Harryhausen tribute tells the history of special effects
What They Say:
The remarkable career of the movie industry’s most admired and influential special-effects auteur, the legendary Ray Harryhausen, is the subject of Ray Harryhausen: Special Effects Titan.
Leaving no doubt as to Harryhausen’s seminal influence on modern-day special effects, the documentary features enlightening and entertaining interviews with the man himself, Randy Cook, Peter Jackson, Nick Park, Phil Tippet, Terry Gilliam, Dennis Muren, John Landis, Guillermo Del Toro, James Cameron, Steven Spielberg and many more. These filmmakers pay tribute to the father of Stop Motion animation and films such as ‘The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms’, ‘It Came From Beneath The Sea’, ‘The 7th Voyage Of Sinbad’, ‘Mysterious Island’, ‘Jason And The Argonauts’ and ‘The Golden Voyage Of Sinbad’ – the films that enthralled them as children and inspired them to become filmmakers in their own right. felt before. These are the wonders of a world without words, viewed through man and nature’s own prisms of symmetry, savagery. chaos and harmony.
The Review:
Menu:
The menu screen is animated with an image of Harryhausen in the center, surrounded by a variety of his creatures. Options include Scene Select, Special Features, and Set Up.
Extras:
The extras included with the Blu-ray provide additional insight into Harryhausen’s career and his tremendous influence on special effects.
Feature with audio commentary: director Gilles Penso, producer Alexandre Poncet, associate producer Timothy Nicholson, film historian and co-producer Tony Dalton converse warmly about the making of the film. They reminisce not only about Harryhausen but also relate stories about their interviews with Ray Bradbury, John Landis, and others who contributed to the film.
A treasure trove: footage of the production team unpacking and surveying models from the Harryhausen archives used in a museum exhibit.
Interviews: Full length interviews with Edgar Wright, Peter Lord, Rick Baker, and Simon Pegg that are excerpted throughout the documentary.
Interview outtakes: clips from interviews not used in the final version of the documentary.
Message to Ray: birthday messages from Guillermo del Toro, James Cameron, and others pay tribute to Ray Harryhausen and thank him for the inspiration he provided.
Deleted scenes: Like interview outtakes, deleted scenes include clips that were not used in the final version of the documentary. Intertitles explain why these scenes were cut.
On the set of Sinbad: A Super 8 reel filmed by Alex Feiner on the set the 7th Voyage of Sinbad in the late 1950s
Paris Cinematheque Q&A: A conversation with the production team at a screening in Paris on December 14, 2012
London Gate Cinema Q&A: December 9, 2012. A conversation about the documentary with the production team and Ray Harryhausen
Original Trailer for the film.
Ray Harryhausen Trailer Reel: Theatrical trailers for nine of Harryhausen’s films.
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
Ray Harryhausen: Special Effects Titan was produced to celebrate Harryhausen’s 90th birthday and his tremendous contribution to special effects in cinema. The documentary centers around an interview with Harryhausen in which he reviews the significant landmarks of his long career. Interspersed with the interview are film footage, behind-the-scenes production footage, and clips of interviews with the directors, writers, special effects gurus and others who credit Harryhausen for his inspiration and influence. For fans of horror, science fiction, and fantasy film, the interviews feature a series of cinema superstars who detail Harryhausen’s influence.
Clips from those directors are likely to be recognizable, since many of them are recent blockbuster films. The pleasure of the documentary is seeing the special effects from throughout Harryhausen’s long career. Inspired by 1933’s King Kong, he started from scratch: making models, learning photography, building the sets, and figuring out how to create stop motion film. Director John Landis captures Harryhausen’s pioneering efforts in the documentary, saying “Ray’s creatures–how they move–is essentially how we think of how dinosaurs move.” Comparing Harryhausen’s giant monsters from the 1950s with the dinosaurs of Jurassic Park clearly supports Landis’ claim.
The documentary is not just about Harryhausen but also about all of the films that use creatures, CGI, and other effects and were inspired by him. Interestingly, the part of the film that introduces current technologies segues into a series of comments from special effects experts who sing the praises of models over CGI because CGI is cold, where models are more lifelike. I have no difficulty agreeing with the argument that when we see stop motion, we know that we’re being tricked, and we want to figure out how it works. With CGI, we know it’s computer generated, and dismiss it, no matter how compelling the representation might be.
Ray Harryhausen died in 2013, two years after this documentary was made. It closes with clips from celebrations of his 90th birthday in 2010, along with background on the Ray & Diana Harryhausen Foundation, which was established in 1986. Where other artists have had their original work sold off to private collectors, the Foundation is focused on gathering and preserving Harryhausen’s original models and preserving them along with the puppets, molds, daily reels, and outtakes from the special effects pioneer’s long career.
In Summary:
Directors, special effects experts, actors, and even musical directors offer their enthusiastic tributes to Ray Harryhausen in this documentary. Their homages not only show the heartfelt affection so many have for Harryhausen but also create a structure throughout the film to highlight his ingenuity.
Features:
Feature with audio commentary, A treasure trove, Interviews, Interview outtakes, Message to Ray, Deleted scenes, On the set of Sinbad, Paris Cinematheque Q&A, London Gate Cinema Q&A, Original Trailer for the film, Ray Harryhausen Trailer Reel
Content Grade: A
Audio Grade: A-
Video Grade: A
Menu Grade: A-
Extras Grade :A
Released By: Arrow Films
Release Date: June 28, 2016
MSRP: $14.95
Running Time: 97 minutes
Video Encoding: 1080p AVC
Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1 Widescreen
Review Equipment:
Samsung KU6300 50” 4K UHD TV, Sony BDP-S3500 Blu-ray player connected via HDMI, Onkyo TX-SR444 Receiver with NHT SuperOne front channels and NHT SuperZero 2.1 rear channel speakers.
