← Autodidact Archive · Original Dissent · Howard Campbell, Jr.
Thread ID: 16821 | Posts: 16 | Started: 2005-02-18
2005-02-18 17:31 | User Profile
One of the great geniuses of Hollywood is Ray Harryhausen, the German-American master of stop-motion animation. In this day of ubiquitous, cheap Computer-Generated effects the human element is swamped--many younger viewers know his name only as the restaurant in "Monsters, Inc.".
Ray is currently on tour promoting his 2-dvd collection of early works...I had the chance to meet him at his recent Los Angeles appearance. He's a brilliant, modest and fascinating guy in his mid-80's...a true National Treasure. He signed my copies of the new collection; "Seventh Voyage of Sinbad" (that Cyclops STILL scares the beJaysus outta me) and his last film, "Clash of the Titans".
The new collection includes his charming and marvelous "Mother Goose Stories" and "Fairy Tales"--a great collection for any of you with kids, grand-kids, nephews or nieces who'd love timeless phantasy.
If Ray swings through your home town, be sure to come down and meet him!
2005-02-18 18:43 | User Profile
Listen to Uncle Howard, kids.
Particularly if you're of a certain vintage yourself, because the legendary fantasy/sf figures of your childhood (like Harryhausen, or Ray Bradbury or Forrest Ackerman or Chris Lee- all in their mid-80s now) will only be among us for a few more ticks of the Big Clock's second hand.
But keep away from CLASH OF THE TITANS if possible. (Sorry, Howard, but it [I]stinks[/I].) Instead, marvel at the older stuff...not just the mythological adventures like SINBAD and JASON but his alien-invasion classics like 20 MILLION MILES TO EARTH and EARTH VS THE FLYING SAUCERS (I still think Ray's spinning saucers levelling Washington, DC, is one of the great movie-watching experiences.)
2005-02-19 03:59 | User Profile
Howard Campbell, Jr.
I liked CLASH OF THE TITANS.
CLASH OF THE TITANS [url]http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B00005JKO7/[/url]
2005-02-19 07:03 | User Profile
Yes, Harryhausen is a genius (I know that word is overused, but he is). To me, he is a role model, as he embodies all the classic traits of the White race: skill, artistry, patience, dedication, and modesty.
2005-02-19 15:20 | User Profile
Yes, Ray Harryhausen is a great artist. I grew up with "Jason and the Argonauts" and his "Sinbad" movies. I still recall my mother taking me to a weekend matinee revival of one of his "Sinbad" flicks - its the one where a fat and tragically unfortunate servant woman is transformed into a human-snake hybrid/abomination by an evil sorcerer toward the beginning of the film.
In any event, I was born in 1970, and she took me to see this film for my very first time (I've probably seen it seven or eight times since, easily) in 1974, or possibly even '73, and yet I still not only recall the intense enjoyment and appreciation for the film I experienced at the tiny [url=http://cameracinemas.com/cameras.html#losgatos]Los Gatos Cinema[/url] (consists entirely of a very small lobby and the two smallest screening rooms I have ever seen - I still see films there to this day) with mom that day (although I think it was then known as the "Los Gatos Towne Theatre"), I also remember the black magic-induced serpentine transformation of the obese slave girl as one of the single most terrifying and cosmically unnerving esthetic experiences of my entire life. I partially relive that disturbing frame of mind every time I see that scene (about once a year , on average, though I usually skip out on sitting through the entirety of an excellent film I've seen so very man times....With luck, I shall be able to introduce it to my six-year old son, Marcus, when I visit him next this April.
2005-02-19 20:38 | User Profile
[QUOTE=il ragno]Listen to Uncle Howard, kids.
Particularly if you're of a certain vintage yourself, because the legendary fantasy/sf figures of your childhood (like Harryhausen, or Ray Bradbury or Forrest Ackerman or Chris Lee- all in their mid-80s now) will only be among us for a few more ticks of the Big Clock's second hand.
But keep away from CLASH OF THE TITANS if possible. (Sorry, Howard, but it [I]stinks[/I].) Instead, marvel at the older stuff...not just the mythological adventures like SINBAD and JASON but his alien-invasion classics like 20 MILLION MILES TO EARTH and EARTH VS THE FLYING SAUCERS (I still think Ray's spinning saucers levelling Washington, DC, is one of the great movie-watching experiences.)[/QUOTE]
Coincidentally, Spider, I met Forry Ackerman last weekend at a signing for his latest (and probably final) book in Burbank. He's taken a sad turn for the worst since a nasty lawsuit cost him the Ackermansion and his amazing collection--including Lugosi's original Dracula cloak; Stoker's signed first edition of "Dracula" also signed by every film actor who's portrayed the role; Chaney Sr.'s make-up kits and O'Brien's armatures from "King Kong" and "Mighty Joe Young".
Ackerman, Bradbury and Harryhausen have been friends since the mid-30's--one of the special features of the new DVD set is an interview at Clifton's Cafeteria in downtown Los Angeles with those three grand-uncles recalling the history of Science Fiction in literature and film...
2005-02-19 20:45 | User Profile
[QUOTE=Faust]Howard Campbell, Jr.
I liked CLASH OF THE TITANS.
CLASH OF THE TITANS [url]http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B00005JKO7/[/url][/QUOTE]
Ray mentioned that he quit including realistic touches like blinking and chest-moving breathing in his later productions because not enough viewers (or producers) appreciated the extra effort.
Hence, "Seventh Voyage" is my favorite RH picture--but the Medusa sequences in "Clash" were among his best work with the light-matching demanded by the labyrinth torchlight...the sky-bucking Pegasus from that picture was also an amazing pre-CGI landmark.
2005-02-19 20:47 | User Profile
[QUOTE=Kurt]Yes, Harryhausen is a genius (I know that word is overused, but he is). To me, he is a role model, as he embodies all the classic traits of the White race: skill, artistry, patience, dedication, and modesty.[/QUOTE]
Exactly. No computer effects can match that dreamscape fascination wrought by Ray and O'Brien.
2005-02-19 20:59 | User Profile
Question for Il Ragno: Did Laughton or Olivier make a better Zeus? :D
2005-02-19 22:30 | User Profile
'Mute just dropped me a note to mention that he was one of those kid visitors to the Ackermansion way back when, the lucky sob.
Yeah, I knew Forry is very near the end...has been now for a few years. I mean, all of these gentlemen are way up there in age, so it is sad but inevitable. The irony of that lawsuit was that, I believe, he 'won', but the legal fees wiped him out.
I didn't know Charles Laughton had ever played Zeus. What producer would [I]cast [/I] him as Zeus, anyway? It's like getting Peter Ustinov to play Jim Bowie.
What kills CLASH for me is that damned robot owl right out of STAR WARS and the BUCK ROGERS show, and of course, Harry Hamlin. With that cast, though, it should have been far better than it is - and as far as the fx go, they're a mixture of stupendous and somewhat-shoddy (I think this may have been budget restrictions more than Ray's fault).
I'll tell you what I'd love to see, and that's someone publishing a book full of Harryhausen's concept and production sketches. Not so much [I]storyboards[/I], which tend to be rushed thumbnails, but the 'full' sketches, packed with detail, shading, characters, plot elements, etc. I've seen a handful of them and they're [I]fantastic[/I]. If Harryhausen had devoted himself only to illustration, he'd be thought the equal of Frazetta and Virgil Finlay today.
2005-02-19 22:47 | User Profile
Arachnid,
I stand abjectly corrected, forelock atug. I had "misremembered" Laughton as Zeus in '63's "Jason and the Arganauts"...he was actually played by Irish actor Niall MacGinnis (who--in my defense--shares more than a passing semblance to Sir Charles).
But by credible records, the conceiving of Harryhausen's whistling, neck-spinning Bubo the Owl actually predates "Star Wars" R2D2. Nerds may debate this point for centuries to come... :D
2005-02-20 06:45 | User Profile
Ray's Polyphemus:
[url]http://www.horrorcards.com/images/cyclopsmonster.jpg[/url]
:eek:
2005-02-20 07:30 | User Profile
just a couple of links for the uninitiated ...
[url=http://lavender.fortunecity.com/judidench/584/]Ray Harryhausen[/url]
[url=http://www2.netdoor.com/~campbab/Obie.html]Willis O'Brien[/url]
2005-02-20 10:43 | User Profile
[QUOTE]I'll tell you what I'd love to see, and that's someone publishing a book full of Harryhausen's concept and production sketches. [/QUOTE]
Apparently one already exists: RAY HARRYHAUSEN - AN ANIMATED LIFE. Now I gotta go buy a copy.
Some sketches from GWANGI and JASON:
[IMG]http://lavender.fortunecity.com/judidench/584/gwangi/stills/vog014.jpg[/IMG]
[IMG]http://lavender.fortunecity.com/judidench/584/jasonand/images/jasons6.jpg[/IMG]
2005-02-20 15:21 | User Profile
Thanks, IR!
Roy's prints have an early 18th Century look to them--much like Hogarth. The elephant and colliseum both figured in "25 Million Miles to Earth" rather than "Valley of Gwangi".
...Harryhausen described the Venusian Ymir's death from the top of the colliseum as an homage to Kong's fallfrom the Empire State Building.
2005-02-23 14:20 | User Profile
[QUOTE=Howard Campbell, Jr.]
Roy's prints have an early 18th Century look to them--much like Hogarth.
Yeah, I noticed that, too. I had no idea Harryhausen was such a fine artist.
I saw Seventh Voyage of Sinbad when I was ten years old. Two things from that film were burned into my mind for years afterward: the cyclops and Kathryn Grant (Crosby). Thinking about her in that Princess costume still gets me going:
[url]http://www.briansdriveintheater.com/beefcake/kerwinmathews/kerwinmathews4.jpg[/url]