Theres a beautiful Pegasus, a giant vulture, a two-headed guard dog, and a mighty Kraken.You had invaders from Mars or emissaries from further afield, who brought with them stark warnings and huge silver robots for muscle.There were mutants, blobs, bug-eyed monsters, giant ants and spiders, and fish-men with a thing for bathing beauties.There were plenty of mad scientists, insane experiments, fiendish plans, men with x-ray eyes, and robots with heads like jukeboxes.
Then there were the titles, which struck right to the core of a five-year-old boys imagination When Worlds Collide, It Came From Outer Space, This Island Earth, Forbidden Planet. I could never get enough of seeing the creature crashing through buildings and stomping on fleeing citizens. I never wanted it to stop, and cried when the monster died at the end. That person was stop-motion effects maestro Ray Harryhausen. Id be chased around my neighbourhood by a Tyrannosaurus just like the one on Gwangi, and each time I found a decent hiding place my sister would come along and tell it where I was cowering. This was pre- Jurassic Park, so my brain lovingly rendered this creature in Harryhausen-esque stop motion. I saw it the last time they screened it, and its great fun to see those glorious creations up on the big screen. Clash Of The Titans 1981 Trial Light MagicWhile still packing plenty of charm, Harryhausens monsters looked a little homespun compared to the stuff that was coming out of Industrial Light Magic, the visual effects company George Lucas founded in preparation for Star Wars. When you consider that The Empire Strikes Back came out around a year earlier and Raiders of the Lost Ark hit the cinemas the same day, Clash of the Titans feels like a museum piece. Stop motion was still regularly used throughout the 80s, but the first fully computer-generated character the Stained Glass Knight in Young Sherlock Holmes was only a few years away, and CGI would eventually render stop-motion effects in blockbuster movies obsolete. We head back to ancient Greece and Mount Olympus, where we meet some heavyweight thespians and Ursula Andress standing around in white robes waiting for their paycheques. There is some office politics between Zeus (Laurence Olivier) and Thetis (Maggie Smith), which results in Thetis spitefully plucking Zeuss mortal son Perseus (Harry Hamlin) from his blissful existence and depositing him in the far-flung city of Joppa. Dad Zeus helpfully provides his boy with some nifty armour a shield, a sword that can cut through marble with a flick of the wrist, and a helmet that renders the wearer invisible. Checking out his new invisibility skills, he heads into downtown Joppa to see the sights and hears of the beautiful princess Andromeda (Judi Bowker). Shes a tough girl to date though because any potential suitor must answer a riddle and if he gets it wrong, he gets burned at the stake. It takes a while to get moving, hindered by the generally wooden performances. Only Meredith really seems to loosen up and have fun with it. Smith, Olivier, Andress and Claire Bloom all seem a little self-conscious, as if they feel the films beneath them, and the script gives them little else to do but bicker and scowl at each other anyway. Harry Hamlin looks the part as Perseus, but perhaps the best you can say about his performance is that he looks great in a toga and has magnificent hair.
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