I can’t believe this! For the past months, I’ve been working my way through old episodes of “The Avengers,” with Patrick Macnee and Diana Rigg (as opposed to Iron Man and Captain America). While there have been many familiar faces that have popped up as guest stars over the course of the series, surely I deserve some kind of award for identifying Neil McCarthy – who played Calibos in “Clash of the Titans!”
Even I don’t know how I did that!
Since we did our show on “Clash of the Titans” (1981) on Friday, and it’s already Sunday, I guess I should get “Kraken” already and post a link to the video! Check it out for our hosannas to Harryhausen and our provocations against the gods, on Roy’s Tie-Dye Sci-Fi Corner.
This Friday, it looks like we’ll be reaching for the low-hanging fruit, and doing some temple-robbing along the way, as we’ll have a free-form chat about Indiana Jones in advance of his latest adventure, “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny,” opening on June 30. Join us on our quest for fortune and glory, as we livestream on Facebook, YouTube, etc., this Friday evening at 7:30 EDT.
https://www.facebook.com/roystiedyescificorner
In addition, there will be significant bonuses next weekend in the guises of special guests Michael and Denise Okuda, so closely associated with “Star Trek” film and television productions. Michael and Denise will join Roy on Sunday night, 6/25, at 7:30 EDT.
https://www.facebook.com/roystiedyescificorner
And to hold you over, if you’re a sci-fi convention nut, Roy will reminisce with Todd Morton and Gordon Moriguchi about their experiences last weekend at Wonderfest, in Louisville, KY, on “Todd’s Corner,” this afternoon at 2:00 EDT.
https://www.youtube.com/@ToddsCornerScifiPropsShips
Roy compiled a ten-minute video souvenir of the event here:
Me? I’m not really a “Space: 1999” guy, so I’ll probably go for a walk and watch “Goliath and the Vampires.”
When “Clash of the Titans” opened on June 12, 1981, it was opposite “Raiders of the Lost Ark.” Needless to say, on Friday night I was riding with Indiana Jones; but on Saturday, you can bet I was cozying up with Medusa.
This week on Roy’s Tie-Dye Sci-Fi Corner, we’ll dust off our Edith Hamilton to search vainly for Calibos and Bubo, on a quest to rescue Andromeda from… the Kraken?
Okay, so maybe it’s not scrupulously faithful to the classical myths. Who cares? It’s Ray Harryhausen!
“Clash of the Titans” would be the swan song of this special effects maestro. With classics like “Jason and the Argonauts,” “The Seventh Voyage of Sinbad,” and “Mighty Joe Young” adorning his buckler, Harryhausen had long since secured his place in the pantheon.
But when “Titans” opened, critics were divided: Gene & Roger loved it, but many were shockingly condescending, dismissing the film – some of them even the effects – as turgid and old-fashioned. In the wake of “Star Wars,” the all-knowing arbiters were now too-cool-for-school.
Nevermind the fact that George Lucas’ Industrial Light and Magic repeatedly tipped its hat to Harryhausen. Only the year before, in fact, in the “Star Wars” sequel “The Empire Strikes Back,” ILM served up a gloriously-retro Tauntaun and some hilariously-improbable Imperial Walkers. Where would Empire or Rebellion be without Harryhausen?
Even so, it is hard to deny that Harryhausen’s Dynamation process did start to seem a tad quaint alongside ILM’s “go motion” effects, especially when, only two weeks later, on June 26, 1981, ILM would challenge Harryhausen on his own turf with the fire-breathing antagonist of “Dragonslayer.” The wondrous creation that was Vermithrax Pejorative looked forward to “Jurassic Park” in 1993. So realistic was he, it’s conceivable he would have made Harryhausen himself blanch.
But realism was never the point of Harryhausen’s fantastic visions, and I feel sorry for anyone who can’t see what’s so special about his special effects. By what law should fantasy be photorealistic? Are not our dreams filled with the otherworldly and the uncanny? Must they conform to the logic of our waking hours?
Whatever the case, evidently by 1981, the time for this sort of magical storytelling had passed. Harryhausen and his longtime producer Charles Schneer had been hoping to mount a “Titans” follow-up, to be titled “Force of the Trojans,” but they couldn’t secure the funding. So it was that one of special effects’ most imaginative masters was driven to retirement at the age of 61.
That retirement would be a long one – Harryhausen died in 2013 at the age of 92 – but it was not inactive. He began his own foundation to promote stop motion animation, oversaw the restoration and completion of some of his earlier projects, and in general was lauded and paid tribute to by generations of younger filmmakers. He also turned up in a few cameos.
With “Clash of the Titans,” nobody can say he didn’t swing for the fences. For one thing, the cast was the starriest of any movie of his career, with supporting roles played by stage and screen legends Laurence Olivier, Claire Bloom, Maggie Smith, Ursula Andress, Siân Phillips, Flora Robson, and Burgess Meredith. Harry Hamlin, soon to attain fame with the success of TV’s “L.A. Law,” played Perseus. Did Hamlin possess the dash of Kerwyn Matthews? Ask your local cyclops.
More to the point, will Roy and I clash over “Clash of the Titans? Winged horses couldn’t keep us away! We’ll RELEASE THE KRAKEN in the comments section, when we livestream on Facebook, YouTube, etc., this Friday evening at 7:30 EDT!
Release the Kraken!
This week on “Picture Perfect,” it’s a mythological mash-up, with music from four films inspired by classical myths.
“Helen of Troy” (1956) is based on events recounted in Homer’s “The Iliad.” Like the more recent film “Troy,” this version glosses over any participation by the gods. Could it be their wrath that caused this Robert Wise-directed spectacle to be plagued with difficulties?
Reportedly three people were killed during the making of the film, extras were injured by a runaway chariot, and 80 percent of the two-acre recreation of Troy was burned to the ground by a cigarette. On the bright side, it was Bridgette Bardot’s first film made outside of France, and Rossana Podestà played Helen. A spectacle indeed! Max Steiner provided the lush, romantic score.
“Clash of the Titans” (1981) is not to be confused with the 2010 CGI-fest. This is the real deal, with special effects by legendary stop-motion maestro Ray Harryhausen.
Just as special is its luxury casting of supporting roles, including Sir Laurence Olivier as Zeus, and Claire Bloom, Maggie Smith, Sian Phillips, and Ursula Andress as fellow Olympians. Burgess Meredith is among the mortals, Flora Robson turns up in one scene as a witch, and Perseus is played by newcomer Harry Hamlin, soon to find fame on television’s “L.A. Law.”
The composer, Laurence Rosenthal, studied at the Eastman School and in Paris with Nadia Boulanger. He also wrote the music for “Raisin in the Sun,” “The Miracle Worker,” “Becket,” and the 1977 version of “The Island of Dr. Moreau.”
“Clash of the Titans” would be Harryhausen’s final film. Despite flashes of his inimitable brilliance, in sequences like the one involving Medusa, and the creation of something of a cultural icon in the Kraken, the effects came to seem a little too retro in the wake of “Star Wars” and “Superman.” Though a sequel, “Force of the Trojans,” was pitched to M-G-M, it was not to materialize. Harryhausen died in 2013, after a lengthy retirement, at the age of 92.
It would be a crime against peplum to put together a program of this sort without at least a nod to Hercules. The peplum genre originated in Italy with Maciste, a supporting character in the 1914 classic “Cabiria.” So powerful did this strongman prove that he became an industry unto himself. The Maciste craze reached its muscular peak in the late ‘50s and early ‘60s. When the films arrived in the United States, in hilariously dubbed versions, the character was invariably renamed Hercules, Samson, Atlas, Goliath, or any other mythological, Biblical, or historical bodybuilder you can think of.
A peplum revival sprang up around “Conan the Barbarian” in the early 1980s. We’ll hear a selection from “Hercules” (1983), starring Lou Ferrigno, television’s Incredible Hulk. The music is by Pino Donaggio.
Finally, we’ll make things right again with an extensive suite from the ultimate Ray Harryhausen mythological playground, “Jason and the Argonauts” (1963). This is the one that features the climactic battle with the skeleton army. The music, by Bernard Herrmann, brilliantly suits the visuals. We’ll hear a superb re-recording of the score on the Intrada label, with the Sinfonia of London conducted by Bruce Broughton.
You won’t want to myth it, no bones about it! It’s a quest for classical mythology this week, on “Picture Perfect,” music for the movies, this Saturday evening at 6:00 EDT, on WWFM – The Classical Network and wwfm.org!
Release the Kraken!
This week on “Picture Perfect,” it’s a mythological mash-up, with music from four films inspired by classical myths.
“Helen of Troy” (1956) is based on events recounted in Homer’s “The Iliad.” Like the more recent film, “Troy,” this version glosses over any participation by the gods. Could it be their wrath that caused this Robert Wise-directed spectacle to be plagued with difficulties?
Reportedly three people were killed during the making of the film, extras were injured by a runaway chariot, and 80 percent of the two-acre recreation of Troy was burned to the ground by a cigarette. On the bright side, it was Bridgette Bardot’s first film made outside of France, and Rossana Podestà played Helen. A spectacle indeed! Max Steiner provided the lush, romantic score.
“Clash of the Titans” (1981) is not to be confused with the 2010 CGI-fest. This is the real deal, with special effects by legendary stop motion maestro Ray Harryhausen.
Just as special is its luxury casting of supporting players, including Sir Laurence Olivier as Zeus, and Claire Bloom, Maggie Smith, Sian Phillips, and Ursula Andress as fellow Olympians. Burgess Meredith is among the mortals, Flora Robson turns up in one scene as a witch, and Perseus is played by newcomer Harry Hamlin, soon to find fame on television’s “L.A. Law.”
The composer, Laurence Rosenthal, studied at the Eastman School and in Paris with Nadia Boulanger. He also wrote the music for “Raisin in the Sun,” “The Miracle Worker,” “Becket,” and the 1977 version of “The Island of Dr. Moreau.”
“Clash of the Titans” would be Harryhausen’s final film. Despite flashes of his inimitable brilliance, in sequences like the one involving Medusa, and the creation of something of a cultural icon in the Kraken, the effects came to seem a little retro in the wake of “Star Wars” and “Superman.” Though a sequel, “Force of the Trojans,” was pitched to M-G-M, it was not to materialize. Harryhausen died in 2013, at the age of 92.
It would be a crime against a peplum to put together a program of this sort without at least a nod to Hercules. The peplum genre originated in Italy with Maciste, a supporting character in the 1914 classic “Cabiria.” So powerful did this strongman prove that he became an industry unto himself. The Maciste craze reached its muscular peak in the late ‘50s and early ‘60s. When the films arrived in the United States, in hilariously dubbed versions, the character was invariably renamed Hercules, Samson, Atlas, Goliath, or any other mythological, Biblical, or historical bodybuilder you can think of.
A peplum revival sprang up around “Conan the Barbarian” in the early 1980s. We’ll hear a selection from “Hercules” (1983), starring Lou Ferrigno, television’s Incredible Hulk. The music was by Pino Donaggio.
Finally, we’ll make things right again with an extensive suite from the ultimate Ray Harryhausen mythological playground, “Jason and the Argonauts” (1963). This is the one that features the climactic battle with the skeleton army. The music, by Bernard Herrmann, brilliantly suits the visuals. We’ll hear a superb re-recording of the score, on the Intrada label, with the Sinfonia of London, conducted by Bruce Broughton.
No bones about it, you won’t want to myth it! it’s music from movies (loosely) inspired by classical mythology this week, on “Picture Perfect,” this Friday evening at 6:00 EDT, on WWFM – The Classical Network and wwfm.org.
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