventure movies, you do know that "Journey to the Center of the Earth" is not a Harryhausen film, right?

[cakefactory]

Spain is notorious for getting BD-Rs released of Twilight Time titles. I would not be surprised if that particular release is also just a burned disc. They always have identical specs to the TT versions, so I guess if you don't mind having a burned disc it's better than paying the hundred bucks or whatever it costs for a legitimate copy.

Journey to the Center of the Earth definitely is not a Harryhausen movie, it's got lizards with fins glued on them! Though I guess The Lost World (1960) did the same thing and then got Willis O'Brien to stick his name on it. :P

[quickdraw]

Originally Posted by The Great Owl

I just finished watching the Blu-ray of [B]
Edit: No way Blu-ray.com just blacked out the name of the character in Goldfinger. Hahaha.

Oh GW, you're just being a pü$$ie now!

[Bluyoda]

Originally Posted by Sinbad75

While one of my all time favorite fantasy adventure movies, you do know that "Journey to the Center of the Earth" is not a Harryhausen film, right?

Apparently, I didn't read carefully enough. It would have fit his style though.

[phelings]

UK Harryhausen fans - C4 are airing Valley of Gwangi in HD on New years Eve morning at 7.30.
The next morning its The Three Worlds of Gulliver also in HD.
7th Voyage too but we already have a Bluray of that


Finally , my purchase of a Bluray recorder really justifies itself

[Bluyoda]

Originally Posted by Page14

So I was surfing the web one day and somehow ended up looking at this UK bluray on zavvi.com (http://www.zavvi.com/blu-ray/ray-har.../10664611.html). Being a big Harryhausen fan, I ended up ordering it even though I don't have a Region B bluray player. (I don't think there's a Region A version available). It was one of those impulse buys. (I even messed up filling out the order form as it was a form intended for people with a UK address ... and I'm in the US. I'll spare you the details). To my surprise, the order went though and it arrived in my mailbox yesterday. Even though it's Region B, I thought I'd give it a try in my Pioneer Elite BDP-23FD player (which as far as I know is a Region A player). It seemed like the bluray loaded okay, but as soon as it finished loading, the player would just stop. So just for the heck of it, while still in "stop mode", I hit the "Top Menu" button. Much to my surprise, the menu appeared onscreen. Wow! I was able to navigate through the entire menu and the bluray plays flawlessly. Very happily surprised!

I watched most of it yesterday and loved it! Loads of fun info, interviews with many of today's VFX gurus (as mentioned by MifuneFan) and special features. Still need to watch it with the audio commentary.

But I mainly wanted to post that this Region B disc played just fine on my Region A player. I'm not sure if it will play on any player or if I just got lucky.

Is the PQ true HD?

[Bluyoda]

I now have 8 Ray Harryhausen films on Blu-ray.

I decided not to get Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger, but I regret it a bit now.

First Men in the Moon is thus far the best quality release of his movies, by a long shot IMO, but all the others look good to very good as well.

I'd really like Mighty Joe Young, The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms, The Valley of Gwangy, and One Millions Years B.C. on Blu-ray sometime soon.

Come on WB!!!

[Page14]

Originally Posted by Bluyoda

Is the PQ true HD?

I'm not sure how to answer that right now, without giving it another look. I'm away from my home (and my bluray collection) right now, so I won't be able to look at it until I get back ... which could be a little while. Maybe somebody else can verify it, but I'm thinking that it is in HD, although much (most?) of the material is taken from older interviews, so I'm not sure how much viewing in HD helps with those older clips.

[Sinbad75]

Originally Posted by Bluyoda

I now have 8 Ray Harryhausen films on Blu-ray.

I decided not to get Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger, but I regret it a bit now.

First Men in the Moon is thus far the best quality release of his movies, by a long shot IMO, but all the others look good to very good as well.

I'd really like Mighty Joe Young, The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms, The Valley of Gwangy, and One Millions Years B.C. on Blu-ray sometime soon.

Come on WB!!!

FYI, "One Million" is a 20th Century Fox property so chances are good that Twilight Time will be releasing it. The rest, as you noted, are Warner titles, and who knows what they are up to! One would think that given the excitement raised by Mr. Harryhausen's films released by Twilight Time that Warner's would get the hint that these are important and desired titles. Now, I could be wrong....

[cakefactory]

Originally Posted by Bluyoda

Is the PQ true HD?

What does this question mean? It's 1080p and it isn't an upscale, but it's full of archival material.

I think the disc should be bought by anyone who's into Harryhausen. While the feature itself is on Netflix (or was? I don't know if it still is there) there are a lot of really, really fun bonus features for Harryhausen fanboys, like a lot of additional interview footage, a bunch of footage of a guy going through old props that were stored in boxes in his garage, deleted scenes from some of his movies (like Beast from 20,000 Fathoms), etc.

[Nocturnaloner]

Don't know if this has been discussed yet, but why is Ray Harryhausen not in the blu-ray.com Cast pages in any effective way? He doesn't have a valid title. Why is there not a category in Cast called Visual Effects? Without it, you can't easily see how many Harryhausen movies you have in your collection.

https://www.blu-ray.com/Ray-Harryhausen/69178/#Overview

[MifuneFan]

Originally Posted by Nocturnaloner

Don't know if this has been discussed yet, but why is Ray Harryhausen not in the blu-ray.com Cast pages in any effective way? He doesn't have a valid title. Why is there not a category in Cast called Visual Effects? Without it, you can't easily see how many Harryhausen movies you have in your collection.

https://www.blu-ray.com/Ray-Harryhausen/69178/#Overview

You would have to request that category be added in the feedback forum

[jlk5844]

Originally Posted by Sinbad75

FYI, "One Million" is a 20th Century Fox property so chances are good that Twilight Time will be releasing it. The rest, as you noted, are Warner titles, and who knows what they are up to! One would think that given the excitement raised by Mr. Harryhausen's films released by Twilight Time that Warner's would get the hint that these are important and desired titles. Now, I could be wrong....

This should be the cover:

[Show spoiler]

And this iconic image should be the inside booklet:

[Show spoiler]

Or this

[Show spoiler]

It would be amazing if Fox got this one right off the bat and did a 4K restoration.

[Bluyoda]

Originally Posted by Nocturnaloner

Don't know if this has been discussed yet, but why is Ray Harryhausen not in the blu-ray.com Cast pages in any effective way? He doesn't have a valid title. Why is there not a category in Cast called Visual Effects? Without it, you can't easily see how many Harryhausen movies you have in your collection.

https://www.blu-ray.com/Ray-Harryhausen/69178/#Overview

I wholeheartedly agree. Also, there is no cover photo, and as you mentioned, many films of his are still misiing on that list. Very sad.

Just finished watching the commentary tracks of It Came from Beneath the Sea, and Earth vs. the Flying Saucers.
Such a joy!

[HonestJohn]

Originally Posted by jlk5844

This should be the cover:

[Show spoiler]

No, I would prefer that under the covers ....

[jlk5844]

Originally Posted by HonestJohn

No, I would prefer that under the covers ....

[ddwall]

Originally Posted by Bluyoda

Seems like this list is rather incomplete: https://www.blu-ray.com/Ray-Harryhausen/69178/#Bluray

I love Harryhausen films, and my favourite is definitely Jason and the Argonauts, as it has a great atmosphere, and some of the most memorable creations of his, such as Talos, and the legendary skeleton fight at the end.
Pure Sunday morning magic!

I still want Mysterious Island, Journey to the Center of the Earth, and First Men in the Moon.

Does anyone have this?:
https://www.blu-ray.com/movies/Myste...0456/#Overview

When can we expect a re-release of the US version?

Otherwise, I might was well get this one, and make my own cover.

According to DVD beaver and google translate from reviews at amazon the Resen Spanish release is not a BDR. but a pressed disk.

[film11]

Originally Posted by Bluyoda

Seems like this list is rather incomplete: https://www.blu-ray.com/Ray-Harryhausen/69178/#Bluray


I still want Mysterious Island, Journey to the Center of the Earth, and First Men in the Moon.

Does anyone have this?:
https://www.blu-ray.com/movies/Myste...0456/#Overview

When can we expect a re-release of the US version?

Well, by now you've already purchased JOURNEY and FIRST MEN (both look great but FIRST MEN is especially spectacular)

As for ISLAND, Twilight Time has indicated that no re-release is planned...at least for this year. I'm just happy I have a copy.