FORMAT: DVD
This hour-long television special narrated by Leonard Nimoy tells us of the life and artistic creations of one of the most renowned special effects men of all time, Ray Harryhausen. When Ray sees King Kong as a teen, he makes it his life’s mission to become a stop-motion special effects artist. After serving in WWII, he comes home and begins work on a series of children’s shorts. Eventually, he gets the call of a lifetime to work under his idol, Willis O’Brien on Mighty Joe Young. From there, he goes on to create memorable creatures for The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms, It Came from Beneath the Sea, Earth vs. the Flying Saucers, 20 Million Miles to Earth, The Seventh Voyage of Sinbad, The 3 Worlds of Gulliver, Mysterious island, and many more.
Written and directed by Time magazine film critic Richard Schickel, The Harryhausen Chronicles offers a treasure trove of material for fans of the legendary effects man. The coolest parts are of Harryhausen in his studio presiding over and manipulating some of his most famous creations for the camera. There’s a lot of great clips from the films too. From the Ymir in 20 Million Miles to Earth to the Cyclops in The Seventh Voyage of Sinbad to the skeleton army of Jason and the Argonauts to the Medusa in Clash of the Titans, they’re all here. Not only that. but we also get to see his early stop-motion attempts as a young man and test footage from projects that never got off the ground for one reason or another.
Harryhausen is gracious and warm in the interview segments and offers plenty of behind-the-scenes info on his films. We also hear from his pal Ray Bradbury (who also wrote Beast) and Harryhausen’s business partner Charles H. Schneer who produced many of his movies. Fans like Dennis Muren, Henry Selick, and George Lucas are on hand as well as they gush about their love of his work and how it shaped them. It’s also cool seeing Bradbury handing Harryhausen his honorary Oscar and hearing the ceremony’s host, Tom Hanks talking about his love for Jason and the Argonauts.
In short, anyone who’s ever been fascinated by the awe-inspired work of Ray Harryhausen owes it to themselves to check this documentary out.
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