More Harryhausen

 

 (themoviedb)

THE CLASH OF THE TITANS-1981-Baby Perseus and his mom are sacrificed to the sea by evil king, Acrisius (Donald Houston). But Perseus is actually the Son of Zeus who had a dalliance with mom Danae. Zeus orders Poseidon (Jack Gwillin) to release the Kraken and destroy the king's city. He also makes sure mom & son are safe on an island. Later when Perseus (Harry Hamlin) has grown, the goddess Thetis (Maggie Smith), mad that Zeus (Sir Lawrence Olivier) has condemned her son Calibos (Neil McCarthy), transports Perseus to the cursed city Joppa where he meets playwright Ammon (Burgess Meredith). The gods send him a sword, shield and helmet that makes him invisible. In the city, he uses the helmet to gain access to visit the princess, Andromeda (Judi Bowker), former fiancé to Calibos. He watches while her soul is carried off in a cage by a huge vulture. He captures the winged horse Pegasus so he can follow the vulture. Trailing the giant bird leads him to the swamp of Calibos, who has laid the curse on Joppa, because of his love for the princess. When A's mother, the queen (Sian Phillips) offers up her daughter, Perseus wins her and makes Calibos break the curse. Later Thetis demands Andromeda be sacrificed to the Kraken or Joppa will be destroyed. Ammon figures 3 witches (Freda Jackson, Anna Mahanan & Flora Robeson) will know how to stop the Kraken so Perseus, Andromeda and Ammon go to find them after Pegasus is kidnapped by Calibos. Perseus loses his helmet but that's replaced by Bubo, a mechanical owl! The witches tell him to go to the isle of the dead and slay the Medusa. Her head will turn the Kraken to stone. They encounter a skeleton ferry man, a two headed dog and bow and arrow wielding serpents. Then giant scorpions created by Medusa’s blood (thanks to Colicos). After Perseus and Colicos have a showdown, with Bubo's help, Perseus gets Pegasus back and saves the day and Andromeda. Also with Claire Bloom as Hera, Ursula Andress and pro-wrestler Pat Roach. 

This of course features wonderful stop action sfx by the legendary Ray Harryhausen which is the highlight of this ok all-star production. Directed by Desmond Daves and written by Beverley Cross who earlier had penned JASON AND THE ARGONAUNTS (1963) and SINBAD AND THE EYE OF THE TIGER (1977).

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Hercules The First

 

 (themoviedatabase)

HERCULES-1958-The legendary hero of Greek myth (Steve Reeves) saves Princess Iole (Sylva Koscina). Her father, the king of Iolcus (Ivo Garrani) wants Herc to train his “his weak and impulsive” son, Iphitus (Mimmo Palmara) to "fortify” Iolcus so he can step down and give his son the throne. He helps a young Ulysses (Gabriele Antonio) improve his bow skills. After Herc shows up Iphitus in training, the heir to the throne is killed by a lion. The king and Iole blame Hercules (even though Iphitus set the whole thing up). Herc tells Sybil (Lidia Alfonsi), the oracle, he doesn't want to be a god anymore. Later, Jason (Fabrizio Mioni) appears and he and Herc gather up the Argonauts and go looking for the golden fleece in their ship, The Argo. Their first encounter is with The Amazons led by Queen Antea (Gianna Maria Canale). Later Jason slays a dragon and gets the fleece. 

This blockbuster movie directed by Pietro Francisci (who also made the sequel the next year) started the whole “sand and sandal” genre with countless imitations to follow.

According to some sources, the roar of the dragon that guards the fleece is actually Godzilla's roar from the original movie. Since Joseph Levine distributed both movies, it's probably right. Mario Bava was the cinema-tographer. Lead actress Koscina went on to make many more movie appearances in-cluding JUDEX (1963), Fellini's JULIET OF THE SPIRITS (1965), LISA AND THE DEVIL (1973) and many others. Of course, strongman Reeves starred in the sequel, HERCULES UNCHAINED in 1959. 

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Harryhausen

 

 

 (alamy.com)

JASON AND THE ARGONAUTS-1963-Jason (Todd Armstrong) and his men set out on the Argo and have many wild adventures in this super great adaptation from mythology. They encounter a giant animated statue, harpies, a talking masthead, Triton and the sorceress Medea (Nancy Kovack) while in search of the golden fleece. After being betrayed by Acastus (Gary Raymond), Medea helps them. Jason kills the multi-headed Hydra and secures the fleece. In the best part skeleton warriors created from the Hydra's teeth battle the group. All the time, Zeus (Niall MacGinnis) & Hera (Honor Blackman) watch from Olympus. Argonauts include Nigel Greene as Hercules, Lawrence Naismith and uncredited John Crawford. Patrick Troughton is the blind prophet, Phineus. 

English director Don Chaffrey had worked a lot in TV but later made ONE MILLION YEARS B.C. (1966) and CREATURES THAT TIME FORGOT (1971). He later worked in American TV and stuff like PETE'S DRAGON (1977) and C.H.O.M.P.S.(1979). His direction here is good but the main attraction is the fantastic stop animation creatures created by the legendary Ray Harryhausen (also a co-producer). Bernard Herrmann did the soundtrack. It was a critical success but a box office disappointment.

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A Bull In A Maze

 

THE MINOTAUR, THE WILD BEAST OF CRETE-1960-The people of Crete sacrifice young women to the title monster who lives in a labyrinth. On her deathbed the Queen reveals to her husband the King and their daughter, Fedra (Rosanna Schiaffino), that she had another daughter Arianna, Fedra's twin who she hid in another city. Jealous Fedra orders her sister's death. Soldiers find her in a village but before they can act, Theseus (two time US Olympic gold medal decathlon winner Bob Mattias) and his pal Demetro (Rick Battaglia) show up and save her. After much hi-jinx, Arianna (also played by Schiaffino) winds up impersonating her sister and she and Theseus go to the labyrinth where The Minotaur (a man with the head of a bull) and Theseus have a fight. He burns out the creature's eyes and then hits it on the head with a rock. I felt sorry for the monster. 

Paul Muller (later in NIGHTMARE CASTLE) and Alberto Lupo (in ATOM AGE VAMPIRE the same year) are in it too. This Italian production was directed by Silvio Amadio.

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Who Does Her Hair?

 

THE GORGON-1964-In the small village of Vandorf, there have been several murders in the last 5 years. All the victims have been turned to stone but this is never brought out at the inquests. Prof. Jules Heitz (Michael Goodliffe) who's son has been convicted of the latest murder (and suicide) seeks the help of local professor Manaroff (Peter Cushing) who's assistant Carla Hoffman (Barbara Shelly) suspects something. Heitz thinks it's Magera, one of the Gorgons who can turn people to stone. Heitz himself is turned to stone but not before writing a letter to his son Paul (Richard Pasco). It's obvious Manaroff knows more than he admits. Paul briefly sees the Gorgon's reflection and ages badly. 

Fortunately when things start to get dull Paul's mentor Prof. Karl Meister (Christopher Lee) shows up and gives the local police inspector (Patrick Troughton) a hard time. Meister believes Carla is the killer but Paul of course has fallen in love with her. Meister is right. Carla is the snake haired monster. In the climax the Gorgon is beheaded but there's no happy ending.

Terence Fisher directed this interesting Hammer horror film that's a little thin on story. Still it's always good to see Lee and Cushing together as adversaries. Screenplay by director John Gilling.

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The Mighty Ferrigno

HERCULES-1983-After a very cartoonish opening explaining the beginnings of the universe and Pandora's jar (?), some gods (dressed up like a Christmas pageant with Zeus looking like Santa) living on the moon create some kind of super being to combat evil on Earth in the form of the King of Thebes new born son named Hercules. An evil prince has mom and dad killed but a maid saves baby Herc (with Zeus “lending a hand”). Hera (Rossana Podesta) doesn't seem to care much for the baby and sends some strange snake monsters to slay the infant but he kills them instead! His saving and rescue by a childless couple has echoes of Superman and Moses! The bambino grows up to be the legendary strongman (Lou Ferrigno, a year after his TV series THE INCREDIBLE HULK had ended). He kills a bear that killed his father and tosses it into space. The King of Minos (William Berger) and Deadalus (Eva Robins) scheme with Hera to destroy him. Herc fights a metallic bird monster and throws a log into space too. After winning a tournament and cleaning some stables he falls in love with Cass (Ingrid Anderson)) the betrothed daughter of another king (Brad Harris). He gets some help from Circe (Mirella D'Angelo) but Cass is kidnapped by an evil princess (Sybil Danning) who plans to use her as a sacrifice. With a rainbow bridge, a journey to hell and a chariot ride through space.

 

This filmed in Italy Cannon production has laughable acting and SFX. Writer/director Luigi Cozzi (STARCRASH, PAGANINI HORROR) is credited as Lewis Coates.

 

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Hail Atlantis

ATLANTIS THE LOST CONTINENT-1961-While out plying their trade a Greek fisherman Demetrius (Anthony Hall aka Sal Ponti)) and his father rescue Antilla (Joyce Meadows) a bitchy princess ( "Don't touch me. You smell of fish").

Eventually she convinces the superstitious and easily deceived young man to take her back to her home beyond "the pillars of Hercules" which of course turns out to be the legendary Atlantis before it became lost. Somehow they fall in love. After they are picked up by an Atlantean submarine Demetrius is made a slave. Edgar Stehli is Antilla's weak kneed father/king and Ed Platt is the high priest who knows that doomsday is near. Though technically and scientifically advanced (they have a death ray and make human slaves into animal people sort of like in ISLAND OF LOST SOULS) it's an evil and despotic empire. Demetrious battles a giant in the ridiculous ordeal of fire and water to win his freedom and is visited by a blue skinned Neptune in a dream sequence. The scheming Zaran (John Dall) plots with Sonoy the astrologer (Frank DeKova with eye patch and earring) to attack the rest of the world. Demetrious leads a slave uprising just as Atlantis is destroyed but he and his love get away. Berry Kroeger is a scientist ("Why do they always take my best specimens away?" ) and Gene Roth has an un-billed role (and if you had to wear the embarrassing head gear he wears you'd want to be un-billed too!).

William Smith, Jay Novello and Nestor Paiva are also in it with Paul Frees narrating. This George Pal directed fantasy is very entertaining and imaginative but not nearly on the budget of his previous effort THE TIME MACHINE. Some action scenes were lifted from Pal produced THE NAKED JUNGLE and QUO VADIS. It's based on an English play.

Thanks to my pal Tony for getting me this and thanks for reading!