Ray Harryhausen on Blu-ray

[Deciazulado]

The Ray Harryhausen Double Feature Blu-ray

[s2mikey]

The problem with this guys flicks is the horrendously cheesey looking stop-motion animation. What a terrible technique. Every time I see that stuff Im laughing outloud. Its as bad as claymation - but at least that never took itself seriously.

[jacobb1313]

Originally Posted by s2mikey

The problem with this guys flicks is the horrendously cheesey looking stop-motion animation. What a terrible technique. Every time I see that stuff Im laughing outloud. Its as bad as claymation - but at least that never took itself seriously.

[bgart13]

Originally Posted by s2mikey

The problem with this guys flicks is the horrendously cheesey looking stop-motion animation. What a terrible technique. Every time I see that stuff Im laughing outloud. Its as bad as claymation - but at least that never took itself seriously.

How old are you...12? 13? 14?

It's called suspension of disbelief.

[bboisvert]

Mysterious Island - November 8, 2011

[dougotte]

Originally Posted by s2mikey

The problem with this guys flicks is the horrendously cheesey looking stop-motion animation. What a terrible technique. Every time I see that stuff Im laughing outloud. Its as bad as claymation - but at least that never took itself seriously.

Hmmm. I just left the Citizen Kane thread, where you asserted the Bridge on the River Kwai was "dumb." You're starting to seem like a troll...

Doug

[NoirFan]

Originally Posted by s2mikey

The problem with this guys flicks is the horrendously cheesey looking stop-motion animation. What a terrible technique. Every time I see that stuff Im laughing outloud. Its as bad as claymation - but at least that never took itself seriously.

Yeah, why couldn't they have used CGI, like everyone else?

[Monkey]

Originally Posted by NoirFan

Yeah, why couldn't they have used CGI, like everyone else?

George Lucas is working on a special addition to fix that.

[Cutter_]

Wow, some new Harryhausen blu-rays - very good news!

[EricJ]

Legend Films?
BZZT!! DINGDINGDING!! WEASEL PD-VULTURE/CRAPPY LOW-BUDGET DISK ALERT!!!

(Both are the 1935 versions, which have long since fallen into 30's PD, and I don't recall any Harryhausen As We Know It in them, apart from some amazing miniature scenery from his Willis O'Brien apprentice days.)

Now, if you want a REAL golden-age Columbia Harryhausen stop-motion giant-monster movie, don't forget that Sony seems to have chickened out (no pun intended) by farming Mysterious Island off to Twilight Time.

[Banned User]

Originally Posted by s2mikey

The problem with this guys flicks is the horrendously cheesey looking stop-motion animation. What a terrible technique. Every time I see that stuff Im laughing outloud. Its as bad as claymation - but at least that never took itself seriously.

Compared with all the awesome CGI going on during the 1930's?? You know there was a lot of effort and hard work put into these 'horrendously cheesey' models and backdrops correct? IMO the movies have a special kind of charm and are great movies with plenty to offer anyone who isn't biased.

The same thing will happen in the future with current CGI techniques looking outdated. But to write off a bunch of films because of a certain technique is ridiculous. For instance the 1st Terminator used the same kind of Cheesy stop-go animation technology, but is still a great film and if Stan Winston was still alive today he would be the first to tell you he had nothing on HarryHausen. Its a testament to the man that a lot of his techniques were so influential on top of the man being a great sculptor, animator and artist.

[Deciazulado]

Well to me what's amazing is these things were animated by hand in front of the camera one frame at a time, without any kind of video assist, except watching a day's work the next day in a couple of feet of dailies to see if they came out right..

[g.schweet]

^Yes. For this reason, the skeleton fight in Jason & the Argonauts is simply mind-blowing and stands out in my mind as one of the best scenes in animation history.

[Aristide Massaccesi]

More Harryhausen on blu, great news!

[Hatter]

Originally Posted by s2mikey

The problem with this guys flicks is the horrendously cheesey looking stop-motion animation. What a terrible technique. Every time I see that stuff Im laughing outloud. Its as bad as claymation - but at least that never took itself seriously.

Whatever. I love stop-motion.

[bigshot]

Originally Posted by Deciazulado

The Ray Harryhausen Double Feature Blu-ray

Not Harryhausen Not a double feature. Not even stop motion.

[Hatter]

Originally Posted by bigshot

Not Harryhausen Not a double feature. Not even stop motion.

True on all counts.

The only thing She has in common with Harryhausen is that he comissioned Legend Films to colorize She as a tribute to Merrian C Cooper. She was supposed to be in color but RKO said no citing budget cuts.

[EricJ]

Originally Posted by bigshot

Not Harryhausen Not a double feature. Not even stop motion.

Not even originally in color.
(Although, given Legend Films, expect that "problem" to be rectified...)

Could they be any more weaselly? Well, check the sticker--It's a public-domain TRIPLE feature:
"Bonus movie included: Ray Harryhausen adventure 'The Most Dangerous Game'"

...All right, Legend. THAT does it.
I'm going to IMDB on this one--
(checks)
Most Dangerous Game, 1932: Joel McCrae, Fay Wray. Public-domain.
No listing for Harryhausen anywhere on the crew. (Since, accdg. to his own remniscences, Ray would have been twelve years old and didn't even become interested in making movies until he saw King Kong in 1933.)

I'd give a trial lawyer a big fat pat on the back to know just WHAT THE H*LL Legend is up to on this set.
(Most likely, they dodged the lawyers by having Ray introduce the movies, thus giving them a nebulous don't-look-close excuse to slap his name on the cover, but welcome, friends, to the cheap back-alley world of Legend Films.)

[bgart13]

Harryhausen supervised the colorizations. Pushes it a bit, but whatever. Don't expect any miracles but there may be some minor improvements.

[Hatter]

Originally Posted by bgart13

Harryhausen supervised the colorizations. Pushes it a bit, but whatever. Don't expect any miracles but there may be some minor improvements.

Well the colorization of 20 million miles to earth for example was much better than I thought it would be but She's already been colorized in the past by Legend so I doubt they went and redid it again.

Here's what annoys me though (from the old Kino dvd review):

Originally Posted by Glenn Erickson

The colorization is much less successful than Legend's recent Sony release 20 Million Miles to Earth 50th Anniversary Edition. As the print is darker and less stable, the colors just don't look all that attractive. Certain effects just look ridiculous, like a soft close-up of the queen through a veil. Gahagan's eyes hang there like a pair of blue dots. Legend Film's logo touts itself as "The Leader in Restoration and Colorization Technology, but they left out 'meddling revision'. I only scanned the color version and cannot be sure if it is the only change, but the colorists appear to have added unecessary, Lifeforce- like animated electrical 'enhancements' to the concluding fire scene.

http://www.dvdtalk.com/dvdsavant/s2378she.html

I doubt they rectified the meddling for the blu-ray release.