Harryhausen on DVD to be complete in March.... (1 Viewer)

[soop.spoon]

dvdfile.com has announced that Fox will release the Harryhausen/Hammer/Welch collaboration One Million Years BC in anamophic widescreen on March 9th.

With Warner's surprise release of Harryhausen's Animal World segment on DVD in November, this release marks the completion of the Harryhausen catalog on DVD. Now I can die happy.


(Now the only thing missing is the top and bottom of the frame on 7th Voyage )

 

[oscar_merkx]

Absolutely fantastic news

 

[Jan Strnad]

I remember almost walking out on One Million Years B.C.. When the first "dinosaur" appeared and it was a dressed-up lizard, I felt stabbed in the heart. I couldn't believe Ray Harryhausen would trade in stop motion animation for iguanas!

Luckily, I stayed in my seat and the "real" dinos made their appearance on cue.

Jan

 

[Stephen PI]

With Warner's surprise release of Harryhausen's Animal World segment on DVD in November, this release marks the completion of the Harryhausen catalog on DVD. Now I can die happy.

Don't die just yet, you've overlooked "Mighty Joe Young" and Ray's fairytales that will hopefully make it to dvd someday.

Quote:
dvdfile.com has announced that Fox will release the Harryhausen/Hammer/Welch collaboration One Million Years BC in anamophic widescreen on March 9th.

I hope this will be the uncut British version that was released on laserdisc several years ago.

 

[soop.spoon]

Yes, he worked on Mighty Joe Young, but personally I wouldn't consider it one of his movies. It would be great to have on DVD, tho.

 

[Dick]

Why not? He has stated in many interviews that the vast majority of Joe's animation was done by him. If you don't call this "his" movie, you also can't claim CLASH OF THE TITANS to be "his," as he had assistance on his last film also.

 

[Jim Peavy]

How is the 7th Voyage DVD? I've been meaning to order it but a friend who has the LD says he prefers it to the DVD (the LD is not letterboxed).

It think 20 Million Miles looks correct (and much better) in it's letterboxed/matted version. Seems like Earth vs. the Flying Saucers and It came from Beneath the Sea are a little more problematic being letterboxed, which makes it strange that 20 Million Miles is the only one (I believe...) with both versions on the disc.

 

[Steve Christou]

Yep there's that little thing called Mighty Joe Young (1949)which contains some of Ray's best work. I'd buy that in a microsecond if it ever comes out on dvd, the animation on Joe is incredible, only downside is the ruffling fur, marks caused when moving the model by hand frame by frame, Kong had the same problem.

Ray Harryhausen fans should look out for his new 300 page hardcover book
An Animated Life, which goes into great detail on all his movies and has a wealth of photos, many in color and many never seen before.

 

[Dick]

Jim: 7th VOYAGE OF SINBAD has, since I first saw it in 1958, been my favorite fantasy film, bar none (although the RINGS trilogy comes close). The combination of Harryhausen's best creatures and animation, a delightful Arabian Nights atmosphere, Bernard Herrmann's superb score, and the fact that I had a childhood crush on Kathryn Grant all worked together to make this an indelible part of my childhood. Unfortunately, the Columbia DVD is only passable. Though it does correct the color shifting during the cyclops/dragon fight, which has plagued most video releases (but which was not apparent on the 8mm release), the overall color seems drab to me on the DVD. A decision was made not to utilize the stereo soundtrack which Pioneer came up with for the open-matte laser disc. While a stereo track had not existed for the film up to that laser release, I still prefer it, as it accentuates that incredible score. It's a trade-off. The DVD offers a sharper image, as one would expect, and an aspect ratio familiar with anyone who saw it theatrically. But the laser has better sound and a richer color palette. This and JASON AND THE ARGONAUTS are the two films I feel deserve a serious revisit from Columbia for special editions.

 

[RolandL]

The same for Mysterious Island. The laser disc was full screen and stereo sound. The dvd is matted with mono sound.

 

[Jim Peavy]

Thanks much, Dick. I have heard the very same thing about the color on the DVD ("the overall color seems drab to me on the DVD"), so where there's smoke...


Definitely agree. Hopefully eventually, huh?

 

[Joseph Bolus]

Can anybody here tell me what the proper aspect ratio is for One Million Years BC?

I never saw this film in a theater, but TCM had it on about 6 months ago, and the aspect ratio seemed to (disappointedly) be about 1.66:1. I had hoped it was filmed in 2.35:1, or, at least, 1.85:1.

In any event, this will be a welcome addition to my collection!

 

[Jim Peavy]

I bet 1.66:1 is right, seeing as how this is a Hammer (english) film. This is an aspect ratio favored by Hammer quite a bit, I believe.

It's definitely not more than 1.85:1. Seems anything more than that would have to be anamorphic, and I know for a fact Harryhausen's only anamorphically shot film was First Men In the Moon. He said the anamorphic process wrecked such havoc with his FX techniques that he'd never use it again; and he didn't!

 

[Eric Paddon]

I too am interested to know if the DVD for OMYBC will be the longer LD cut or not. It runs ten minutes longer then the US version on VHS.

As much as I love Raquel I will pass on any version of "Myra Breckenridge", no matter how many extras it has, and just get the other titles individually.

 

[David Von Pein]

http://www.thedigitalbits.com/articles/upcomingdvdart/0309/onemillionyearsbcdvd.jpg

 

[David Von Pein]

(Can somebody help me here?? My knees feel a little weak. Oh my-my-my-Myra... )

 

[Paul_Scott]

i never saw the laser version of 7th Voyage so i don't have that to compare it to, but i was pretty damn impressed with the dvd.
especially for a 50 yr old movie.
Columbia early on was putting on first rate transfers consistently and this one was no exception.

Jason and the Argonauts,however, really knocked back in my chair. that disc looks f#@!*ing startling!
aside from the optical shots, the movie looks insanely great.
i've seen new releases from the last year that didn't look as good.

 

[Larry Talbot]

I've read that Golden Voyage is a pretty decent DVD, picture quality wise. Do you all agree?

 

[Steve Christou]

Golden Voyage has a very good picture and good mono sound. I've never seen the effects look so sharp and Caroline Munro's assets stand out so effectively.
But then I'm reviewing the region 2 PAL copy, no idea what the region 1 copy looks like, is it even in focus? [I kid I kid]

 

[Joe Caps]

Hi, I was the producer of the Pioneer Special Edition 7th Voyage of Sinbad. I also remixed the film for stereo. However, at one time, Harryhausen and schneer had planned to mix the film for a stereo rerelease and indeed the final two reels of film is their mix, not mine.
Mr. Harryhausen told me that all of the films shot in Europe(thats from 7th voyage on) were inteded to be shown 1:66 - NOT 1:85.
I slo have aa wonderful letter from Ray thanking me for remixing 7th voyage and Mysterious Island for stereo.
Since these films were not originally released in stereo, Columbia thought they should not release them this way for dVD. However, they thought it was okay to release their own screwy fake stereo release of Bridge on the river Kwai in fake stereo. ( though others say no, Bridge was released in true stereo in 1957 and indeed I know collectors in san franciscoo and New York who have private four channel mag stereo prints of this film).
Anyway, the picture element I had for Seventh Voyage was far from good and had that awful color shifting in the final reel.
Columbia later restored the film and did a new transfer and released this far better transfer on a lser disc boxed set of three Sinbad films but using my stereo track. That transfer is the best looking Sinbad and is full frame with stereo. You can see what it looks like for yourself. All of these Harryhausen DVDs seems to have a long documentary about his work and when they go to scenes from Sinbad, they use that second laser transfer. You can see how much better it looks than the current dvd.
I think I got very good stereo sound for both Sinbad and especially Mysterious Island and I was sad that Columbia did not use it for the dVD. They will probably never redo these dvds.