This article was originally published in September 2009.
If you don’t know who Ray Harryhausen is, you’re on the wrong website.
Starting in the 1940s, this special effects master pioneered the use of stop-motion animation in film, mostly frequently in fantasy film.
The effects he created (often for films he produced) didn’t just result in important technological advances; Harryhausen literally inspired an entire generation of movie-makers, from George Lucas to Steven Spielberg, who say that the special effects genius taught them the all-important lesson that film is limited only by the imagination.
But how have Harryhausen’s films held up over the years not as historical artifacts or nostalgic reminders of childhood, but as actual movies?
Here’s what we think:
The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms (1954) and It Came From Beneath the Sea (1955)
Two Torches (Out of Five)
Harryhausen had worked previously as part of a special effects team on the Oscar-winning Mighty Joe Young in 1949, but 20,000 Fathoms and Beneath the Sea were his first movies where he was in charge of the effects.
While fascinating from a historical perspective — these films pretty much created the genre of the “monster movie,” and they were the first to feature monsters created as a result of “atomic testing” — the plots are hackneyed and the effects are primitive.
Of interest only to Harryhausen buffs (and fans of cheesy 1950s sci-fi).
One Million Years B.C. (1966)
Two Torches (Out of Five)
This one isn’t even interesting from an historical perspective. The science is laughable, the plot is stupid, and the effects look far more dated than in other Harryhausen movies. But on the plus side, the film does contain Raquel Welch in that famous leather bikini.
(As bad as this movie is, it’s still better than Roland Emmerich’s 10,000 BC!)
Clash of the Titans (1981)
Three and a Half Torches (Out of Five)
By the time Harryhausen made Clash of the Titans, stop-motion animation was falling out of favor, replaced by puppets, animatronic models, and the first stirrings of CGI (not to mention a new, more realistic form of animation seen in movies like Dragonslayer known as “go-motion”).
Titans has plenty of fans, and it’s probably Harryhausen’s most complicated animated work ever (the “Medusa” scene alone is worth the price of admission). But this loose retelling of the story of Perseus is too simplistic and earnest for the 80s. It hasn’t aged well.
The 7th Voyage of Sinbad (1958)
Three and a Half Torches (Out of Five)
In the legendary adventurer Sinbad, Harryhausen found the perfect focus for his talents. 7th Voyage, his first of three Sinbad movies (and his first color film), was a major leap forward in terms of the complexity and sophistication of the effects. The plot may be a little lacking, but the dragon/cyclops battle still stuns.
Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger (1977)
Three and a Half Torches (Out of Five)
The last of the Sinbad movies had a young Jane Seymour and a mega-budget (at the time), but a weak plot: Sinbad seeks a cure for a prince who’s been turned into a baboon. And Harryhausen may finally have been running out of creatures to animate, what with a giant, um, walrus and a not-quite-convincing-looking troglodyte.
The Golden Voyage of Sinbad (1974)
Four and a Half Torches (Out of Five)
The middle, but best of Harryhausen’s three Sinbad movies has a simple, but classic plot: Sinbad races a villain to assemble the pieces of an amulet that forms a map that leads to the “Fountain of Destiny.” When the amulet is put in the fountain, it grants one youth, a cloak of darkness, and a crown of great riches — all well-illustrated in the film.
But the movie also includes one of the most interesting/creepy sequences in all of fantasy film: the villain creates a flying “homunculus” that does his bidding — though the creation of each creature drains the wizard of life-energy, aging him. And the (admittedly politically incorrect) battle with Kali is pretty cool too.
Mysterious Island (1961)
Four and a Half Torches (Out of Five)
Mysterious Island, loosely based on the Jules Verne novel, may be Harryhausen’s most coherent, most fully realized movie. For one thing, there’s a plausible reason for the over-sized creatures that the hero confronts: they’re all part of an experiment by Captain Nemo (living on the island years after the events of 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea).
The giant bees are great, but the crab scene is classic.
Jason and the Argonauts (1963)
Five Torches (Out of Five)
Argonauts is widely acknowledged as Harryhausen’s masterpiece (and it’s the filmmaker’s own favorite film). We agree. It’s true that the film has an abrupt sort of non-ending, but that flaw is forgotten in light of indelible imagery such as the statue of Talos that comes to life and — of course, Harryhausen’s most famous sequence of all — the skeleton battle.
When Tom Hanks awarded Harryhausen a special Oscar in 1992, the actor said, “Some people say Casablanca or Citizen Kane. I say Jason and the Argonauts is the greatest film ever made.”
It’s a really hard statement to disagree with.
Similar Posts:
- Review: AVATAR Lives Up to the Hype (But It Isn’t One for the Ages)
- 3,000 Years in the Making! The Coming Greek Myth Movie Onslaught
- Cave of Forgotten Tales: THE FORBIDDEN KINGDOM
- “Dawn Treader” to Set Sail After All
- BATTLE OF THE SMITHSONIAN is Right: Ancient Egypt is Really, Really Cool
Being a long time Harryhausen fan I do not dispute your rankings of any of the movies listed … However, I do feel the need to correct one rather eroneous statement you made regarding the films Beast from 20,000 Fathoms and It Came from Beneath the Sea. You stated that these films were the first to feature creatures “created” as a result of atomic testing and neither creature was.
In the movie It Cme From Beneath the Sea, the Giant Octopus was acknowledged as a deep sea creature which seldom rose out of the depths but now had to because its food supply had been interrupted due the atomic testing in the Pacific Islands. Because it had ingested irradiated fish its normal prey could sense its approach and avoid it. It rose from the depth because it was hungry.
In Beast from 20,000 Fathoms, the creature was a recognized variety of ancient dinosaur that had been frozen in the polar ice cap for more than 100,000 years (I may be a little off here on the time - it’s been a while). It was not “created” by the atomice bomb test which took place at the beginning of the movie - it was “awakened” by the blast and set out on a “pilgrimage” to return to it’s species ancient breeding grounds in the sounds off-shore from the state of New York. Like a trout returning to its birthplace to spawn.
Outside of that my only comment would be that Hamlin, from Titans, was actually lame in most of the roles he ever attempted. Thyat is only a personal opinion assesment though - he was pretty one-dimensional as an actor.
Thanks for the clarification! That’s really interesting. I confess, I did not rewatch all the films for the article, but relied on online synopsises.
By the way, my personal RH favorite is Clash of the Titans.
Anti-spam word was “rations”?! Not very fantastic…
The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms (1953, not 1954) is definitely a classic, if not for it’s inert quality then for it’s place in cinema history. The producers had hoped to partake of the monster film hype that had been started by the 1952 rescreening of King Kong. They hired Harryhausen who had worked on Mighty Joe Young under Willis O’Brien, the stop motion pioneer who had done the effects for Kong.
The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms in turn strongly fascinated Tomoyuki Tanaka, who had a monster film in production at the time. He changed the story and the monster itself according to the new ideas he recived from The Beast and such Godzilla as we know him was born in 1954.
I agree about It Came from Beneath the Sea and Golden Voyage of Sinbad, but Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger higher than Clash of the Titans? Seriously!?!
I thought Harry Hamlin did a perfectly good job as Perseus. His acting wasn’t Acadamy Award winning, but he wasn’t terrible as people make him out to be.
I personally think Jason and the Argonauts is overrated.
My favorite Ray Harryhausen films are:
1)One Million Years BC
2)Clash of the Titans
3)The Golden Voyage of Sinbad
My least-favorite Ray Harryhausen films are:
1)Jason and the Argonauts
2)Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger
3)It Came from Beneath the Sea
Kate Winslet would be awesome in a remake of One Million Years B.C.
I would have to say Jason and the Argonauts, Clash of the Titans, and the 3rd Sinbad film are tied for first place. Mysterious Island was an excellent film and would have been even better had Harryhausen included the man eating plant. Another cool Harryhausen film is 20 Million Miles to Earth. While I liked One Million Years B.C. during my wonder years, I find little to appreciate in it now.
I was disapointed in your assessment of “It Came From Beneath The Sea” a film so underbudgeted they had to give the giant octopus one less tentacle than it was supposed to have, and “The Beast for 20.000 Fathomers ” Nobody went to see these films for the plot. It was the monsters themselves. I dont remember the plot of “Gwangi”( cowboys versus dinosaurs), but i do remember the blood thirsty allosaurus Gwangi as he chased cowboys, indians and buxom damsels around 1880s Arizona To any fantasy buff, the fact that HarryHausen had a cresture in a film made it worthy of seeing. Harryhausen’s work created an anticipatory market for sci fi, fantasy and horror films.
Any such film in terms of creatures had to live up to Ray Harryhausen’s monster(s). “Alien” or “Predator”, HArryhausen shaped the market. We bought tickets because we wanted to see what the monster looked like. Without these beasts there was no film. Ray Harryhausen has done for fantasy what Frank Frazetta did for comic art, and Duane Allman did for the slide guitar. In a movie populated with Harryhausen creatures, you dud’nt have to think, You just strapped in and held on. And that was entertainment.
It is appalling that Harryhauen, a man who helped set the gold standard
for this genre should be disrespected now tha ‘Clash of the Titans” is being remade. I dont remember the plot so well, but the wood scorpions and Medusa slither and shreik though my memory. Them and Usula Andress. Good luck filling her shoes. Not even Ray could do that
I was disapointed in your assessment of “It Came From Beneath The Sea” a film so underbudgeted they had to give the giant octopus one less tentacle than it was supposed to have, and “The Beast for 20.000 Fathomers ” Nobody went to see these films for the plot. It was the monsters themselves. I dont remember the plot of “Gwangi”( cowboys versus dinosaurs), but i do remember the blood thirsty allosaurus Gwangi as he chased cowboys, indians and buxom damsels around 1880s Arizona To any fantasy buff, the fact that HarryHausen had a cresture in a film made it worthy of seeing. Harryhausen’s work created an anticipatory market for sci fi, fantasy and horror films.
Any such film in terms of creatures had to live up to Ray Harryhausen’s monster(s). Whether it ws “Alien” or “Predator”, Harryhausen shaped the market. We bought tickets because we wanted to see what the monster looked like. Without these beasts there was no film. Ray Harryhausen has done for fantasy what Frank Frazetta did for comic art, and Duane Allman did for the slide guitar. In a movie populated with Harryhausen creatures, you dud’nt have to think, You just strapped in and held on. And that was entertainment.
It appls me tht Ray HArryhausen should be shown such disrespect now that they’ve remde “Clash of
I’m glad to see Mysterious Island acknowledged for the fine film that it is. It’s one of Harryhausen’s best efforts with a good cast, good script, good direction, and Bernard Hermann’s rousing score adding to the fun. A winner all the way around. As for his best film, I have to say it’s probably the Seventh Voyage of Sinbad, with Jason and the Argonauts running a close second.
Despite having Harryhausen’s best cast and a good budget for once, Clash of the Titans is only middling Harryhausen. Harry Hamlin is a weak Perseus, and the metal owl seems derivative and overly cutesy. Some good animation and creature design in Titans, but overall not one of his best films.
I grew up watching Clash of the Titans more than any other movie, except maybe Willow, so it will always have a place in my heart. (Although I recently watched it for the first time in about 15 years and was horrified by Harry Hamlin’s acting!)
C’mon, Clash of the Titans was surely better than Eye of the Tiger! But the top spot had to go to Jason - no contest.
Ooh, I grew up watching these movies. I love them. Back in the day(the 80’s)there only used to be three channels. On the weekend, there was something called the Sunday Matinée Movie. These films were often one of them. Nothing better than pot roast and root veggies that Mom made along with a Harryhausen movie. Great memories. I believe the best one is “Clash of the Titans.” I own it on DVD, and I sometimes still watch it.
While I haven’t seen some of them, I agree with your rankings for those I have seen.
*Ouch* Poor “Clash of the Titans”. I would have been tempted to list it as my number 1 choice or at worst by number 2 (after “Jason and the Argonauts”).
Of course, to be sure I’ll have to re-watch both films and the “Sinbad” trilogy.