One Million Years B.C. (4 Stars)

I'm watching this film again today because I just heard about Raquel Welch's death. As I write these words, the cause of her death hasn't yet been made public.

The film was made by Hammer Studios in 1966. At the time there was a lot of hype about Raquel. She was called the world's sexiest woman. I never agreed with this description of her, not even when I was younger, but I still liked her. In the 1970's Playboy called her the world's most desired woman. Maybe it just meant that she was the woman Hugh Hefner desired the most. But let's put it into perspective with a little example. Let's say there are ten women, Raquel Welch and nine others. Ten men have to vote who they desire most. Raquel gets two votes, one woman gets no votes, and the other eight women get one vote each. In this hypothetical example, Raquel Welch is voted the most desired woman, even though 80% of the votes are against her.

The film begins with a serious voiceover, sounding like the film was made as a scientific broadcast for the Discovery Channel. We're told that the world is inhabited by dinosaurs and primitive human tribes. The tribes are small, and none of them know anything about one another. This is strange, because the two tribes we see in the film are close to one another. One tribe has dark hair, the other tribe is blond. Let's call them the Darkies and the Blondies.

Tumak is the son of the leader of the Darkie tribe. After an argument with his brother Sakana he leaves the tribe and walks aimlessly through the desert. He collapses from exhaustion and is rescued by Loana from the Blondie tribe.

This is the first glimpse we get of Raquel Welch as Loana.

She's catching fish with the other women of her tribe. She seems to be having fun.

Tomak is accepted into the Blondie tribe, despite his hair colour. Those were the good old days before racism was invented. Maybe people weren't so primitive a million years ago.

Tomak's main interest is in Loana. A million years ago she was the world's most desired woman.

The decision was made to have the people speak in a prehistoric language. I wouldn't have minded them speaking English. I can suspend disbelief. The vocabulary is very limited. Most conversations are made up of the people saying one another's names. The sentences are all one word utterances. "Nakon" means "Kill". "Krast" means "Go away". Other words are "Nian", "Nedi" and "Akita", but I haven't been able to figure out what they mean. I could make guesses, but I'd rather not. Maybe the studio's production notes include a word list.

The film is an example of Ray Harryhausen's skills in special effects. While not up to Jurassic Park standards, it's still amazing how realistic he could make dinosaurs look without the use of computers. He was a genius, far ahead of his time. If you want to see how good he was, just compare him with films made by other special effects artists of his day. Nobody even came close.

Raquel Welch
September 5, 1940 – February 15, 2023

Farewell to Raquel Welch. She was a beautiful actress who will never be forgotten.

Success Rate:  + 17.0

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Earth vs the Flying Saucers (5 Stars)

I like this film. In fact, I love this film, but I'm the first person to admit that it's a product of the 1950's. There's so much that happens that would never be shown in films today, unless it were intended as a parody.

A flying saucer lands in America, so what does the army do?

(a) It welcomes the aliens cordially and offers peace.
(b) It rings up the president and asks for advice.
(c) It rolls out the tanks and shoots at them.

The only possible answer is (c). They don't want aliens in the United States. Shoot first, ask questions later. Build a wall round the Earth to keep them out.

As the film progresses we find the reason for the flying saucers circling the Earth. They're the only survivors from a dead planet. They're looking for a new home. What does America have against refugees? If Germany can accept a million refugees in less than a year, I'm sure that America could take in a few hundred slow-walking creatures in tin suits. Just think of all the technical know-how they could share, giving the USA an advantage over the rest of the world. But no, the army never thought about that. Just shoot them aliens, we don't want them here!

Creepy looking dudes, aren't they?

As in all good films, from the 1950's to today, there's a human element that the audience can relate to. Dr. Russell Marvin, the leader of the United Stares space program, arrives at work two hours after marrying Carol Hanley, a high-ranking army general. Two hours? That hasn't left them much time for a honeymoon, or anything at all. No wonder Carol isn't smiling as she drives her husband to work.

The aliens already know who he is, and they want to speak with him. The army isn't happy about it. They order him to stay in a hotel room and let the politicians do the talking. Typical. The aliens want to talk peace, and they've already picked one of America's biggest geniuses as their negotiating partner, but he's not allowed to talk. Dr. Marvin could have used the free hotel room as a place to enjoy his honeymoon, but no... he sneaks out and has a rendezvous with a flying saucer on the beach. They tell him they want a meeting with all of the world's leaders in Washington after 56 days.

Tempers are frayed on both sides, but maybe a deal about peaceful cohabitation could still have been made. It was never to be. Dr. Marvin begins work on sonic cannons to attack the flying saucers. The aliens see what's happening and declare war on the human race.

These corny looking ray guns are the Earth's last defence. But they're not bad for something invented from scratch in less than eight weeks.

The film might seem comical, but it's not meant as a joke. Try to take it seriously. The 1950's were different times, and the cinema audiences had different expectations. Pretend you're your grandfather, sitting in a drive-in theatre with a king-size cup of Coca Cola in his hand. That's the only way you can enjoy the film.

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One Million Years B.C. (4 Stars)

This film tells a version of prehistoric times that you didn't learn in school. One million years ago there were small human tribes scattered over the Earth at different stages of cultural development. They had to protect themselves from the dinosaurs which wandered around the wastelands looking for food.

The film's hero, Tumak, is the son of his tribe's leader, Akoba. There's no social justice in the tribe. When a wild animal has been cooked the strongest eat first, and the weakest have to fight over the scraps. Just because a man is strong now it doesn't mean he'll always be privileged. While he's at his physical peak he can do whatever he wants, but when he gets old the younger men bully him and don't give him enough food.

Tumak thinks it's his time to step up. He rips the food out of his father's hand, but he soon finds out that he underestimated his father. Akoba wins a fierce battle, so Tumak is banished from the tribe. Tumak almost perishes, but he's found by the women of a blond-haired tribe. They have different ways. They share their food fairly. They even bury their dead, instead of leaving their bodies as food for wild animals.

There's a love story. Dark-haired Tumak falls in love with blond-haired Loana, played by Raquel Welch. Was this the world's first interracial marriage?

"One Million Years B.C." was made in 1966, four years after "Dr. No", which I watched yesterday. Compare the pictures of Ursula Andress and Raquel Welch, both screenshots from the respective films.

There's an uncanny resemblance. Actually, they should be even more alike. Raquel Welch's skin is darker. She only looks pale because of the film's lighting.

But the similarity doesn't stop there. They sound the same in the two films. When "Dr. No" was filmed Ursula Andress's Swiss accent was too strong to be easily understood, so her voice was dubbed by the German actress Nikki van der Zyl. It's no good checking the voice with other films. Nikki dubbed Ursula's voice in her other English language films.

Raquel Welch's Latin American accent was also considered too strong, so Nikki dubbed her voice in "One Million Years B.C." I have difficulty understanding why. The film's dialogue is all in a primitive language which seems to have a vocabulary of less than 10 words, so it shouldn't have been a problem for Raquel to speak her own lines. Ah, the mysteries of cinema!

Nikki Van Der Zyl

There's another curiosity about the film. Among the promotional stills released for the film there was a photo of Raquel Welch hanging on a cross. She's wearing an outfit similar to the cloth bikini she wears in the film, but I can guarantee you that she isn't crucified in the film. It's a very sexy photograph, delightfully sacrilegious, but otherwise totally irrelevant.

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Earth vs the Flying Saucers (5 Stars)

30 films to watch before you die, #1

I've appointed this month, November 2015, as my "30 films to watch before you die" month. I completed my list recently, after two years of pondering, and even after publishing it in my blog last month I've been having second thoughts about what should and shouldn't be in the list. It's not so much what shouldn't be in, it's what should be in. There are so many other films that are good enough to be in the list, but I had already decided to make it a list of 30 films, not 50 or 100, so I had to make painful cuts.

I've imposed four restrictions on the list:

1. Only films in the English language.
2. No more than one film by the same director.
3. No more than two films from the same year.
4. Only films that are easily available.

The first restriction is entirely arbitrary. There are many good films in other languages. I've only made this restriction in order to make my choices easier by reducing the number of potential films for the list.

The second restriction is to make my list more varied. I have a few favourite directors, and I might feel tempted to include half a dozen films by each of them. Having this restriction spreads the list more.

The third restriction is one that I made out of desperation. Even after making the first two restrictions I still had more than 50 films in my list. I noticed that I had a few clusters of films, for instance I had five films made in 1996. By imposing this restriction it was easier to make cuts, for instance I knew that three of the 1996 films had to go. I almost decided to have a maximum of one film per year, but that would have distorted my list too much.

The fourth restriction is for purely practical reasons. If I'm recommending essential films to my viewers, it would be unfair of me to include films that are out of print and impossible to find anywhere. In my case, this restriction only led to the omission of one film, "The Paperboy", which has never been released on DVD in America or England.

I'm sure the list will be controversial. There are no Alfred Hitchcock or Orson Welles films. It's my personal list. There's a disproportionate number of science fiction films in the list, but I make no apologies, I like science fiction films. On the other hand, the list isn't just a list of my 30 favourite films. I've omitted a few of my favourite films to make room for films which I consider to be important. For instance, I don't consider "Scream" to be one of the best two films of the fateful year 1996, but it's such an important film in the history of horror films that it would have been criminal to exclude it.

I posted a list of the 30 films in my blog last month. I've decided to remove the post, which is something I never usually do. This will make the choice of my 30 films to watch before you die more exciting for my readers who either didn't read that post or have forgotten what I included. Everyone will have to wait for the next film each day.

Now for my first film in the list. Rather than rank the films in order of importance, which would have made the list even more controversial, I'm watching them in chronological order. I'm starting in 1956, which means that I've ignored the first 40 years of the history of cinema. Maybe I could have added a further restriction, at least one film per decade, but I'll stick to what I've decided on. Almost half of the films in my list are from the 1990's, but I can't help it, it was such a good decade for films.

One more general point: I've already watched and reviewed most of the 30 films in my list. I don't like to write new reviews which just repeat what I've already said, so some of my reviews this month may be short. I'll at least write enough to explain why I think each film is worthy of being included in this list.

"Earth vs the Flying Saucers" is well known as being one of the first films featuring the special effects of Ray Harryhausen. I doubt anybody except for the most hardcore film buff could remember who directed it. It was Fred Sears, a man who made films for less than 10 years before dying in 1957 at the age of 44. If the action and pacing of this film is anything to go by, he had talent which he could have built upon if he had lived longer. But the fact remains that this film will be remembered for Ray Harryhausen's iconic flying saucers, which have been imitated in countless films and television series for the last 50 years.

I could have picked other films featuring Ray Harryhausen's animations, but this film is close to my heart. As I've already said, I love science fiction films. Apart from the flying saucers themselves Ray's animations are limited to the destruction of buildings in this film, not the dinosaurs and fantasy creatures he's most famous for.

One small thing I'd like to point out is that the colouring of this film is surprisingly good. Even though I've owned this DVD containing a coloured version for a few years I've never watched it before today. I was always a snob and thought that the original black and white version must be better. After checking it out I would say that both versions are equally good.

If you like this film I recommend any of Ray Harryhausen's other films, especially

• Jason and the Argonauts
• Clash of the Titans
• One Million Years B.C.

Jason and the Argonauts (1963 version) (4½ Stars)

The Gods are best served by the ones who want their help least.

I don't know why I didn't watch this film in May 2013 when I watched a series of Ray Harryhausen's films after his death. In fact, I assumed that I did watch it then, but my film diary doesn't list it, so I know that I didn't. Even if nobody ever read it, my blog is important to me to remind me of what I watched and when. Back to September 2010, at least. I wish I had started my blog years earlier, at the latest in 2003 when I bought my first DVD player. I'm pretty sure that "Jason and the Argonauts" was one of the first films I bought on DVD, but I can't remember the last time I watched it. I just know that it was before September 2010.

I decided to watch the film again today after watching the new version yesterday. It's good to compare them with one another. Without criticising the new version at all, I have to admit that the original version is better. Something about it is just magical. I couldn't help feeling a tingle of excitement when the first of Ray Harryhausen's big effects happened, namely the giant statue of Talos creaking into life. Magnificent! And the skeleton battle must be one of the most thrilling battles on film ever.

The DVD that I watched today is fuzzy in parts. It was remastered for Blu-ray in 2010. Tempting. I might invest in a replacement.

20 Million Miles to Earth (5 Stars)

Yesterday I criticised the film "Young Nurses" for being dated. It seemed so old and has no relevance to today. The film I watched today, "20 Million Miles to Earth", is even older. It was made in 1957, so it's 56 years old now, and yet it doesn't seem old at all. I watched it, of course, for Ray Harryhausen's special effects, but the film has much more than that. It's thrilling and exciting from beginning to end. There's not one wasted minute. The action begins in the opening scenes, but that doesn't mean that there's no character development. We get to know the characters, such as the fishermen and the young boy Pepe, in the way they react to the dramatic events. There's a romance in the film, but it's slotted in without taking any time from the action and suspense. The film is a masterpiece, and I attribute it to the skills of the director Nathan Juran, best known for making science fiction and fantasy films in the 1950's and 1960's.

America has sent a manned mission to Venus. The ship returns and crashes into the sea off the coast of Sicily. Only one of the astronauts survives. The team has brought back a creature from Venus to be studied, but it escapes and goes on a rampage in southern Italy.

I'm very impressed with the colour version. As I stated in my review of "It came from beneath the sea" I prefer to watch the original version of films, but once more the coloured version is far superior. Technology certainly has come a long way.

It came from beneath the sea (4 Stars)

Havoc! Chaos! Destruction! Male chauvinism!

This film might be only 60 years old, but the portrayal of male-female relationships could be from the dark ages. Lesley Joyce is a university professor, a strong independent woman, you might think. But as soon as she meets submarine commander Pete Matthews she becomes weak and melts into his arms. He's a man who takes charge. He doesn't ask her if she wants to dance, he tells her to dance with him. He's pure neanderthal, but she likes it. The film includes a few small speeches about modern woman, but they seem patronising, and the film's action contradicts what is said.

Until now I've always avoided coloured versions of black and white films. I've always said that films should be viewed the way they were intended. In this case I had to rethink. While watching I flicked between the original and coloured version for a few minutes, before finally deciding that the coloured version is superior. Ray Harryhausen's giant octopus looks much more realistic in colour. I might even go back and watch "Plan 9 from outer space" in colour.

Earth vs the Flying Saucers (5 Stars)

I watched this film today for the first time in many years. It's every bit as exciting as I remember it. Sure, it's dated. The repeated voiceovers give away the film's age: it was made in 1956, more than 50 years ago.

Dr. Russell Marvin is overseeing a project to send 12 unmanned satellites into Earth orbit to prepare for space exploration. While he is driving to the launch site with his wife a flying saucer swoops down over his car. As a good scientist he tries to rationalise it and denies what he's seen. This changes when he finds out that all 11 satellites launched so far have been destroyed. He is invited into a flying saucer, where he is informed that after two months the aliens will assume rule over the Earth.

The influence of this film over later films can't be overemphasised. Tim Burton's "Mars Attacks" blatantly copies imagery, but as they say, "Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery". The flying saucers used by the Daleks in the Doctor Who television series are identical to these, externally at least. If anyone were asked to sketch a flying saucer it would look like the ones created by Ray Harryhausen for this film. His images have imprinted themselves upon our collective consciousness.

On an unrelated topic, today I started compiling a list of "30 films to watch before you die". I chose the number 30 because that way the films can be watched one a day within a month, but I'm already regretting it. My initial list contains 52 films, including "Earth vs the Flying Saucers", and it will be a hard choice deciding what to throw out. Maybe I should just give up and pick 50 films, as most similar lists do.

Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger (4 Stars)

This is the third and final part of Ray Harryhausen's Sinbad trilogy. It should have been called "The 10th Voyage of Sinbad", because the name the film was given doesn't make sense in the slightest. Eye of the tiger? What tiger? What eye? Yes, there's a sabre-tooth tiger in one of the final scenes, but it has no more significance than any of the other monsters in the film. And if I counted right it has two eyes. I'm curious who picked the silly name of this film and why.

Sinbad travels to the land of Charak to ask permission to marry the princess. When he arrives he finds that her brother, the heir to the throne, has been turned into a monkey by a witch who wants her own son to become ruler. Sinbad takes the prince to a wizard called Melanthius to be turned human again.

Yet another actor steps into the shoes of Sinbad, and this time it's Patrick Wayne, who was fortunate enough to inherit the good looks of his father John, but not fortunate enough to inherit his acting abilities. Jane Seymour outshines him, but admittedly her damsel-in-distress role doesn't demand much acting from her. The most outstanding actor in the film is Patrick Troughton, who plays the great wizard Melanthius.

I've read that some film fans have got excited over Jane Seymour exposing her breast in this film. I missed it, I must have blinked. In my opinion it's silly to get worked up over something that might only have been in a single frame, i.e. 1/24th of a second. Who cares? It's not like she has exceptional beauty. Some people get excited when a "serious actress" exposes her flesh. I don't. If I want to see nude flesh there are much better films. Anything directed by Fred Olen Ray would be more suitable.

The Golden Voyage of Sinbad (4½ Stars)

This is the second film in Ray Harryhausen's Sinbad trilogy, filmed in 1973, 15 years after the first part. A new actor steps into the role of Sinbad. In the first film it was Kerwin Matthews, in this film it's John Law. Both are unknowns, even though a quick glance in IMDB has shown me that John Law has appeared in two other films in my DVD collection, "Barbarella" and "Tarzan the Ape Man". Two of the supporting characters are better known. The evil magician Koura is played by Tom Baker, well known for playing Doctor Who from 1974 to 1981. The slave girl Margiana is played by Caroline Munro, one of the sexiest British actresses of the 1960's and 1970's, who later went on to be a Bond girl in "The spy who loved me" (1977). Her face is still familiar to older people from England (including me), because she appeared in advertisements for Lamb's Navy Rum on television, in magazines and on billboards from 1969 to 1979. It could be argued that she had the best known face of the 1970's.

The plot? Sinbad discovers a golden amulet by chance while at sea. He then discovers that it is only part of a larger golden artifice, and he sets out on a mission to find all the parts. On his voyage he is accompanied by the beautiful slave girl Margiana and pursued by the evil wizard Poura. But as in all of Ray Harryhausen's films the true stars are the monsters, or "misunderstood creatures", as he preferred to call them.

There's a scene in the film where Sinbad battles with a statue of the Goddess Kali. When I was younger I was fascinated by Kali. It wasn't her religious significance, it was her appearance. Something about a naked busty woman with four arms, adorning herself with the heads of men she has killed, seemed incredibly sexy. Unfortunately she doesn't have the same sex appeal in this film. In this film the statue has six arms, which I at first considered a mistake, but on researching I've found that she originally had ten arms, but as time progressed she was portrayed with less arms, down to a minimum of four.

The Seventh Voyage of Sinbad (4½ Stars)

This is the first film in Ray Harryhausen's Sinbad trilogy, made way back in 1958. There are very few films that I watch that are so old. Most of the films I watch were made in 1990 or later. But this is a classic, a true masterpiece. It tells a tale of a lost age when Islam was characterised by glamorous adventurers and exotic dancing girls. What happened? How did Islam turn into the religion of hate that we know nowadays? It might not be the only reason, but one factor was the way Moslems used to party. They used to drink wine and enjoy themselves. That would be a solution today. Instead of running round the streets killing off-duty soldiers Moslems should go to the pub and drink a few pints of beer with their friends. They might even make new friends. This would further peace and understanding.

The film has nothing to do with any of the mythical seven voyages of Sinbad. It would be better to call it the eighth voyage to denote a new start. Sinbad's ship is driven by a storm onto the island Colossa. His men are attacked by a Cyclops, but a magician called Sokurah who lives on the island saves them. Sokurah leaves the island with Sinbad, but in the process he loses his magic lamp. He tricks Sinbad into returning to the island to retrieve his lamp, and fearful adventures ensue.

Mysterious Island (4 Stars)

Yet another classic Ray Harryhausen film. The film that I'm reviewing is the 1961 film version of the Jules Verne novel. As far as I know "Mysterious Island" has been filmed nine times, in 1916, 1929, 1941, 1951, 1961, 1973, 2005 and twice in 2012. Apart from this, the book was the main inspiration for the television series "Lost". I've read that a blatant hint is that a copy of the book is seen being read by someone in "Lost", but I'm still in the middle of the first season, so I can't comment any further. On a side note, it's always important to pay attention to what books film characters read on screen. It's never a random choice. The director always puts a book in a character's hand to give a message. For instance, in "Donnie Darko" Donnie's mother is seen in the garden reading Stephen King's "It". It would be interesting to see a list of books being read in films.

The film begins during the American Civil War in 1865. A small group of soldiers escape from a Confederate prison camp in Virginia by stealing a hot air balloon. They try to flee into Union territories, but a severe storm makes the balloon impossible to control, and it is swept far into the Pacific Ocean. Eventually they crash land on a volcanic island inhabited by giant creatures. These are animated with amazing precision by Ray Harryhausen. Late in the film, in the last half hour, Captain Nemo appears, who has been hiding on the island all this time. He tells them he has been working in secret, mutating creatures into giants in order to solve the world's hunger problem. But the clock is ticking. The volcano is due to erupt again, and they have to leave before they are killed.

The 3 Worlds of Gulliver (4½ Stars)

I seem to be watching Ray Harryhausen's films backwards. "Clash of the Titans" was made in 1981, "The First Men in the Moon" was made in 1964, and this film was made in 1960. It's just a coincidence, I'm picking them at random.

The film is based on the first two parts of "Gulliver's Travels", written by the Irish novelist Jonathan Swift in 1726. The three worlds are England, Lilliput and Brobdingnag. The adventures in Lilliput closely follow the novel. The introduction in England and the adventures in Brobdingnag have very little to do with Swift's novel.

The story takes place in 1699. England is at war with France, and Gulliver's patients have no money to pay for his services. He signs up as the ship's doctor on a voyage to India so that he can afford to buy a house and marry his fiancee, Gwendolyn. When they are at sea Gwendolyn is discovered stowing away below deck. After the ship passes Spain there is a storm that destroys the ship.

Gulliver is washed ashore on an island called Lilliput, where the inhabitants are very small. In the novel they are described as being about 6 inches tall, but in the film they're smaller, closer to 2 inches. At first the Lilliputians fear him, but he wins their trust by working for them. They ask him to defeat their enemy, the island of Blefescu, with whom they are at war over a dispute about how to open eggs. Gulliver tows away the whole naval fleet of Blefescu, but he refuses to kill anyone. This angers the emperor of Lilliput, so he flees in a new boat he has built himself.

Gulliver lands at another undiscovered island called Brobdingnag, on which the inhabitants are 70 feet tall. (That's the height in the novel, they seem bigger in the film). He is captured by a young girl called Glumdalclitch, who takes him to the king. Gwendolyn is waiting for him, having been stranded in Brobdingnag since the storm. The king welcomes him, but it soon becomes apparent that they are prisoners, not allowed to leave the palace. The king's physician is jealous and attempts to have Gulliver burnt, but Glumdalclitch rescues them by putting them in her basket and throwing them in the sea.

Luckily the water currents carry the basket from the South Atlantic back to England. And they live happily ever after.

I greatly enjoyed this film, even more than the book. The novel was written as a political satire, but the film is more of a critique on morals and philosophy. I can relate to Gulliver. In fact, he speaks words that could have come from my own lips. The small people around him are petty, and he tries to lift them up to his own level. The big people around him are bullies, and he has to fight to retain his individuality. For him the most important thing in his life is loving his partner, Gwendolyn, and the second most important thing is doing good to others. The novel actually doesn't have anyone called Gwendolyn, but she is a welcome addition to the film.

First Men in the Moon (4 Stars)

This is an eponymous film adaptation of a novel by H.G. Wells that was written in 1901. The novel has been filmed several times from 1919 to 2010, but this version, made in 1964, is the most famous. Why? Because it features special effects by Ray Harryhausen.

The film begins and ends in the near future, i.e. shortly after 1964, and features the first manned flight to the Moon. When the astronauts explore the surface they find a UK flag and a document dated 1899. The astronauts radio the names on the document back to the Earth. The space agency visits an old man in a nursing home who is considered mad because he claims to have walked on the Moon. From that point on the majority of the film takes place in the 19th Century as he recounts what has happened.

In 1899 a petty conman called Arnold Bedford met an eccentric scientist, Joseph Cavor, who had made a ground breaking invention. He had discovered a liquid which, when applied as paint, shields objects from the effects of gravity. The two men, together with Arnold's fiancee Kate, used a painted metal sphere to fly to the Moon. It's interesting that the sphere had no controls, mechanical or otherwise. They just looked up, saw the Moon and aimed at it. Luckily they didn't miss. The three explorers found that the Moon was inhabited by a colony of highly intelligent giant ants who lived underground, thus escaping detection from Earth telescopes. At first the explorers considered the creatures, who called themselves Selenites, to be hostile. As they got to know them they realised that they are peaceful but scared, since they knew about the warlike nature of human beings and feared a full invasion.

I enjoyed the film throughout, apart from the final five minutes which were an anti-climax. There is relatively little work done by Ray Harryhausen, none at all in the first half of the film, but what he does is excellent.

Nowadays a lot of people prefer to watch films online, legally or otherwise. It's said that this is the future of watching films. I find that a shame. It's true that DVDs take up a lot of room. I own thousands of them, and it's difficult to store them all. They're in bookcases, in boxes and lying around loose. I try to keep order, but only two days ago I flew into a panic when I couldn't find a DVD I wanted to watch. Nevertheless, look at what you get. After watching the film on my shiny silver disc I clicked on "Special Features", and what did I find? There was a 60-minute documentary on the life of Ray Harryhausen, loving narrated by Leonard Nimoy. I enjoyed this documentary more than the film itself. Apart from words by Ray himself, we see actors and directors giving their opinions of the great man. I was particularly moved by Tom Hanks telling us that "Jason and the Argonauts" is the best film ever made. People who watch this film online will miss out. Whatever else may come in the future, I plead that DVDs, Blu-rays and other hard copy versions will never be abandoned completely.

Clash of the Titans (5 Stars)

Over the next two weeks I will be rewatching some of Ray Harryhausen's films. Maybe back to back, I haven't decided yet, but not in any particular order. The film that I watched today, made in 1981, was his last film. After this he retired because he saw that the advances in computer technology were making changes to film special effects. The days of stop motion animation had ended. But what a climax this was! This film was the peak of Ray's artistic career and contains more special effects than any film he had made before.

Talking about "Clash of the Titans" as a Ray Harryhausen film makes me smile. Most people who watch films casually know the major actors. When they say something like "That's my favourite Brad Pitt film" we know they mean "That's my favourite film that Brad Pitt starred in". People who are more serious film fans know the names of directors and can see a pattern, a stylistic thread that runs through each one's films. "I'm waiting to see the next Steven Spielberg film" is a common utterance, meaning the next film directed by Steven Spielberg. But that's it. How many people can name the producer of any current film? The producer is an important person in any film, and yet he remains unknown. Apart from two minutes of fame at awards ceremonies he remains in the background. And what about the sound engineers, the cameramen, and all the other people essential to the creation of films? Only industry insiders know their names.

But with Ray Harryhausen it's different. He was unique. He wasn't an actor, and he never directed any films. And yet his name is known to film fans throughout the world. His fame eclipses the directors and actors that he worked with, even though he only created special effects. Let me prove it. Does anyone remember the name of the director of "Clash of the Titans"? Ask that in your next pub quiz. It was Desmond Davis. I can already see the blank look on the faces when they're told the answer. "Who's he?" And who played the leading role in "Clash of the Titans"? Blank faces again? It was Harry Hamlin. Maybe a few people will remember that the great Laurence Olivier played Zeus, but not many. The name of Ray Harryhausen will always be the name associated with this film.

I don't really have to say much about the plot. This is an evergreen film that is repeated on television ad nauseam. In England it seems to be shown at Easter, though I don't see the connection. It's an old Greek myth. Perseus, a son of Zeus, has to carry out great tasks before he is allowed to marry Princess Andromeda. While watching it today I was reminded of the opening words of the televison series "Hercules", which was certainly influenced by this film:

This is the story of a time long ago, a time of myth and legend, when the Earth was still young. The ancient gods were petty and cruel, and they plagued mankind with suffering and beseiged them with terrors.

One Million Years B.C. (4½ Stars)

Forget what you learnt in school. This is the way the world really began. There were scattered cavemen tribes in the desert hunting for food and fighting with dinosaurs to survive. Turok is expelled from his tribe after fighting with one of the leaders. He wanders through the desert until he finds a new tribe, in particular the beautiful Loana.

This was a film made in England by Hammer studios in 1966. The main focus of the advertising campaign  was Raquel Welch, who plays the blonde cavewoman Loana. In the 1960's she was being promoted as the world's sexiest woman. (I admit it, knowing I would watch this film next was one of the reasons for my last post). I found this strange. Sure, she was attractive, but I didn't find her exceptional. There were many actresses in the 1960's who were sexier, such as Wendy Padbury, Imogen Hassall and Ingrid Pitt. Even more beautiful than those is Yutte Stensgaard, but she didn't become popular until the early 1970's. But my point is that Raquel Welch looks plain compared to any of these actresses. I admit I've only seen a few of her films, but none of them could convince me to change my mind.

Of course, I didn't watch this film today because I'm interested in getting another view of Raquel Welch. The special effects were made by Ray Harryhausen, who died on May 7th. I felt that it was appropriate to watch one of his films to remember him. Though not up to today's technical standards it's amazing how good the special effects could be created without the use of computers. I said it already, he was a giant of cinema who will never be forgotten.

R.I.P. Ray Harryhausen

I only found out a few minutes ago that Ray Harryhausen died three days ago on May 7th. This may be too soon to write a tribute, I'm still sitting here with tears in my eyes. I feel that a man of such greatness has passed from this Earth that the world will never be the same. All of today's "big directors" pay homage to him and name him as influential on their work. His funeral will be a who's who of the entertainment industry. Forget Jim Morrison, Ray Harryhausen's grave will be the place of pilgrimage for decades, maybe centuries to come.

He was truly an old-school special effects man. He did with his hands what today's people do with computers. What are his most famous films? Most people would name "Jason and the Argonauts" and "Clash of the Titans". (Don't you think that the recent remake of the latter fell flat in comparison with the original?) I would add "One Million Years B.C." to that list. But it's unfair to make choices. All of his films have their merits.

There's little else I can say about this great man. Let me just quote remarks made by a few directors.

George Lucas: "Ray has been a great inspiration to us all in special visual industry. The art of his earlier films, which most of us grew up on, inspired us so much. Without Ray Harryhausen, there would likely have been no Star Wars"

Peter Jackson: "The Lord of the Rings is my 'Ray Harryhausen movie'. Without his life-long love of wondrous images and storytelling it would never have been made – not by me at least".

James Cameron: "I think all of us who are practitioners in the arts of science fiction and fantasy movies now feel that we’re standing on the shoulders of a giant. If not for Ray’s contribution to the collective dreamscape, we wouldn’t be who we are".

This is a well-known photo of Harryhausen with one of the skeletons that he made for "Jason and the Argonauts". Looking at it today it holds special symbolism. The skeleton is today's filmmaker, armed with all the weapons of modern technology, looking up helplessly at the giant who gave him life.