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Weber (Weber_gregston)
Username: Weber_gregston

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 86.134.105.231
Posted on Wednesday, May 08, 2013 - 02:48 am:   

RIP Ray Harryhausen.

His monsters and other sfx have been part of my life as long as I can remember, providing wonder and spectacle to my childhood with his fabulous creations in the Sinbad films, jason and teh Argonauts, Clash of the titans and all the other films he worked on.

When I met him at the FFF a few years back he was a lovely old guy and one of the most interesting guests they've had.

A sad loss indeed.
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 194.32.31.1
Posted on Wednesday, May 08, 2013 - 12:29 pm:   

Dear God! I thought he'd died decades ago!

Another of my personal heroes, a lovely man, by all accounts, and the undisputed king of stop motion animation in the last century, even eclipsing his great mentor, Willis H. O'Brien. Harryhausen was responsible for giving me more childhood nightmares than anyone else and I "blame" him for my phobic fascination with the artform. Talos and those skeletons had me traumatised the first time I saw them as a very young child. They looked so real my mind insisted they must be just that - and suddenly anything was possible. A true miracle worker of cinema!

My ranking of the films of Ray Harryhausen, and every one a classic of its type:

1. 'Jason And The Argonauts' (1963) by Don Chaffey
2. 'The Seventh Voyage Of Sinbad' (1958) by Nathan Juran
3. 'Mysterious Island' (1961) by Cy Endfield
4. 'The Valley Of Gwangi' (1969) by Jim O'Connolly
5. 'One Million Years BC' (1967) by Don Chaffey
6. 'The Golden Voyage Of Sinbad' (1974) by Gordon Hessler
7. 'Sinbad And The Eye Of The Tiger' (1977) by Sam Wanamaker
8. 'Clash Of The Titans' (1981) by Desmond Davis
9. '20 Million Miles To Earth' (1957) by Nathan Juran
10. 'Earth Vs The Flying Saucers' (1956) by Fred F. Sears
11. 'The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms' (1953) by Eugène Lourié
12. 'It Came From Beneath The Sea' (1955) by Robert Gordon

I've never seen; 'The Animal World' (1956), 'The Three Worlds Of Gulliver' (1960) or 'The First Men In The Moon' (1964), and long to...
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Mbfg (Mbfg)
Username: Mbfg

Registered: 09-2010
Posted From: 212.219.63.206
Posted on Thursday, May 09, 2013 - 09:51 am:   

He was one of that band of special effects sorcerors who created wonders and marvels from plastcine, sellotape and paper clips. The kind of genius who provided the crudely wrought mechanical effects for films such as "The Exorcist" and "2001" but that were so utterly convincing. And more impressive for all that.

And I will NEVER forget seeing "One Million Years BC" at the cinema for the first time...

Regards
Terry
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Hubert (Hubert)
Username: Hubert

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 81.165.252.157
Posted on Thursday, May 09, 2013 - 11:34 am:   

Ah, Mysterious Island . . . Saw this in the cinema when I was 11. I'd seen Disney's take on 20,000 Leagues previously and was so delighted that Captain Nemo was alive and well.
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Tony (Tony)
Username: Tony

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 81.158.253.196
Posted on Thursday, May 09, 2013 - 12:52 pm:   

I loved his films but always wish they were more polished dramatically/narratively/um...actingly.
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Stevie Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 81.149.182.62
Posted on Thursday, May 09, 2013 - 07:33 pm:   

I've heard people say the same about spaghetti westerns, Tony, but I wouldn't have them any other way. Harryhausen's fantasies inhabit their own pure universe of larger than life thrills. I believe there is a DVD box set available of all his early animated shorts, mainly fairy-tales for children, going right back to the war years, and I'd dearly love to have it in my collection.

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