Jason & The Argonauts

Product Information

Sony honors the FX legend's 90th B-day by giving the film Harryhausen personally considers to be his best a great Blu-ray release. If you are fan of Jason, and of the entire concept that the master stop-motion animator created, then this track is like nectar. However, this looks and sounds terrific for a film that is, notoriously, difficult to assess in terms of other productions from the period. Going back and forth, the full screen LD was obviously a true "open matte" presentation, and provided a much more satisfying picture.

Free from the marketing manipulation of earlier Harryhausen Blu-rays -- no bogus colorization informercials and no intrusive fan host "extras" -- these new frills give Jason a good sendoff on Blu-ray. The Harryhausen Legacy (SD, 25:32) – In this tribute of sorts, directors John Landis and Joe Dante ('Gremlins') as well as visual effects gurus John Dykstra, Dennis Muren, Phil Tippett, and a host of others reflect on how Harryhausen's movie magic influenced their own careers. But it's the skeleton battle from this film that is perhaps Harryhausen's pièce de résistance, which would later serve as Sam Raimi's inspiration for the legion of undead in ' Army of Darkness.You know, I completely lost track of this thread through last week being so busy but I have to mention that the day-for-night scene during the capture of the harpies *is* corrected on the Blu-ray release. Okay, we don't get any new documentaries on this release, but you really can't fault it for supplying, as it does, two brand new Blu-ray commentaries that go, in-depth, into the production itself, courtesy of one Mister Ray Harryhausen, and one that probes the legacy, the techniques and the innovation from a modern-day filmmaker's perspective, as well as commenting on the hi-def transfer, courtesy of one Mister Peter Jackson.

If you know anything about these old Harryhausen films, you know that they don't, no matter what you do to the print, or how you transfer it, look anywhere near the standards by which many designate hi-definition. Niall MacGinnis' Zeus, for instance, can sound brighter and louder when you flick to the mono track, but the lossless variant supplies some nice subtle echoing to his voice that works better, I think. It is also great the way that these two, who have undergone extensive collaboration together and must these films intimately, manage to keep the track bubbling and interesting for us, too. Day for night scenes never convince me it's really night, so that particular aspect won't bother me. But this is the nature of the beast - and certainly not something that you can put down to the transfer.This may be an issue for someone like Robert Harris to address and work with the studio in correcting the films with this problem. Finance is provided by PayPal Credit (a trading name of PayPal UK Ltd, Whittaker House, Whittaker Avenue, Richmond-Upon-Thames, Surrey, United Kingdom, TW9 1EH). The Harryhausen Legacy is a 25-minute tribute from the industry's biggest fans of fx-bods and filmmakers, who all recount how they were first introduced to his movies and how the experience utterly transformed and influenced them. Peter doesn't seem quite convinced by his companion's assertions over just when Jason's skeleton-skewering sword transformed into a stop-motion model, though.

On the DVD, you can see the deep blue sky above their heads in certain shots, and you can tell from the light on their faces that this is far sunnier occasion than the shade would suggest. actually waiting on the single disc releases of two of the films from the first set, at this time, the only rumor that i have heard is that a new version of the 3 worlds of gulliver are pending, but uncertian if it is a planned blu release. There is some print damage in the shot that pans across the faces of the crew as they witness the figurehead of Hera speak (this has always been present), but, all things considered, this is remarkably blemish-free and clean. Utterly cringe-worthy with Landis' woefully unprofessional style totally overbearing and patronising, this is possibly classic parody material.Only available in The Wonderful Worlds of Ray Harryhausen Volume Two: 1961-1964 box set with Mysterious Island and First Men in the Moon (limited to 6,000 copies). I wish they'd had the nerve to do as Harryhausen wanted and stage the skeleton fight at night; that would have really been something!