Yet even with my strong emotional connection to Harryhausen and the stop-motion animation he perfected this doesn’t mean that I believe that every film he was involved with was of equal caliber. One film that I feel didn’t match the wonder of Seventh Voyage of Sinbad or Jason and the Argonauts was Harryhausen’s final film, Clash of the Titans (1981). There are several reasons why this film did not due well with audiences, not the least of which was the declining appeal of the classic mythology that Harryhausen had based so many of his movies on.

Because of my great admiration for Harryhausen’s stop-motion creatures, combined with my lack of appreciation for Clash of the Titans, I find I have mixed feelings about the remake of the film set for release on April 2. It remains to be seen whether audiences will embrace a revamped and action-packed Greek mythology, but I am pleased that Warner Bros. has retained the creatures found in the original, even if they are computer-generated. How will the new technology render these creatures compared with the artistry of previous decades? The trailer at the link above gives some indication, but at least in the case of Medusa, I think my money will stay with Harryhausen’s rendition. The new version is pictured above, and the scene from the 1981 film is found below. In my view Medusa is one of Harryhausen’s greatest creature animations, moving him very close in this context from fantasy and science fiction special effects technician to the creator of a dark, mythological, horror monster.

A few aspects of this tribute are worth noting. First, the coverage includes articles on two recent books on stop-motion that are essential for fans of the art form and Harrhausen’s work. These include Mike Hankin’s Ray Harryhausen: Master of the Majicks vol. 2, and Ray Harryhausen and Tony Dalton’s A Century of Stop-Motion Animation: From Melies to Aardman.

Second, the tribute includes curious references to Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas. In an article on stop-motion by Jason Pichonsky, he concludes by mentioning the ongoing legacy of stop-motion through contemporary works such as The Pit and the Pendulum, and Coraline, and mention is also made of Burton’s The Corpse Bride, but curiously Pichonsky does not mention Nightmare, a film of grander scale and with considerably more complexity and ongoing cultural influence than Corpse. And in the interview with Harryhausen the legendary animator seems almost at pains to distinguish between Burton’s stop-motion works as “puppet films” in contrast with his own work that put “characters that were believable in a real context.” This is curious for two reasons. One, Harryhausen’s early work was in George Pal’s “Puppetoons” which then opened the door for his work with more realistic creatures as special effects. Two, it was due to Harryhausen’s influence on Burton that the director has helped keep the legacy of stop-motion going by producing some of the few studio films that feature the art form.

The final piece of Rue Morgue‘s tribute worth drawing attention to is a matter of accuracy in details. The normally very accurate folks at Rue Morgue missed a photo caption, mistakenly labeling Harryhausen’s pre-production artwork of the Ymir in 20 Million Miles to Earth and associating it with concept art for the Kracken in Clash of the Titans.

With this latest issue Rue Morgue continues to demonstrate that it is one of the top notch magazines addressing, as its subtitlte states, “horror in culture and entertainment.” This tribute to Harryhausen is less extensive and moving than their tribute to Forrest J. Ackerman just before his death, but their feature on this legendary animator and special effects technician demonstrates that they recognize his place in fantastic cinema history.

TheoFantastique: Mike, thanks for your willingness to discuss this book. You bring not only an appreciation for Ray’s work as a fan to this new book project, but also a long friendship. Can you sketch for us when you first caught the “Harryhausen bug,” how you and Ray came to be acquainted, and how your relationship coalesced into Ray Harryhausen – Master of the Majicks?
 
Mike Hankin: The first Harryhausen film I saw was Mysterious Island, released in the UK in the summer of 1962. I had seen the upcoming trailers and was so keen to see the film that I was at the cinema for the very first showing at 1 p.m., and didn’t come out until the last showing finished at 11 p.m. I was only thirteen years old and, as you can imagine, by the time I got home my parents were going mad with worry. Despite a severe telling off, I went back to see the film the following day and saw it at least twice each day until the end of its run. It is still my favourite Harryhausen film.

I first met Ray at a film convention in London, where he was giving a lecture. I wanted to interview him for a project I was working on, and through a friend got introduced, then invited to his home in London. I discovered we had so many interests in common, including film music and Laurel and Hardy. I arranged for Ray to become an honorary member of the the Sons of the Desert (the Laurel and Hardy Appreciation Society), and we exchanged film soundtracks.

From then on I became a regular visitor to Ray’s home, and got involved with several projects connected to his work. In casual chats I was learning so much about his films, much more than he had mentioned in any interviews. I constantly tried to persuade him to write a full autobiography, but he always said he had other things he would rather do. Eventually, I plucked up the courage to ask if he would let me write a biography. He just said “Go ahead.”

Shortly after I spent two days at his home, just looking through the bound scrapbooks he keeps on each of his films. These contain the script, storyboards, pre-production and production stills, reviews, clippings and much more. I was in seventh heaven. That was in 1986.

So many people have remarked, how can you spent so long on one project. All I can say is that I was having so much fun. I have travelled thousands of miles, written hundreds of letters, made numerous phone calls and traded countless emails, meeting so many wonderful people along the way. First and foremost I am a fan of Ray Harryhausen. I admire his many skills, how his mind works, I wanted to find out every minor detail about his career, and Ernie is the same. The whole enterprise has been so rewarding. During the time I was putting this all together I have chaired a lecture with Ray at a film festival; I have sat with him during a so-called sweat-box session for a new film project at an animation studio in England; I sat between Ray and Ray Bradbury at the pre-Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame dinner, and had Ray Bradbury say to me, “It’s good to sit next to a fellow author”. Can you imagine what that was like for a Harryhausen fan! Yes, I would be in cloud cuckoo land to believe for one moment what the great Ray Bradbury said to me, but it not only sent a shiver down my spine, but I also had a smile on my face continuously for the rest of the trip.

TheoFantastique: I remember as a young Harryhausen fan in the 1970s how difficult it was to find books on Ray and his films, and many times sci fi and monster magazine articles and interviews had to suffice. Now we have several good works that are available. What makes this new work stand out as a unique contribution to works that discuss Ray’s work and legacy?
 
Mike Hankin: Without doubt it is the interviews I conducted with so many people. I had great chats with Diana and Vanessa Harryhausen, when Ray was sent out of the room. Ray put me in contact with many people, such as Ray Bradbury, Wilkie Cooper and Beverley Cross. Other people took a little more tracking down, such as Michael Craig in Australia, John Cairney in New Zealand, Enzo Musumeci-Greco and Ferinando Poggi in Italy, as well as people such as model builder Arthur Hayward, film editor Jenny Holt, who were no longer involved in the film industry and Roy Field, who finally answered so many questions I had on the fate of the superior Sodium Light Travelling Matte system. Actor Tim Pigott Smith told me what it was like to be directed by Ray during the scorpion fight in Clash of the Titans (he was actually telling me the story in a busy restaurant, which suddenly became quiet as everyone listened). Each person, actors, directors, writers, cinematographers, technicians, friends, each had a story to tell, many who had never been asked before, and sadly many are no longer with us, which makes this record all the more important. Another important point is that time plays havoc with your memory, so we always checked, then checked again whatever we were told. We never took stories we heard about Ray as fact, we questioned everything.

TheoFantastique: Master of the Majicks will be released in three volumes with the first release, Volume 2, coming out on Sunday, September 14. Why three volumes, and why is the second volume going to be released first?
 
Mike Hankin: The book was very different when it was originally going to be published by another company in the early 1990s. Since Ernie Farino became involved, the book has expanded so much that it would have meant drastic cutting to get everything into a single volume, which neither Ernie or myself wanted to do. We decided to split the book into three volumes, covering the early years; Ray’s first venture in feature films to his last film made in America; then finally the films he made when he moved to England and beyond. There were many people who read through the manuscript and learnt so much in the early chapters, but couldn’t wait to get to the feature films. These are the films that they grew up with and wanted to read about. So, we thought start with the big story, then go back to the beginning. Well, Star Wars did it, so why not us.
 
TheoFantastique: What are some of the facets of this three-volume series that in your view will make it an important contribution to the library of Harryhausen fans, as well as fans of fantasy films and special effects wizards?

Mike Hankin: I believe it is the coverage of everything Harryhausen, his whole creative process, his influence on others in the industry and also other fields, which is really quite amazing. It will also compliment Ray’s own book, by adding details to stories that he may have only briefly mentioned, such as the fate of the models and equipment he used. Whenever a film process is mentioned, we have gone to great pains to explain how and why it works. It will also be a source of information for the collector, with numerous images of posters, magazine covers, lobby stills from around the world, plus all other materials connected to the films. We haven’t forgotten things such as contemporary reviews, budgets, music, promotions and scores of other items that are sometimes neglected. 

TheoFantastique: I understand that your book will include new photos and other visual materials. Can you comment on what we might anticipate? Mike Hankin: Ray gave me many stills before he began writing his own book when, for obvious reasons, that particular source came to an end. Many of the people I interviewed loaned me stills from their private collections. Then Ernie got to work, contacting many collectors and archives, finding the material that few people had seen before. Many of these images would often throw up new questions that we set about answering. For instance, in volume two there images from an outtake reel featuring unused animation cuts from The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms and It Came From Beneath the Sea. Ray explains why these weren’t used. 

TheoFantastique: How did you come to be associated with Archive Editions as the publisher for this book series? 

Mike Hankin: When I was with my original publisher I contacted Ernie Farino and Sam Calvin for information about the creation of the Harryhausen fanzine FXRH. Ernie kindly loaned me a stack of stills covering Ray’s early experiments. When my publisher went out of business I wrote to Ernie asking if I could hang on to the stills while I searched for another publisher. Ernie had just set up Archive Editions and was planning to do a Best of FXRH as his first project, but came in with an offer to do my book instead. I knew straight away that Ernie would bring to the project much more than any other publisher, and I haven’t been proved wrong. He laid down his plans, targeted the areas he thought could be improved and set me a whole lot of extra work, but it has been worth it. It has been a bit of a roller-coaster ride over the last few years, just financing this huge enterprise, yet here it is, the best possible way of expressing our gratitude for Ray’s choice of career.

TheoFantastique: Ernie, let’s get your perspective on this project as the publisher through your Archive Editions. Let me ask you a question similar to one I asked Mike. I remember many years ago that it was difficult to find books on Ray, but I managed to go through rare and used book dealers to find copies of From the Land Beyond Beyond, and later Film Fantasy Scrapbook. Now we have several good books out, including a few contributed to by Ray himself. What was it about this book project that made you want to get involved in seeing it published?

Ernest Farino: As Mike mentioned, I was the co-creator of the Ray Harryhausen fanzine FXRH, four issues of which were published from 1971 to 1974. Like many people, Ray’s work inspired my interest in animation and visual effects and the magazine was a great way to combine that interest with my interest in graphic design. Later, my work in animation escalated into a professional career and I worked on numerous films and television projects, some involving stop motion.In 1994 I was in Prague as Visual Effects Supervisor on a film called Snow White in the Black Forest starring Sigourney Weaver, and I first started to contemplate getting back into publishing. Ever-improving computer technology was clearly starting to make this idea a viable possibility in terms of page layout software, photo treatment, and so on.

I began to consider ideas for projects, but it wasn’t until 1997 that Mike Hankin contacted me (ironically, I was once again out of the country working on a mini-series in Australia). The original publisher for Master of the Majicks had dropped out and Mike was letting me know that material I had previously contributed from my own collection was still safe and sound. That jump-started my thinking that this might be the perfect project to embark on this new enterprise, and Mike and I soon made a deal to do the book.What followed was an involved process that saw the evolution and development of the book itself running parallel to my setting up my business, acquiring hardware and software, and many other details.

Having said all that, the subject matter really made the difference, of course. I don’t think I would have had as much drive and interest along these lines had the book been about something else. But here, the perfect subject came together at the right time.

TheoFantastique: Given your long association with Ray and familiarity with his work, was there anything in this book series that took you by pleasant surprise?

Ernest Farino: There’s no single event or discovery that stands out, but, rather, an ongoing series of discoveries and revelations in terms of photographic material and the kind of information that only comes from focused research. It was great to have the platform for pursuing historical and technical details related to Ray’s films and in some cases, other films from the period that relate to Ray’s work. Mike has been able to contact any number of people who worked on Ray’s films, such as all three “Sinbad” directors: Nathan Juran (The 7th Voyage of Sinbad) and Gordon Hessler (The Golden Voyage of Sinbad) and Sam Wanamaker (Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger), actors like Kerwin Mathews (The 7th Voyage of Sinbad) and Paul Christian (The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms), and various technicians who worked on the miniatures and opticals on Ray’s films. Many stories and details have come to light that I don’t believe have ever been explored in the past.

One interesting example came from another bit of serendipity or coincidence. In the early 1990s I directed a one-act play in Los Angeles, a very funny comedy called Dub. The play was written by Henry Slesar, who lived on the east coast, and I had occasion to speak to Slesar a couple of times about the play. His name sounded familiar to me, but I thought it was just from some TV shows he’d written, such as classic episodes of The Twilight Zone and Alfred Hitchcock Presents. It wasn’t until a few years later when working on the Harryhausen book that I finally made the connection: Henry Slesar had written the Amazing Stories “novelization” of Harryhausen’s film 20 Million Miles to Earth, which was later serialized in Famous Monster of Filmland magazine. I immediately got back in touch with him; Slesar remembered me from the play and kindly wrote a nice recollection of his experience writing the novelization of 20 Million back in 1957. This story is new and exclusive to the book and, since Slesar passed away a couple of years after that, something I’m all the more pleased to include “for the record.”

TheoFantastique: How do you see this new book as a “must have” for serious Harryhausen fans?

Ernest Farino: One thing I realized right from the start was that, unlike Ray’s own books, including Film Fantasy Scrapbook from the 1970s, we were going to be able to provide a much broader perspective to the making of these films. Ray’s books are memoirs from his own perspective, which is perfectly valid, but we’ve been able to enhance and elaborate on many of the details of the history and techniques behind the films. So I think this 3-volume set is not only a legitimate companion to Ray’s books but a research source that goes much farther as a comprehensive overview.

We’ve also structured the chapters much like the actual making of the films themselves. Each chapter starts with the initial concept or idea behind the film, then the development of the script and pre-production, then filming of the movie, the post production animation and visual effects, and finally wrapping up with the advertising, publicity and release of the completed film. So one can get a feeling for the natural, chronological process that went into making the films.

TheoFantastique: Mike and Ernie, thanks again for sharing about this book. I hope it will become a cherished part of the collection of Harryhausen fans around the world. Readers can click here for more information, a preview, and to place orders.

TheoFantastique: Paul, thank you for responding positively to my request for an interview. I caught a showing of your documentary, The Sci-Fi Boys on the SciFi Channel and enjoyed it immensely. I ended up purchasing a copy for my further review and reflection and I’d like to ask you some questions to tease out some of the thinking behind it. This documentary is obviously the result of your personal interests and passions on the subject matter. How did you develop these interests and what led you to produce this film?

Paul Davids: At specific moments in time, things burst upon the scene that capture the imagination of youth in a way that changes everything. Look at the advent of video games, from the first primitive Pong and Pacman and Space Invaders games, and how for awhile video games became an all-consuming entertainment and then got massively more sophisticated, eventually losing their novelty. You can name a hundred technological developments in our lifetime that had great impact like that. When I was a kid (pre cell-phone, pre-computer, pre-Internet, pre-video game) special effects in film were great novelty. It was like being fascinated with a magic trick. Gigantic monsters in movies and other effects would cause kids to wonder: how did they do that? And if you ever got over that question, the next question was can I do that too? And so the games began. There were no courses, textbooks, rules – it was (a) figure it out on your own or (b) find the magazine with an article that will give away the secrets. And there were few, because the techniques were largely guarded as “trade secrets.” Special effects were really special – even just the simple effect of making someone disappear or become gradually invisible…it all seemed so complex and ingenious. We had nothing that approached what can be done with high end graphics today that gives us moving imagery, sweeping us through heights and unusual angles to watch impossible things happening on screen. There is something similar or parallel in the personalities of those who embraced special effects and those who loved sleight of hand and other forms of magical illusions. I had those particular attractions. (I’ve been a member of the Magic Castle in Hollywood since the late 1980’s and try to go there once a week when I’m not traveling.) The “tricks” that are taken for granted in cinema today (and get a “ho hum” response now) were at one point in time impossible to accomplish and only vaguely imagined. Thus the pioneers of the field, men like Willis O’Brien, George Pal and Ray Harryhausen, were really brilliant inventors with soaring imaginations to take us as far as they did, each in their primes and their own time… they were master magicians of cinema who could fool the eye and trick us into imagining the impossible. Brilliant inventiveness keeps getting overtaken and supplanted, generation after generation. The generation of telegraph Morse Code could hardly conceive (except as science-fiction) the advent of the eras of telephone and television. The cycle continues.

TheoFantastique: The film focuses on the work and influence of Ray Harryhausen and Forrest J. Ackerman on several generations of young men that you call “the sci-fi boys.” How did you come to recognize the strong and ongoing influence of these men on professional filmmakers and average viewers alike?

Paul Davids: Their influence was impossible to ignore growing up in the late 1950’s and the 1960’s if you were a person who liked visual stimulation that was “out of the mainstream.” Whether you are talking about sci-fi imaginative imagery or sexual imagery or horror imagery, there was much less access and availability for any of that kind of sensory stimulation. If Forrest Ackerman caught your attention with his FAMOUS MONSTERS magazine, you got hooked. He always listed dozens of titles of upcoming monster or imaginative movies that were in the planning stages to be made. You waited and waited…. Half of them or more never were produced, or when they came out they had a different name and had changed so much you couldn’t recognize them from what he had described. But he teased and whetted your appetite and did something that great movie trailers do…created a sense of anticipation. If you became a Ray Harryhausen fan, you felt starved like a wanderer in the desert during a great drought in between the release of his films. You had to wait one or two years for the next one to come out! And there was hardly anything comparable to compete with him. There were a few imitators (anybody remember JACK THE GIANT KILLER?) but never would you think they were as good, as clever, as original. So like any forceful and inspiring personalities who dominate their professional field, these men became the Pied Pipers for males with intense imagination. They had vast followings. The kids whose lives were dominated by sports could have grown up and had very happy childhoods without ever hearing of them. But most of us horror/sci-fi fans lived for that Saturday afternoon double-feature, and we could only hope against hope that one of them would be a Ray Harryhausen film.

TheoFantastique: Those who might not consider themselves fantasy, sci fi, or horror fans and who enjoy films in these genres infrequently may not appreciate the impact of these men on the industry. Can you touch on some of their contributions to contemporary special effects as well as to the revitalization of the fantastic in films, and how they came to capture the imagination of numerous young people as filmgoers over the years?

Paul Davids: I think I’ve wrapped this answer into the preceding ones. But there was a small group of producers in the early days who believed totally in the power and importance of special effects. George Pal used to say that special effects were the “star” of any science-fiction motion picture. The impact of his influence, not just on entertainment, but on rallying a generation to the U.S. space program, was immense. George Pal made DESTINATION MOON, CONQUEST OF SPACE, WHEN WORLDS COLLIDE and WAR OF THE WORLDS…four major feature films dealing with different implications of man’s relationship to outer space, both exploration of space and outer space life. He was like a one-man NASA recruitment center. It’s worth noting though that the popularity of special effects ebbed and waned in cycles, like any other genre. When special effects were out of favor, George Pal couldn’t get any films to be greenlighted. It was the success of STAR WARS that really gave new life to special effects and to space films.

TheoFantastique: One of the things that struck me most as I watched your documentary was the strong connection I shared (and still share) with several generations of young boys from the 1950s through the 1970s who were captivated by the fantastic and the monstrous. The noted horror historian and author David J. Skal has expressed his feeling that these films and the monsters they portray function in some kind of function as participatory ritual for those who are a part of “Monster Culture”. He also feels that some expressions of the fantastic include “religio-mythic overtones”. Do you have any thoughts as to what was taking place in American culture during this timeframe that might have contributed to the hunger and thirst for the fantastic that helped make these men and their crafts so popular, and how they might have functioned beyond entertainment?

Paul Davids: The monster in movies, whether the gigantic beast or the slimy blood-sucking vampire, was the destroyer of civilization or the destroyer of souls. You’ve always had soul destroyers throughout the centuries, thus the concept of the Devil has been deeply ingrained. He deals with people on a one-to-one basis. But as for mass destruction, except for the plagues of the Middle Ages, the Baby Boom generation was the first to grow up with consciousness of the very real possibility of the total destruction of civilization as we know it. We were the first to grow up with the reality of nuclear weapons. So there was unconscious, suppressed fear and horror that was part of “normal” life. It was new to Western culture. In eastern culture, in Hinduism, the destroyer of worlds is built into the religious mythos. The triple godhead of the Hindus consists of Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva. Brahma creates the worlds. (And note that that’s plural — there are untold millions of worlds and Hinduism has always assumed that.) Vishnu preserves the worlds. But Shiva is the destroyer of worlds, and yet Shiva is worshipped and loved, not just feared. Hinduism, like Buddhism, recognizes the cyclical nature of life, that creation and destruction are the ultimate wheel, and that wheel turns round and endlessly, bringing worlds into existence and then shattering them. It’s a natural process. It’s God’s own original conception of creation. If not, why did God give stars a limited lifespan too and build into them the finality of exploding into a super-nova in their end? The Western concept of the Devil as an entity separate from God seems much more confining and limited. Western religions give a personality (in the form of the Devil or Satan) to the existence of evil – and at one level the monster is the cinema’s personification of evil. But the monster is not always like a demon — often the monster is simply the mindless force of absolute destruction and in that sense shows us different aspects and faces of Shiva, ultimate destroyer of worlds. In the West we should enlarge our dualistic concept of creation to something beyond just absolute good and absolute evil. The monster reminds us that we are stuck on that “wheel,” because although the monster destroys (thereby expressing our own inner primal rage and infantile fury) the monster is himself almost always destroyed too. The destroyer also has a destructive demise. Or at least he did before sequels came to rule the film business. Now many of those gigantic creatures simply must live to come again. (Anybody want to make a prediction about CLOVERFIELD?)

By the way, I must end with a plug for my new film, as long as we’re discussing religious mythology. Check out my website: http://www.jesus-in-india-the-movie.com/. This one will open your mind.

TheoFantastique: Paul, thanks again for participating in this interview, and for your fine documentary that helps preserve the legacy of those pioneers of the imagination that have been so influential.

Arnold Kunert

TheoFantastique: Arnold, thank you for taking some time to discuss this new version of the classic film. I’d like to ask a few questions about the background of the film itself, and then ask a few things related to this new 50th anniversary edition. With my previous background in reading about the life and work of Ray Harryhausen I was familiar with his involvement in a great number of areas, from initial concepts to pre-production artwork to the special effects themselves, but in watching this film and the background materials in the extra features I was surprised to learn that the story for this film came from Ray. Can you share a little about how this story came about and moved from story to film production?

Arnold Kunert: Ray’s original story dealt with a creature being brought back by a U.S. rocket from Venus and crash-landing in Lake Michigan, just outside downtown Chicago. As the funding for the film became available, Ray decided to change the location to Italy. He had never been outside the U.S. and decided this might be the best way to get to Europe.

TheoFantastique: This film has been a favorite of Harryhausen fans for decades since its release. The disc of special features in this anniversary edition includes commentary from folks like Rick Baker, John Landis, Tim Burton and other giants of Hollywood in fantasy films. So the film resonated with the well known members of its audience over the decades as well as among many more rank and file fans. It seems to stand out from other science fiction films from the same timeframe as well. Can you discuss some of the elements and features of this film that seem to make it memorable for fans?

Arnold Kunert: The most memorable aspect of the film is certainly the creature design. Of course, the European locations, most of them shot by a second unit before principal photography began, also add to the film’s appeal. Finally, Ray’s stop-motion animation is among the best of his career. Many visual effects artists consider the film one of their two or three favorite Harryhausen films for this reason.

TheoFantastique: I must admit that prior to watching the fiftieth anniversary edition of this film in its colorized version I was opposed to the colorization of classic black and white films, but color in this film is amazing and it has made me a convert to advocates of colorization. I know that in addition to this film Ray has also supervised the colorization of It Came From Beneath the Sea and Earth vs. the Flying Saucers. Can you describe how Ray came to the decision to colorize these films and how Legend came to be involved in the work that resulted in these fine pieces of work?

Arnold Kunert: Four or five years ago, I was contacted by a lady friend in San Diego who knew I was acquainted with Ray Harryhausen. That friend worked for a company called Legend Films, the president of which, Barry Sandrew, was the original inventor of colorization 15 years ago. Legend wanted to colorize one of Ray’s films, but I was originally reluctant to get involved, knowing how Ray felt about colorization and what had been done to 1949’s Mighty Joe Young in the late 1980s. However, after I visited the Legend Films facility, my mind was changed and I convinced Ray to consider working with them. The rest is, as they say, history. Ray personally supervised all three of his black-and-white Columbia films, as well as two of Merian C. Cooper’s RKO films, She and The Most Dangerous Game. Needless to say, Ray is very pleased with the results. Ray always wanted to do his black-and-white films in color, but the budgets wouldn’t allow for color. Now they are in color, exactly where they should have been 50 years ago.

TheoFantastique: How did the colorization process work and what was Ray’s part in working with Legend?

Arnold Kunert: I cannot explain the process beyond saying that it’s simply a matter of determining what colors a scene should have and programming those choices into a computer. Ray was in complete control of all the colors in all of his films, and, working with color designer Rosemary Horvath, made all of the color choices.

TheoFantastique: For me one of the more interesting parts of the extras on the second disc in this set was your discussion of promotional ad artwork during the 1950s that promoted this and other films of Ray’s. How did you come to be a collector of this type of material, and can you share a little with how this material was used in the past to promote films in contrast with film promotion today?

Arnold Kunert: I was given the material by National Screen Service in Chicago during the original releases of the films in the 1950s. I simply enjoyed having mementos of certain films I loved, most of them being Harryhausen films. I don’t know how things have changed since that time. I assume the internet and computers are used more widely today.

TheoFantastique: Arnold, thank you once again for your time and for sharing these great thoughts about this film, made an even better cinematic experience through colorization. Thanks as well for all of your work with Ray through “Ray Harryhausen presents…”

TheoFantastique: Arnold, thanks again for agreeing to participate in this interview. Marc Lougee of “Ray Harrhausen Presents” The Pit and the Pendulum was kind enough to connect us and it’s my privilege to have this time to share your work and association with Ray Harryhausen with fans. To begin, can you share some summary thoughts of some of the work you’ve done as a producer, film historian, and as an agent?

Arnold Kunert: Most of my work as a producer and film historian has been in the area of documentaries. I have written, produced and directed documentaries about a variety of subjects and individuals, but my most honored and best-known works have dealt with film director Budd Boetticher and voice artist Daws Butler, who was responsible for creating most of the famous Hanna-Barbera characters, among which were Huckleberry Hound, Yogi Bear, Snagglepuss, and many others. Ray Harryhausen asked me to be his agent several years ago because he trusted my judgment and knew how much I cared for him. I represent no one else. Frankly, representing Ray Harryhausen is just fine with me.

TheoFantastique: One of the features of this blog is an interaction with the fantastic in popular culture which we explore on both popular and academic levels. I noted in my research for this interview that you wrote an article for The Journal of Popular Culture in 1973 titled “Ray Bradbury: On Hitchcock and Other Magic of the Screen.” Have you had the chance to do any other writing on topics like this?

Arnold Kunert: In the mid-1970s, I wrote for a magazine in La Jolla, California, and was given free rein on my subjects. Among my first, and most enjoyable pieces, was a profile of Steven Spielberg which appeared in print less than two weeks before the opening of Jaws nationwide. I delivered a copy of the article to Steven at Universal Studios and wished him well on his career. No one outside the industry really knew his name at that time, so I am proud that I was among the first to recognize his talent. His TV-movie, Duel, based on a Richard Matheson short story, convinced me that he was someone worth watching. Obviously, I was right. I planned to publish other articles about film heroes of mine like Samuel Fuller and Jack Arnold, but the magazine folded before I had the opportunity. Nevertheless, the dozen or so articles I was able to see published made the venture worthwhile. I was teaching high school and college English classes at the same time, but the writing and interviewing gave me an opportunity to “stretch” my writing skills a bit and get a little extra cash in the bank at the same time.

TheoFantastique: Like so many people, I grew up as an avid fantasy film fan, and Ray Harryhausen was a strong influence on my own desires to be a stop-motion animator which was unfortunately never realized. I recall his long association with producer Charles Schneer, but some fans may be less familiar with his association with you in recent years. How did you and Ray come to know each other and develop this professional association?

Arnold Kunert: I was introduced to Ray Harryhausen by Ray Bradbury, whom I have known since 1970. Bradbury, a friend of Harryhausen’s since the late 1930s, knew of my admiration for Harryhausen, so he arranged for us to meet during one of Harryhausen’s occasional visits to the U.S. in the late 1970s, around the time of the release of Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger. We became friends and maintained a long-range relationship via letters and phone calls from then on. In 1992, I successfully campaigned to get Ray Harryhausen a Lifetime Achievement Oscar and in 2003 I arranged for him to get a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, across the street from Graumann’s Chinese Theater on Hollywood Boulevard, where a 13-year-old Harryhausen had first seen King Kong in 1933. Ray has told me on more than one occasion that he considers me someone who “gets things done.” That may be true, but I have put a special amount of energy into seeing that my hero from the 1950s, whose little black-and-white films were so thrilling to see in Chicago theaters, is properly honored.

TheoFantastique: What types of things have struck you about Ray’s vision and imagination over the years?

Arnold Kunert: Ray has always impressed me as the type of artist who never worried whether someone didn’t particularly like the direction he was taking in his career. I suppose that’s a hallmark of all great artists, but Harryhausen is absolutely unique in that regard because his influence on the film industry has been so widespread for so many years that he stands alone and above all other technicians who have ever labored in the industry. He has certainly been frustrated by small budgets and time restrictions on his films, but the overall list of credits from the late 1940s to the early 1980s is astonishing by any standard. He is virtually the only artist in Hollywood who has had an influence on more than two generations of filmmakers. No one else can make that claim. Just look at the Oscar nominees and winners for visual effects since the late 1970s. The vast majority of them acknowledge Ray as their inspiration.

TheoFantastique: Can you touch a little more on Ray’s continuing and far-reaching influence?

Arnold Kunert: Ray’s films are just as relevant and enjoyable today as when they were first released. Audiences still respond to heroes and legends. Were that not the case, Spielberg wouldn’t be shooting a fourth Indiana Jones adventure, the Pirates of the Caribbean films would not have been so successful and Jackson’s Lord of the Rings trilogy would never have been funded. Spielberg, Johnny Depp, and Peter Jackson all point to Ray as an inspiration, so why wouldn’t Ray’s films be just as successful today? Whenever Ray is in town, three different generations of admirers, from small children to the children’s grandparents, anxiously tell Ray how much his films mean to them.

TheoFantastique: What types of projects has Ray been working on since retiring from hands-on special effects work?

Arnold Kunert: Most recently Ray has been supervising the colorization of his black-and-white films from the 1950s, all of which would have been shot in color had the budgets allowed for it. Color photography during that time period was twice as expensive as black-and-white, so he was forced to use black-and-white film stock until Seventh Voyage of Sinbad. Ray is involved with other film-related projects, but I am not at liberty to discuss them at this time. Watch for the latest news on his web site, www.rayharryhausen.com.

TheoFantastique: One of these projects is the “Ray Harryhausen presents” umbrella endorsement of certain noteworthy items. How did you come to share this idea with Ray?

Arnold Kunert: I felt that Ray’s name on a project might help that project gain some credibility which it might not ordinarily have gotten. I remembered that Steven Spielberg attached his name to a variety of films in the 1980s, as Steven Spielberg Presents, such as those directed by Robert Zemeckis, Joe Dante and Chris Columbus, and thought having Ray’s name used in the same way might give some very talented artists a chance to get the spotlight which might otherwise have eluded them.

TheoFantastique: The first of the projects under this umbrella was Marc Lougee’s fine stop-motion film The Pit and the Pendulum. Marc has given an interview on this topic recently, but how did you feel this project went as the first of those endorsed by Ray?

Arnold Kunert: Ray and I are very impressed with Marc Lougee’s Pit and the Pendulum. Ray and I have known Marc for many years, so we were not surprised that the short film turned out so well.

TheoFantastique: Arnold, thank you again for this interview, and for your partnership with Ray Harryhausen that has enabled him to continue producing many fine pieces of entertainment and art for new generations of fans.

Arnold Kunert: It’s been my pleasure. Thank you.

TheoFantastique: Marc, thanks again for your willingness to talk with us about this project. While stop-motion animation was once one of the major forms of special effects for bringing the fantastic elements of stories to the screen, with the advent of computer generated animation and effects it has largely gone the way of the dinosaurs that Willis O’Brien and Ray Harryhausen used to animate in their early days, with the exception, of course, of its use in commercials, children’s programs, or the all too infrequent animated treat by Tim Burton. I experimented with my own stop-motion animation as a teenager in the 1970s, even as the technology was being developed that would eventually replace it, and sadly, I gave up this dream for a career path. Thankfully, you pressed on. To begin, how did you get interested and involved in stop-motion, and what kind of influence was Ray Harryhausen in this process?

Marc Lougee: I grew up watching Creature Double Features. I was a huge fan of creature and special effects-oriented films from the 50′s to the 70′s. King Kong, War of the Worlds, Forbidden Planet, were all favorites. Everything with Ray Harryhausen’s name on it was a must-see, regardless of killer bees, my older brother or nuclear attack. Watching those films really gripped me, and while I sat there with my eyes glued to the tube, with no idea there was a bunch of folks making a living doing this.

It wasn’t until I got into high school that I found I could even function as an animator. That was a real revelation, to know enough about the process to see how little one needs to start with the very basics. Encouraged, and knowing just enough to make me dangerous around cameras, I started to experiment for my first filmmaking class. I figured even even Ray Harryhausen had to have started somewhere, so I got to work making short animated films on Super-8 using GI Joes, Micronaut figures and clay creature as puppets. The first few attempts went pretty well, considering I really little idea of what I was doing, but I plowed on and had fun. Soon enough the other kids in the class were more interested in what I was up to than their own stuff. I wound up shooting some shorts for other kids in the class, the equivalent of writing book reports for people, only I was making short films. I had found my calling. I especially enjoyed the total hands-on approach of stop-motion. It was a really immersive experience to build everything, work out the camera placement and movement, and tell a story (the few times I bothered with a story in those days).

TheoFantastique: How did Ray’s name come to be associated with this project?

Marc Lougee: In early 2005 Ray’s producer, Arnold Kunert got in touch to see about firing up The Fall of the House of Usher as a stop-motion short film, which Ray would helm as Executive Producer. Susan Ma, producer on The Pit and the Pendulum and I were just floored this opportunity had presented itself, so we got to work on checking the viability of the project within a time frame we could manage. We were both contracted to start shows inside of two months, but really wanted to do a film with Ray and Arnold. We concluded we couldn’t do the story justice with the resources we had available, which was a bit of a disappointment all around. Knowing Ray had his heart set on Fall of the House of Usher, and Susan and I being eager to keep the embers glowing meant we needed to find another story everyone would be happy with, so we pitched another perennial favorite, The Pit and the Pendulum in place of Fall of the House of Usher. Ray and Arnold were receptive to the idea and the reasoning behind our decision. The Pit and the Pendulum was then slated as the first film produced under the Ray Harryhausen Presents banner. Needless to say, were excited, enthusiastic, and really thrilled to see this amazing turn of events.

TheoFantastique: Poe’s work, particularly in The Pit and the Pendulum, has been the focus of various cinematic treatments before. What made you decide to approach this material again, and in such a fresh way?

Marc Lougee: The story sort of found me, actually. After reading the The Pit and the Pendulum, I saw this as a story of judgment, condemnation, despair, hope and a man’s faith in a power greater than himself. It’s classic; this guy, a prisoner, is brought to the lowest place in his life, totally powerless to save himself. It’s there he concludes he’s run out of options, and seeing he can’t save himself, realizes salvation is ultimately going to come from a power greater than he.

I felt our short film would be touching on one of the bigger questions of humanity: Is there anyone there to save us after we’ve done all we can do? Is it possible to maintain hope, or even faith in something, when all seems lost? These questions really resonated with me, and I wanted to get this across in the story. This prisoner is suffering horribly at the hands of self-righteous fiends, and in the end, who does he have to turn to? He’s at the very bottom of his capabilities, with two choices; dive into the pit, and succumb to the Inquisitor’s whims, or stay alive, in hope he’ll be saved. I feel it’s in those moments we find what we’re made of, what we really believe. The film has proven an interesting starting point to open up dialogue concerning the questions raised in the story itself. The aspects we sought to steer clear of was to “re-imagine” Poe’s tale, as I felt with the proper handling, it would still be powerful. It didn’t need to be altered to horrify, it’s already there.

TheoFantastique: Why did you choose to tell this story using stop-motion, and how do you combine this with computer graphics and other effects?

Marc Lougee: Stop-motion animation is like watching a continuous magic trick, an illusion. The illusion is life. Like sculpture or photography, animation depicts moments in time, only incrementally. I just love the idea, that with incremental positioning of a puppet one can create this illusion. The magic trick is the life-like qualities the animator can lend to the performance, the subtleties, expressions, mannerisms. Like acting in slow motion. I feel it’s a wonderful way to transport an audience to a fantastic place, where folks can leave expectations of realism at the door. By virtue of the fact an audience is watching puppets “acting,” it frames a story in a completely different way than say, live action. It’s a wonderful story-telling device, setting folks up to use their imagination freely. In the case of The Pit and the Pendulum, I felt the material could be really horrifying, and maybe too heavy for a wide audience. I wanted kids to have access to the story, so they could see a visual interpretation of Poe’s literature without being freaked out, or horrified. Stop-motion ,being this fun, whacky technique associated with a youthful audience, was a perfect medium for us to present the story, as it could still be creepy and scary, while keeping the integrity of the tale intact without being too heavy.

Switch VFX Visual Effects Supervisor Jon Campfens, VFX artists Gudren Heinze and Dave Alexander were responsible for all the CG-based visual effects. Dave and Gudren did a masterful job of modelling, texturing, painting and assembling all the disparate elements from the shoot, matching the set, miniatures and CG stuff seamlessly. One shot of note was of the bird struggling to escape through the barred window. Switch produced this as a totally 3D-CG shot. We didn’t have a window constructed, nor a bird, so Dave modeled the wall, window and bird, and lit the shot to match the rest of the film perfectly. Gudren handled the composite & rotoscope work, set extensions, and atmospheric effects, while Yowza Digital dealt with the bird animation. Just wonderful work. Susan and I were totally pleased.

TheoFantastique: What has been the reaction to this film, on the part of the general public, film critics, and the horror and animation subcultures?

Marc Lougee: The response has been just fantastic! Susan and I have attended a few festivals as our schedules allow. I was recently in New York attending our screening at the Museum of the Moving Picture, preceding Lance Weiler’s HEAD TRAUMA ARG show (The Pit and the Pendulum is currently touring with Lance’s show across North America and Europe). The crowd burst into applause a couple of times. That was pretty cool. We also got to the Williamstown Film Festival, and met up with Brad Silberling ( Lemony Snicket’s Series of Unfortunate Events). He had heard of the film though the festival programmer and asked for a copy to bring back with him to LA! He was very cool and very interested in seeing our film. That made our weekend.

TheoFantastique: Do you have any future productions in the planning stages?

Marc Lougee: We’re currently working on a couple other projects in the outline stage. One of the stories is a classic Washington Irving tale, another is a short story by Mark Twain. There are several other Victorian stories I’m interested in pursuing, as well. The atmosphere, textures, furniture and clothing of the period lend themselves beautifully to stop-motion. I would love to get the Edgar Allan Poe’s Fall of the House of Usher into production to fully explore what we could do with the aesthetic.

TheoFantastique: Marc, thanks again for sharing with us, and for telling us a great old story in new ways that thrills young and old alike.