Ray Harryhausen on Blu-ray

[CraigThom]

Originally Posted by f451

The Ray Harryhausen Collection is currently just under $30 at Amazon -- its lowest price ever. I don't know why it didn't trigger my price tracker alert but I just ordered a copy --

https://www.blu-ray.com/movies/Ray-H...-Blu-ray/1117/

I paid the same price (from the same third party) in December. It's a great deal.

[cakefactory]

Someone mentioned on the previous page that the set was 30 at Half Price Books, I found the same thing at my local one. They had a few copies of it. It's now OOP, isn't it? The double feature of 20 Million Miles to Earth and It Came From Beneath the Sea looks like it drops most of the special features (as well as the colorized versions, though I know that probably doesn't matter to many people), so if you are interested in these movies I'd suggest getting the set before it's gone.

I got that "Ray Harryhausen: Special Effects Titan" bluray recently, and would recommend it if you have a region free or panasonic player. The main feature wasn't all that interesting since it didn't have much new information for anyone that's watched the features on the DVDs/Blurays (plus, it's on Netflix!), but it's got a ton of extras on it that more than justified the cost for me.

[deltatauhobbit]

Originally Posted by f451

The Ray Harryhausen Collection is currently just under $30 at Amazon -- its lowest price ever. I don't know why it didn't trigger my price tracker alert but I just ordered a copy --

https://www.blu-ray.com/movies/Ray-H...-Blu-ray/1117/

You may have only set up a price tracker for 1st party, not 3rd party sellers, although I'm not sure that makes a difference if it's fulfilled by Amazon. I alway make sure to just put my desired goal price in all the categories (if you're using camelcamelcamel).

[MifuneFan]

Great deal for the set. If I didn't start buying them individually a few months back, I would have bought that set. If anyone's on the fence, get it now before it gets really scarce.

Also, it is because it's sold by a third party why it didn't give a price tracker alert. The site only tracks items sold by Amazon (not FBA)

[*PREACHER*]

Originally Posted by f451

The Ray Harryhausen Collection is currently just under $30 at Amazon -- its lowest price ever. I don't know why it didn't trigger my price tracker alert but I just ordered a copy --

https://www.blu-ray.com/movies/Ray-H...-Blu-ray/1117/

Thanks been waiting too long to get this and now I must before it disappears!

Thanks!

[quickdraw]

Get it while you can since it's OOP. Costco had the set late last year for $30, but i haven't seen that price since. It's a great set and (dare I say) the colorized versions of the B&W films aren't half bad.

[nvadr]

Originally Posted by quickdraw

Get it while you can since it's OOP. Costco had the set late last year for $30, but i haven't seen that price since. It's a great set and (dare I say) the colorized versions of the B&W films aren't half bad.

I had to take your advice and grabbed a copy off of Amazon at $29.99 at that price it was just too enticing!

It Finally arrived from Amazon with zero defects, ripped open the wrapper and am enjoying "Earth Vs The Flying Saucers" Toggling back & forth between B&W and color. This was a great deal at $29.99 free shipping!

[dragon53]

I have two questions:

1. I already have the Harryhausen set on dvd (20 MILLION MILES TO EARTH, EARTH VS. THE FLYING SAUCERS, IT CAME BENEATH THE SEA)---is the Blu-ray version's video superior that justifies upgrading to Blu-ray?

2. Are any of the other Harryhausen movies going to be released on Blu-ray (i.e., THE BEAST FROM 20,000 FATHOMS, etc.)?

[CraigThom]

Originally Posted by dragon53

I have two questions:

1. I already have the Harryhausen set on dvd (20 MILLION MILES TO EARTH, EARTH VS. THE FLYING SAUCERS, IT CAME BENEATH THE SEA)---is the Blu-ray version's video superior that justifies upgrading to Blu-ray?

2. Are any of the other Harryhausen movies going to be released on Blu-ray (i.e., THE BEAST FROM 20,000 FATHOMS, etc.)?

I don't have the DVDs of those, but 7th Voyage was definitely an upgrade.

I haven't seen any announcements of the missing films. It's possible that Mysterious Island will be coming out next year, but that's a guess.

[Page14]

Originally Posted by MifuneFan

Make sure to check out the documentary "Ray Harryhausen: Special Effects Titan" if you haven't. It's an incredible overview of his work, and includes interviews with Harryhausen, Spielberg, James Cameron, and many others, It's currently streaming on Netflix in HD

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1839590/

There's also a region B release of it in the UK

https://www.blu-ray.com/movies/Ray-H...Blu-ray/63928/

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.

[bb8977]

The collection is $16.99 on Amaozn.ca !

[The Great Owl]

I broke down last night, and ordered the Ray Harryhausen Collection from Amazon for $34, along with the Blu-ray of Jason and the Argonauts to bring the total up to free shipping.

Looking at the price in the previous post, it seems that I could have bought the set for cheaper, but that's okay. I win some and I lose some. Live by the sword, and die by the sword. Some days I'm the windshield, and some days I'm the bug. That's how we Blu-ray collectors roll, and we know the drill.

[The Great Owl]

I just finished watching the Blu-ray of It Came from Beneath the Sea in its original black-and-white version, and I'm happy to say that one of my childhood favorites has never looked better.

The scenes of the giant octopus wreaking havoc in San Francisco captured my imagination when I first saw the film during the early 1980s, and these scenes still impress. The creature is a masterwork of stop-motion animation, and the fact that it only has six arms due to budget circumstances is not readily noticeable during the film itself thanks to the way that the reveals are presented.

Most monster movies of this type drag during the long stretches without the actual monster on camera, but this one moves fairly well, thanks mostly to a strong cast. Faith Domergue (Where Danger Lives, Cult of the Cobra) is incredibly gorgeous, and I always chuckle during one innuendo moment where she is grasping a test tube while talking with Kenneth Tobey (The Thing from Another World).

Onward to Earth vs. the Flying Saucers...

[cakefactory]

That is a great set. It Came From Beneath the Sea is one of the lesser of the movies in it, too, so if you were pleased with it you should be really happy with the other three! I think that it's the talkiest of the bunch and the monster has the least personality. Seventh Voyage of Sinbad is obviously the crown jewel there, but I think Earth Vs the Flying Saucers holds up pretty well and I think Ymir was one of the greatest 50s monsters, even if the movie's a little clunky.

The commentary tracks on all 4 movies are fun, they put Ray with some well-known effects guys. He talks a lot about how much he likes the colorization. I watched the color versions because I'd seen the black and white ones plenty of times, they don't look particularly vibrant but it's not offensive either. The picture is good either way. The other extras are quite good, too. A lot of work was put into these and the Jason and the Argonauts releases, in stark contrast to almost all movies of a similar vintage released in the years since They're definitely the best 5 Harryhausen blurays as far as quality and quantity of extras go.

I'm really hoping that TT rerelease Mysterious Island, I was disappointed when they announced all their re-releases and it was not one of them. I had heard of the company by the time the Sinbad movies came out so fortunately I got those, but yeah, Mysterious Island was definitely one of the movies of his I watched the most as a kid (Seventh Voyage, Gwangi, Beast from 20,000 Fathoms and Golden Voyage being the others). I never really liked Jason.. as much as the others, its status as everyone's favorite confuses me! It's so dull and lifeless and slow-paced compared to the first two Sinbad movies and even Mysterious Island. The skeleton scene is obviously about the greatest effects scene of the 1960s but nothing else really excited me that much. I even liked Clash of the Titans a lot more!

One Million Years BC is the one I most want to see on bluray, the American DVD was the severely shortened version and I think Raquel Welch would really benefit from HD.

[The Great Owl]

I've seen all of these movies dozens of times, and I even owned the Ray Harryhausen DVD box set with the giant Ymir collectible.

I bought the stand-alone Blu-ray of my favorite, 20 Million Miles to Earth, when I first bought a Blu-ray player, because I did not anticipate feeling a need to upgrade the others, but I was wrong. I'll probably give that stand-alone Blu-ray away or sell it this week, since my acquisition of the whole box set renders it unnecessary.

I agree that we need One Million Years B.C. in high definition.

[The Great Owl]

Earth vs. the Flying Saucers looks great on Blu-ray.

Cinema has proven time and time again that, if aliens decide to attack Earth, then they are in for a fierce beatdown. Earth vs. the Flying Saucers is one of the best movies along these lines, thanks to special effects that still hold up decently well, and to some aliens that look creepy even today. Hugh Marlowe (Night and the City, All About Eve, The Day the Earth Stood Still) is a solid leading man who wastes no time coming up with a solution to defeat the menace. Joan Taylor is a good heroine who would appear in the next Harryhausen title, 20 Million Miles to Earth.

Hugh Marlowe stars in yet another sci-fi film, World Without End, about a group of astronauts who land on a planet inhabited by beautiful women. I keep hoping that this one will end up on Blu-ray at some point, but Warner Bros. has that title right now. At present, I've got it on a Turner Classic Movies set, along with Them!, The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms (another Harryhausen classic), and Satellite in the Sky.

Next up, I'm revisiting my favorite, 20 Million Miles to Earth...

[Edinburghoscar]

Absolutely loved them as a kid and still do.

Jason and the Argonauts is probably my fav

[The Great Owl]

I just finished revisiting 20 Million Miles to Earth, which has always been my favorite of the older Harryhausen films.

Astronauts return to Earth from a Venus mission with a specimen sample that is inevitably unleashed as a frightened creature in an unfamiliar environment. Instead of transporting the creature back to Venus, which would have been the decent and humane thing to do, the humans ceaselessly antagonize it with cages, gunfire, electric shock, fire, elephants, and rocket launchers.

Some of the best old-school monster movies portrayed their creatures in a sympathetic light, and 20 Million Miles to Earth stands alongside King Kong (1933) and The Creature from the Black Lagoon in this sense. The "Ymir" creature here is Harryhausen's finest creation, and it conveys a surprising amount of emotion with its eyes and with its mannerisms.

The Italy setting is quite wonderful, with the Sicily countryside scenes in the first half and the Rome cityscapes of the conclusion. Joan Taylor, who first appeared in Earth vs. the Flying Saucers, has another charming role here. William Hopper (Rebel Without a Cause) is a good leading man. Ultimately, though, Harryhausen's amazing creature takes the spotlight.

20 Million Miles to Earth is more evenly paced than its predecessors in this Harryhausen set, and I've found it more engaging with each viewing over the decades.

Onward to The 7th Voyage of Sinbad...

[schlock]

My ranking from best to worst. I pretty much enjoy all of Harryhausen's films except for Earth vs. the Flying Saucers. I have always found that one to be extremely dull and lifeless, and upon rewatching it recently, it hasn't gotten any better. A chore to sit through, but Harryhausen's effects are still spectacular.

Jason and the Argonauts
One Million Years BC
Golden Voyage of Sinbad (I know 7th Voyage is better, but I prefer Golden)
Mysterious Island
First Men in the Moon
Mighty Joe Young
7th Voyage of Sinbad
20 Million Miles to Earth
Valley of Gwangi
Beast from 20,000 Fathoms
It Came From Beneath the Sea
Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger
3 Worlds of Gulliver
Clash of the Titans
Earth vs. the Flying Saucers

[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.