Warner Home Video
Region : 1
Length : 118min
Languages : English; French
Subtitles : English; French; Spanish; Portuguese; Japanese; Chinese; Bahasa;
Thai & Korean
Extras : Conversation with Ray Harryhausen; Map of Myths and Monsters; Trailer
Harry Hamlin....Perseus
Judi Bowker....Andromeda
Burgess Meredith....Ammon
Laurence Olivier....Zeus
Claire Bloom....Hera
Maggie Smith....Thetis
Ursula Andress....Aphrodite
Siân Phillips....Cassiopeia
Flora Robson....Stygian Witch
Anna Manahan....Stygian Witch
Freda Jackson....Stygian Witch
Tim Pigott-Smith....Thallo
Neil McCarthy....Calibos
Jack Gwillim....Poseidon
Susan Fleetwood....Athena
Pat Roach....Hephaestus
Donald Houston....Acrisius
Vida Taylor....Danae
Harry Jones....Huntsman
Directed by Desmond Davis
Writing credits Beverley Cross
Ray Harryhausen....producer
John Palmer....associate producer
Charles H. Schneer....producer
Original music by Laurence Rosenthal
Cinematography by Ted Moore
Film Editing by Timothy Gee
Casting by Sam Christensen Irene Lamb Joyce Robinson
Production Design by Frank White
Art Direction by Giorgio Desideri Fernando Gonzalez Peter Howitt Don Picton
Costume Design by Emma Porteus
Colin Arthur....special makeup effects
Stephanie Kaye....hair stylist
Basil Newall....makeup artist
Connie Reeve....makeup artist
Mario Pisani....production supervisor: Italy
Luis Roberts....production supervisor: Spain
Gerry Gavigan....second assistant director
Terry Madden....second assistant director
Anthony Waye....first assistant director
Colin Chilvers....model maker
Harry Cordwell...set dresser
Bob Cross....construction manager (as Robert Cross)
Cathy Hill....painter: production paintings (uncredited)
David Lusby....production buyer
Bill McLaren....construction manager
Janet Stevens....model maker
Sound Department
Robin Clarke....music editor
Robin Gregory....sound mixer
Graham V. Hartstone....dubbing mixer
Nicolas Le Messurier....dubbing mixer
Gordon K. McCallum....chief dubbing mixer
Terry Poulton....sound effects editor
Terry Sharratt....boom operator
Visual Effects by
Dennis Bartlett....blue screen technician
Cliff Culley....special miniatures
Roy Field....special opticals
Ray Harryhausen....visual effects
Frank Van der Veer....special opticals
Ferdinando Poggi....stunt co-ordinator
Steven Archer....assistant to Ray Harryhausen
Mike Bulley....clapper loader
Bryan Coates....location manager
Jim Danforth....animator (uncredited) assistant to Ray Harryhausen
Keith Denny....wardrobe supervisor
Ralph Faulkner....fight choreographer
Anthony Gaudioz....focus puller (as Tony Gaudioz)
Helen Gill....wardrobe mistress
Keith Hamshere....still photographer
Norma Hazelden....production assistant
Nick Maley....prosthetics technician (uncredited)
George Marshall....production accountant
John May....chief electrician
Mike Roberts....camera operator
Enzo Sisti....accountant (uncredited)
Brian Smithies....floor/physical effects
Doreen Soan....continuity
Herbert W. Spencer....orchestrator
Jimmy Spoard....camera grip
Ann Tasker....unit publicist
Christopher Thompson....assistant editor
Egil S. Woxholt....underwater and aerial cameraman
Clash of the Titans is a re-working of the Greek Myth of Perseus and Andromeda. Andromeda was cursed to ask each suitor a riddle – if they could not answer it they died. She could never have true love after she spurned Calibos who had been turned into a monster by Zeus. Perseus (Harry Hamlin), who was one of many mortal sons of Zeus (Laurence Olivier), loved Andromeda (Judi Bowker) and was determined to win her – which he did with the help of the Gods.
Clash of the Titans was the last film by special effects master Ray Harryhausen and his producer partner Charles H Schneer before they decided (after 35 years in cinema) to retire. Instead of going out with a whimper he went out with one of his grandest films – a $15 million film that set the standard for model effects work that could only be beaten by today’s CGI based epics. Of cause it is not perfect, Harry Hamlin does not look the hero type, and was cursed by a ‘haircut from hell’ not matched until Kirk Russell in StarGate. The all-star cast was underused, (Ursula Andress only has one line, although she stands in the background of Mount Olympus looking lovely) except for Maggie Smith, Laurence Olivier and Burgess Meredith.
(Burgess Meredith was brought in because the American money insisted on a well-known American in the main cast, and he plays the part of the Classical Greek Theatre Muse and Chorus – to advise the hero and let the audience know what is happening – very well indeed).
The use of a named actor (Neil McCarthy) to wear makeup and be the speaking Calibos was also a first in a Harryhausen film, an idea that works remarkably well.
The DVD itself is unfortunately a disappointment. The print can, at best, be described as ‘variable’. While some of the scenes are as clean and bright and can be, some of them, and not just the effects shots, have such terrible grain and colour shifts that it just makes me wonder what Warner Brothers were doing. I can only suppose that this is just a copy of the 1993 Laserdisc, with no attempt at cleanup. For example Mount Olympus was filmed with a sheen to make it look different from earth, on this disc it just looks foggy and out of focus. The sound is quite good for twenty-year-old Dolby Surround, the dialogue is clear and the music and sound effects sound not too bad for their age. The extras are another matter. The conversation with Ray Harryhausen looks as if it was filmed ten years ago, and some misguided person at Warner has put MTV type flashes between almost every sentence (mustn’t have the poor American viewers concentrate for more than a minute at a time). The ‘Map of Myths and Monsters’ is in reality just a continuation of the conversation – chopped into bits with more flashes. What Ray Harryhausen has to say about the film is, of cause, still very interesting.
Clash of the Titans was not a great success in the cinemas; in truth there were many reason why. (It was cut by the distributor by about 1 minute to get an old ‘A’ certificate – naked ladies, no matter how photographed, were not allowed in family films in those days, and as for ‘Fantasy Violence’…) Sword & Sorcery and Fantasy had moved on after the success of ‘Star Wars’ and Clash of the Titans had to compete with ‘Raiders of the Lost Ark’ in the adventure field and ‘Dragonslayer’ in the Fantasy stakes. By 1981 it seemed that everyone wanted to make a special effects film, and audiences wanted more than just model work.
All in all this DVD is a must for the Harryhausen fans – but the quality of the picture will not endear it to the casual viewer.
page done autumn 2002