New Documentary – Ray Harryhausen: Special Effects Titan
From the Ray Harryhausen official website: The Ray & Diana Harryhausen Foundation is pleased to announce the forthcoming release of the definitive Harryhausen documentary to be called RAY HARRYHAUSEN: SPECIAL EFFECTS TITAN which will be produced by Frenetic Arts, based in France, and the Foundation. This English language production is scheduled for completion in late [...]
LOTTD Favorite Villainess – My Choice: Clash’s Medusa
That group of horror bloggers, the League of Tana Tea Drinkers (LOTTD), of which I am a part, has come up with the theme for their latest roundtable group of posts. By early April those participants will have posted on their favorite villainess. It’s been a while since I’ve done something on the lighter side, [...]
BBC’s “First Men in the Moon” Contrasted with Harryhausen’s Classic
BBC Four will be airing their television version of H. G. Wells’ The First Men in the Moon. Although I haven’t seen it yet, for my money the best version of this story is the 1964 film of the same name produced by Charles Schneer with special effects by Ray Harryhausen. In my view it [...]
Ray Harryhausen – Master of the Majicks Vol. 3
The third volume of Ray Harryhausen – Master of the Majicks by Mike Hankin, with a focus on the British films, is now available for pre-order through October 3. The Archive Editions website describes this volume with the following: Foreword by Caroline Munro Preface by Guillermo del Toro From his Preface to Volume 3 — [...]
Clash of the Titans Remake: Contrasting CGI Creatures with Stop-Motion Artistry
Some of my favorite and formative influences of the fantastic as a child and teenager were the fantasy films of Ray Harryhausen. I was so taken by Harryhausen’s use of stop-motion animation to bring creatures to life that I saved my paper route money and purchased an 8mm camera with single frame capacity that allowed [...]
Rue Morgue Magazine Tribute to Ray Harryhausen
The new issue of Rue Morgue magazine, #90 (June 2009), recently hit newsstands. I knew when I received their weekly email announcement that I had to pick up a copy of this issue to add to my collection. The cover art drew my attention to the Ray Harryhausen tribute. Fans of fantasy films will be [...]
Forthcoming 3-volume Ray Harryhausen – Master of the Majicks
I recently became aware of a new and extensive book on the work of Ray Harryhausen that will be published this coming weekend. The book is coming out as part of a three-volume series called Ray Harryhausen – Master of the Majicks. It is authored by Mike Hankin and published by Archive Editions and Ernest [...]
TCM Essentials Jr. and 20 Million Miles to Earth
A digital marketing representative of Turner Classic Movies contacted me today to let me know about TCM Essentials Jr. The featured film for June 8 is Ray Harryhausen’s classic 20 Million Miles to Earth. The website includes a number of pages that involve “fun facts” and video clips that will be of interest to those [...]
Paul Davids: Sci-Fi Boys and the Pied Pipers of the Imagination
A while ago I was channel surfing and came across a late night showing of a great documentary film called The Sci-Fi Boys. I have commented on this film previously, which documents the tremendous influence of the films of Ray Harryhausen and the publishing work of Forrest J. Ackerman on several generations of young people. [...]
Arnold Kunert and the 50th Anniversary Edition of 20 Million Miles to Earth
Arnold Kunert is the friend and agent of Ray Harryhausen, the legendary stop-motion animator and special effects wizard. In the past Arnold was interviewed here in general on Ray’s work and career. In the following interview Arnold made some time to talk specifically about the colorized 50th anniversary edition of Ray’s classic film 20 Million [...]
