Ray Harryhausen Gift Set

I’ve spent more than a few hours in the company of Ray Harryhausen over the years. I’ve handled many of the original armatures and have seen the original hand drawn storyboards and conceptual drawings he had created for most of his films. Maybe that’s why I love his films so much. I doubt it. They do speak for themselves and you owe it to yourself to see three of his best pictures, which have been collected here in one set.

20 Million Miles To Earth:

20 Million Miles To Earth has always been one of my favorite films and often the topic of my conversations with Ray. The Ymir is both a monstrous and sympathetic figure. Ray admits the King Kong influences readily, and he certainly reproduced that empathy we finally feel for the creature. The best horror films have never been about good vs. evil. The best horror films have always been about good vs. misunderstood. The Ymir never intended to be a destructive killer. It was taken from its home and thrust into an environment immediately hostile to it. Maybe it’s because of those talks with Ray that I have such an understanding of this creature. Or maybe Ray was actually having that conversation long before we ever met, as I was watching 20 Million Miles for the first time.

Of course, you can see the plates shift and backgrounds tend to wobble at times. The truth is there are plenty of flaws even more visible with this hi-def transfer. To the modern spoiled eye, the film might even be laughable. I see it an entirely different way. I’m able to look beyond the flaws of a 50 year old f/x process and see the charm and artistry within. Ray Harryhausen was not just an f/x worker. He was a craftsman who used textures in just the right way. He animated his creatures with a careful eye to the minutia that bring these lifeless models to life, if only in our minds. Sure, we know it’s a trick. But with these films we are willing — no, demanding — to be tricked. I was skeptical of seeing it in color. That was until I saw the process that Legend Films developed. My initial exposure was over this past holiday season when I was asked to review the colorized version of It’s A Wonderful Life. For that review I researched the process and approached it as analytically and critically as I could. Earlier attempts at colorization were disastrous and quite fake in appearance. I can tell you that this system is unlike any you’ve seen before. If you haven’t had a chance to see Legend Films’ process, you owe it to yourself to check it out. I must say that it really does look like it was shot in color. I’ve read many of the detractors who site this problem or that, but look at any older color film and you run into some of the same problems. This print accurately reflects the color films of its time.

Earth vs. The Flying Saucers:

Earth vs. The Flying Saucers was certainly not the only “saucer” movie to come out during 1950’s. The Day The Earth Stood Still had already made a huge impact on moviegoers, and the “saucer” craze was already in full swing. What made this film special was the stop motion saucers provided by Harryhausen. He managed to give them personality as they moved across the world destroying recognizable monuments. The saucers dipped and veered, making it far more believable that an intelligence of some sort, was behind the craft. Hugh Malrowe was one of those contract leading men that fit well into this kind of picture. He had that look of strong intelligence that, while maybe stereotypical of this era of films, was what was expected. Rough, smart, and sexy enough to get the girl. Of course, here he already had the girl. Joan Taylor played his wife and scientific assistant. She would make the ultimate discovery of how the aliens were trying to communicate. How’s that for 1950’s women’s lib?

There is an option to watch the film in color. As I’ve already mentioned in these pages, I was a long time opponent of the colorization of classic films. Having seen what Ted Turner did to King Kong, I thought I’d never see another colorized film again. I have to say that this new process, described in detail in other reviews, is a miracle. Since the saucers are silver anyway, this film doesn’t benefit as much as 20 Million Miles To Earth did. Still, Ray supervised the entire process, so we can be confident it looks like he would have made it if he’d had the budget. You can still watch the film in black and white if you wish through a toggle option. We finally get to use those angle buttons. Another great addition to this film is the finally long deserved addition of Bernard Gordon to the screenplay credit. He was blacklisted during the red scare, and his name was not included on any print before this one. It’s unfortunate, because Ray mentioned often that he contributed much to the original story. Sadly, Gordon died about a year ago and will never have the opportunity to see his name displayed as it always should have been.

It Came From Beneath The Sea:

One of Ray Harryhausen’s earliest stop motion projects was a military training film on how to build a bridge. In It Came From Beneath The Sea he got to destroy a famous one and create yet another vivid memory for his legion of fans. It Came From Beneath The Sea was the second film I had the pleasure to discuss with Ray Harryhausen at the 2003 Wonderfest in Louisville. Again I was joined by Einsiders writer Rusty White. You can find the actual interview at: http://einsiders.com/features/interviews/harryhausen.php

Certainly this could not be considered one of Harryhausen’s most imaginative films. Still, the stop motion effects were incredible for their day. If the film suffers at all, it is from enormous budget constraints, particularly when it came to the creature itself.  Ray told me, “It was a sextapus. If we had cut the budget any more it would have been a tripod!”

There were also concerns from the city fathers in San Francisco. Ray reminisced, “We sent the script to San Francisco, and the city fathers said they didn’t want to have public confidence in the Golden Gate bridge destroyed by having the bridge pulled down by an octopus. So they didn’t give us permission to operate, so we had to get our shots the best way we could. Through devious means.” Those “devious means” involved hiding film equipment in a bakery truck to get the necessary footage.

Genre veterans Faith Domergue and Kenneth Tobey deliver solid lead performances.

Video

20 Million Miles To Earth:

20 Million Miles To Earth is presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.85:1. That alone is worth quite a bit, but you get so much more. For starters you can watch the film in either black & white or the newly colorized presentation. What’s more, you don’t even have to commit to one or the other. Using your player’s angle button you can toggle between the two as often as you like, and it’s nearly seamless. Both prints are in the best condition they have ever been. Print artifacts are remarkably almost non-existent. As I’ve already mentioned, the color looks natural enough for a 1950’s film but would not match up to a more modern color production.

Earth vs. The Flying Saucers:

Earth vs. The Flying Saucers is presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.85:1.You can watch the film in its newly colorized version or toggle to a newly restored original black  & white version. Either print is exceptionally restored. Gone is almost all evidence of age present on previous releases of the film. I have copies going back to the laserdisc days, and this is certainly an improvement. There are no scratches, and the print is remarkably brighter than even the more recent previous DVD. While you might not catch any more detail than you could before, this print is both sharper and cleaner. Black levels show the most improvement. The film no longer appears washed out with grays where the blacks ought to be. The film sports true black definition for perhaps the first time in over 50 years.

It Came From Beneath The Sea:

This film is also presented in its original 1.85:1 aspect ratio. Pretty much everything I said about the other films holds up here. You get the choice between color and original black & white. The print might be slightly rougher than the previous films, as I noticed a slightly elevated element of grain.

Audio

For all of them the audio is pretty much the same. The film contains a sweet Dolby Digital 5.1 track. Of course, the original film was recorded in mono, so there is only so much separation that can be achieved here. Still, you’ll find a good job was done of giving the film some depth to it in sound. Mostly you’ll hear musical cues and some roars filling the sound field by use of some clever pan work. The saucer sounds, really sewage going through pipes at a treatment facility, likely stand up better, but overall the wider field does little to improve the film.

Special Features: These are each 2-disc releases. The film and commentary live on disc 1 with the trailers. The rest of the features are on disc 2.

20 Million Miles To Earth:

There is a fabulous commentary track here. Ray Harryhausen from London joins Arnold Kunert, Dennis Muren, and Phil Tippett via satellite to discuss the film. Ray is a sheer delight, and you can tell how honored these guys feel to be watching the movie with him, even if it is not in person. They bring out some wonderful memories and anecdotes. Ray reveals a lot of his secrets here. Fans simply can’t afford not to listen in. I’ve heard these stories in person, and I still enjoyed the track.

Remembering 20 Million Miles To Earth: In this 27 minute feature Ray Harryhausen talks intimately about the film, from its origins in Nordic mythology to his desire for a Roman holiday resulting in the film’s location. People like Stan Winston and other notable directors talk about how Ray influenced them into their careers. There are many cuts from this colorized version of the film.

The Colorization Process: Meet the folks at Legend Films who approached Ray to do these colorized films. Ray was directly involved with the process and had final approval on everything. He’s quite happy with the results.

Tim Burton Sits Down With Ray Harryhausen: Tim Burton has almost single-handedly kept the art of stop motion alive and well, so he was the perfect choice to chat with Ray here. Throughout the interview Burton is simply giddy and makes no attempt to hide his admiration. He is so excited at times he stumbles over his words. This is a very animated interview and a lot of fun to watch.

Interview With Joan Taylor:  Taylor talks a lot about her own career as well as sharing some wonderful moments on the set of 20 Million Miles To Earth and Earth vs. The Flying Saucers.

Film Music’s Unsung Hero: Frank Schecter explains the studio system of using stock music for B pictures with maybe a little original material. Mischa Bakaleinikoff put together these pieces and added enough originality to help animate the monster. It’s nice that something often so overlooked in these classic films gets a little attention here.

20 Million Miles More Comic Book: Ray Harryhausen’s films are also being revived with new original stories presented as comics. These stories expand the universes of these films and even bring some together. You get a comic here that’s a little hard to read on a television screen about a female Ymir created through some DNA experiments.

There is also a rather extensive gallery and an original trailer for the film.

Earth vs. The Flying Saucers:

This is a 2-disc release. The film and commentary live on disc 1 with the trailers. The rest of the features are on disc 2. Sadly, many of these features are repeated from 20 Million Miles To Earth.

There is an audio commentary with Ray Harryhausen, and some modern f/x guys: Jeffrey Okun, Ken Ralston, and Arnold Kunert. I always love hearing Ray talk, so this is a great commentary for that purpose. Yeah, I’ve heard all the stories from the horse’s mouth, but I never tire of them. The other guys are a disaster here. They’re constantly kissing Ray’s butt. I appreciate that they love the guy, but much of this sounds so insincere. It’s also bad when one of the commentators doesn’t even know who the lead actress was. How about at least doing a little homework so you don’t make a fool out of yourself?

The Hollywood Blacklist and Bernard Gordon: As I mentioned in the body of this review, Gordon lost his screen credit as well as an ability to make a living in films because of the red scare. He used a pseudonym at times. This is an excellent feature that gives Gordon his proper due and examines the political environment of the time.

Remembering Earth vs. The Flying Saucers: Many modern-day people were influenced by Harryhausen, and they talk about that here.

A Present Day Look At Stop Motion: Kyle Anderson is a film student who provides a primer on stop motion.

Interview With Joan Taylor:  Taylor talks a lot about her own career as well as sharing some wonderful moments on the set of 20 Million Miles To Earth and Earth vs. The Flying Saucers.

Tim Burton Sits Down With Ray Harryhausen: Tim Burton has almost single-handedly kept the art of stop motion alive and well, so he was the perfect choice to chat with Ray here. Throughout the interview Burton is simply giddy and makes no attempt to hide his admiration. He is so excited at times he stumbles over his words. This is a very animated interview and a lot of fun to watch.

Film Music’s Unsung Hero: Frank Schecter explains the studio system of using stock music for B pictures with maybe a little original material. Mischa Bakaleinikoff put together these pieces and added enough originality to help animate the monster. It’s nice that something often so overlooked in these classic films gets a little attention here.

The Colorization Process: Meet the folks at Legend Films who approached Ray to do these colorized films. Ray was directly involved with the process and had final approval on everything. He’s quite happy with the results.

Comic Book: Ray Harryhausen’s films are also being revived with new original stories presented as comics. These stories expand the universes of these films and even bring some together. You get a comic here that’s a little hard to read on a television screen.

Video Gallery: Using audio from the film, this is a montage of stills, conceptual art, and promo material for the film.

Trailers: There are trailers for other films, but not for Earth vs. The Flying Saucers.

Art Gallery: There is a ton of still material.

It Came From Beneath The Sea:

There is another great audio commentary with Ray Harryhausen, and some modern f/x guys: Jeffrey Okun, Ken Ralston, and Arnold Kunert.

Remembering It Came From Beneath The Sea: This 21 minute feature was made at the same time as all of the others for these films. It’s a great look back particularly featuring Ray Harryhausen. Fans already know this stuff but it’s priceless all the same.

The rest of the features are duplicates from other discs included on the set.

Final Thoughts

The best part about this collection is the Ymir figure it comes with. This piece is worth the price of the set and is not bad in its detail. I already owned a resin model that I got from Ray years ago, and this doesn’t hold up to that in detail, but it will be a wonderful centerpiece to your home theater. I wish this set came with an extra disc to give us something not available on the individual releases, but except for the Ymir there are no additional bonus features. Collecting all of these items together does tend to illustrate how much of the disc 2 features are duplicates. I understand the desire to include them with each film, but unfortunately this has been true with all Harryhausen releases. There tends to be a trend to repeat the extras. This was true on the laserdiscs and in the earlier versions of these three films. If you already own them, there is no need to get this set except for the Ymir. Just don’t let your significant other get their hands on that model, or they’ll be “claiming community property”.