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Dear loyal EI readers,
Before the days of computer animated dinosaurs ala "Jurassic Park" there
existed a refined gentleman artist who labored long and hard to bring to life
magical, mythical creatures much to the delight of young baby-boomers all
over. Ray Harryhausen's work drove my imagination as a child, and fueled my
love for monster and science-fiction films. I wrote the following as a
research paper for a film class I took in undergraduate school. I hope you
will forgive this detour from my usual reviews while I share my love of the
work of a master with you.
Harryhausen's spectacular saucers
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The level of an audience's willing suspension of disbelief may depend
greatly upon the production values of the play or film being presented. This
is especially true of films in the science-fiction/fantasy genre. The
audience must believe they are seeing the impossible if they are to enjoy the
story. This is true whether the film takes place in the future, the present
time, or in a galaxy far, far away. The atmosphere for these films is largely
the responsibility of special effects crews and art directors. During the
1950s, the golden age of science-fiction films, one man stood head and
shoulders above his peers in the field of special effects. Ray Harryhausen
built his reputation as the world's premiere stop-motion animator in a series
of science-fiction and fantasy films. He revolutionized the art invented by
his mentor, Willis O'Brien. His innovations, coupled with other technological
advances in the world of film-making, allowed the apprentice to become the
master. While none of Harryhausen's films have captured the public's
imagination to the extent that O'Brien's "King Kong" did, his work is clearly
superior to O'Brien's. His work spawned a profitable sub-genre in the
science-fiction field. His technological innovations improved the looks of
animated films and brought down production costs considerably. The latter
influence enabled Harryhausen to amaze and entertain audiences for nearly
thirty years.
Harryhausen's sextapus
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Harryhausen set his mind on becoming an animator at the age of thirteen
when he saw O'Brien's "King Kong." His interest in fantasy and
science-fiction lead to Harryhausen's CO-founding a short-lived science
fiction magazine with two of his boyhood friends, Ray Bradbury and Forrest J.
Ackerman. The three teenagers failed at their first attempt to break into the
business, but all three eventually left their mark on the world of
science-fiction. Harryhausen began dabbling in animation; and as a student at
Los Angeles City College, be began work on a 16 mm animated short titled
"Evolution of the World." Though he never completed the film, the rough
footage impressed producer George Pal ("War of the Worlds," "When Worlds
Collide"), and he hired Harryhausen as an animator on his "Puppetoon"
children's stories. The college film also led Harryhausen to his mentor,
Willis O'Brien.
Harryhausen loves to destroy famous landmarks
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Willis O'Brien invented the stop-motion animation process in the early
1900s. O'Brien made one-foot high wooden skeletons, later made of metal, and
covered them with rubber skin. The animals (usually dinosaurs) were placed on
scaled sets to give the illusion of immense size. where they would be filmed,
one frame at a time. After each exposure, the models were moved slightly; the
figures would appear to move in the finished film. Two major problems that
faced O'Brien were incorporating live actors into the frame with the animated
figures, and making the dinosaurs look huge in comparison with the human
beings in the frame. He used a time-consuming and expensive process which
utilized elaborately painted glass mattes, and rear screen projection to
combine the figures. The glass matte paintings were used to give the finished
product the illusion of depth. The models were place between the painted
glass mattes. This made the dinosaurs look huge in comparison to the
I think this is my best side!
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surrounding jungle. For the most part, the actors were melded into the
picture through the use of rear screen projection, or the people in the
picture were actually animated figures themselves. Under O'Brien, Harryhausen
fine tuned his craft. The two men worked together on the 1949 film "Mighty
Joe Young" for which O'Brien won his only Oscar, even though Harryhausen is
reported to have animated 85% of the picture. Following "Might Joe Young" no
further feature films were forthcoming so Harryhausen returned to work on
George Pal's "Puppetoons." The successful 1952 reissue of "King Kong" showed
the money men in Hollywood that there was a market for the animated films.
This event put Harryhausen in the right place, with the right skills, and at
the right time in history to become an innovative power in the movie
business. The golden age of American science-fiction films was just
beginning. Harryhausen was introduced to producer Hal Chester who wanted to
make a movie about a sea monster, and the rest is history.
The terror in NY begins
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"The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms" was produced by Mutual Pictures at a
budget of $210,000. The budget presented Harryhausen with some major
problems. He rose to the challenge though. Harryhausen was quoted in the book
"Future Tense" by John Brosnan saying that "Beast" was "the first film where
I was in sole charge of the special effects. It was also the film for which I
developed a simplified technique of combining animated models with live
backgrounds...{because of the budget}, I couldn't afford the complicated and
expensive technique of using glass paintings combined with miniature rear
screen projection in the manner of "King Kong" and "Mighty Joe Young."
The Beast on a rampage
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Harryhausen developed an in-camera traveling matte shot which cut costs
and which produced an impressive image. Mutual sold the film to Warner
Brothers. Warner rescored the film, added one scene and launched a massive ad
campaign. "Beast" was one of the first films to use TV for widespread
advertising. The campaign worked as "Beast" made five million dollars for
Warner Brothers and begot a score of imitators.
"Beast" concerned a prehistoric dinosaur freed from an Arctic grave by an
atomic bomb test. This was the first film in which a creature was either
revived or mutated by an atomic bomb test. It was also the first film to be
based on a Ray Bradbury story. The beast attempts to return to its old
stomping grounds. Of course, his previous abode is not occupied by New York
City. After destroying much of the city, the beast is killed with a
radioactive isotope in the climatic scene in a Coney Island amusement park.
The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms takes Manhatten
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The film contains many of the characteristics of the science-fiction
film. An alien invader (in this case an alien out of time) threatens the
American way of life. The nature of man to play God via science leads to
trouble, but the same curious nature allows man to fight off the unwanted
invader.
The story may have enough plot holes big enough to drive a brontosaurus
through, but as is the case in most of Harrryhausen's films, the special
effects were the stars. Many critics pointed out that "Beast" had a mediocre
plot, but they fail to realize that without the financial success of "Beast"
it is very unlikely that Warner Brothers would have put as much effort into
their follow-up film, the Oscar winning "Them!."
The army sends IT back to the sea
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Part of Harryhausen's longevity is due to the fact that he was able to
form a partnership with independent producer Charles Schneer. Schneer
produced "It Came From Beneath the Sea" for the Clover Films Company. Schneer
would produce all of Harryhausen's films except for the forgettable "Animal
World" and the 1960's hit film "One Million Years B.C.." One may say that
Harryhausen's talent alone would attract any number of producers, but a
cursory examination of Willis O'Brien's sad career shows a continuous series
of projects which never got off the drawing board due to lack of financial
backing. For no other reason than his patronage which enabled millions of
fans to enjoy Harryhausen's magic, Charles Schneer will have a permanent
place in motion picture history.
"It Came From Beneath the Sea" also showed more of Harryhausen's
inventiveness under difficult situations. The plot of "It Came From Beneath
the Sea" was very similar to that of "The Beast From 20.000 Fathoms" in that
an atomic test in the Pacific kills off most of the fish, causing a giant
octopus to search elsewhere for food. Millions of humans know that some of
the best seafood in the world is found at Fisherman's Wharf in San Francisco;
in an ironic and humorous twist, the giant octopus goes to Fisherman's Wharf
for a taste of some "landfood." The city fathers of San Francisco did not see
the humor in the situation and denied Harryhausen permission to film in the
city. Harryhausen overcame this denial by using stock footage and by sneaking
around the city filming in secret from a place of concealment in a phony
bread truck. Costs were also a major problem for the production company, so
Harryhausen was forced to only give the octopus six tentacles. To allow
himself more flexibility in animating the destruction of downtown San
Francisco, Harryhausen also built a large tentacle to give the illusion of
greater size and detail. While Harryhausen did his animation in the camera,
he did resort to an optical printer in order to show foam and turbulence as
the octopus broke the surface of the water. It was time consuming, but it
added greatly to the realism of the scenes. Realism was important to
Harryhausen. He animated the octopus at a slower rate of speed fro the
underwater scenes in order to show the resistance of movement caused by the
water pressure. Due to the difficulty of animating water, Harryhausen
animated a dry octopus model and coated the skin with glycerin to give it a
wet look. Next to "Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger" this was probably
Harryhausen's worst film. This was not due to the animation, which is its one
redeeming factor, but rather due to the preposterous story line and wooden
acting.
Following "It Came From Beneath the Sea," Harryhausen teamed up with
Willis O'Brien for a short dinosaur battle in Irwin Allen's forgettable "The
Animal World" and then began work on his next solo project, "Earth Versus the
Flying Saucers." After the success of George Pal's "War of the Worlds,"
producer Schneer realized there was money to be made in UFOs. He and
Harryhausen began work on developing a script with writer Curt Sidomak.
Scratch one alien!
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"Earth Versus the Flying Saucers" is unique in Harryhausen's career
because the animation involved inanimate objects. Harryhausen was intrigued
by the challenge of making a round inanimate object visually interesting.
Author Bill Warren stated that Harryhausen's saucers are the best ever done.
One detail in particular adds immensely to the visual excitement of the ships
in flight. Harryhausen added rotating rings on the ships. The forward motion
of the saucers in flight is accented by the hypnotizing spiral of the rings
which results in a rewarding tease for the eyes.
Keep watching the skys!
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There are two major destruction scenes in the film. One takes place at
night as the saucers set a forest ablaze in an attempt to kill the film's
hero, Dr. Russell Marvin (Hugh Marlowe). The lighting in this scene gives the
saucers a truly terrifying appearance. The reflection of the fire on the
saucers contrasted with the pitch black night sky results in an atmosphere
which ranks among the eeriest in science fiction film. Unlike the
claustrophobic setting of "Alien" in which the characters had no where to
run, the characters in the fire scene are in a wide, expansive terrain, and
still they are trapped like sinners fleeing the wrath of God. The scene is a
major accomplishment of Harryhausen's special effects.
I said finish counting the damn votes!
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The second major scene of mayhem is the film's climax: an attack on
Washington D.C. by the saucer fleet (Now there's an idea!) Harryhausen
produced some of his best and intricate work. Instead of animating dinosaurs
or mythical beasts, Harryhausen brought life (and death) to the Washington
Monument, the Supreme Court Building and the Capitol Building. Dr. Marvin
invents an ultrasonic gun which disrupts the saucer's power-drive and causes
them to fall from the sky. Of course, the fall into the aforementioned
objects. Harryhausen had to animate the destruction of the buildings brick by
brick. Each brick was suspended on invisible wires as Harryhausen worked his
meticulous magic.
The scene in which the Washington Monument collapses on a crowd of people
was so effective that it was lifted for use in the low-budget stinker "The
Giant Claw." Less anyone think that Harryhausen would be upset by this
practice, they should look quickly for the destruction of L.A.'s City hall
which was lifted from George Pal's "War of the Worlds" and inserted into
Harryhausen's film. Borrowing scenes from other movies and using stock
footage were two economical ways that Harryhausen and many other low-budget
filmmakers cut production costs in the 1950s. Sometimes it worked well, and
at other times you had glaring mistakes such as the battery of army cannons
firing on the flying saucers as they attack Washington D.C.. The battery of
cannons are obviously out in a desert of the western United States. All of
that aside, Harryhausen's destruction of America's Capitol was a monumental
achievement.
Space travel 1890s style
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One critic said, "the monster is a marvel of technological achievement
and is terrifyingly realistic." The monster is Harryhausen's creature from
Venus: Ymir; and the film is "20 Million Miles to Earth." This was
Harryhausen's last black and white film, and his last low-budget, exploitive,
science-fiction film. After "20 Million Miles to Earth," Harryhausen shifted
to the fantasy phase of his career. He did return to science fiction twice,
but those films focused more on fantasy than science.
"20 Million Miles to Earth" was the last Harryhausen film from the golden
age of science fiction films; it was also far and away his best work from
this period. The film was another fear-of-science film. This time the viewer
learns the horrible things that await man kind when they dare to try
interplanetary travel. An egg is brought back from Venus by an American space
expedition. The egg hatches and the Ymir grows until it becomes a giant.
Baby Ymir from 20 Million Miles to Earth
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The film's climax places the monster in Rome, where it destroys much of
the city before meeting its demise. The plot is interchangeable with numerous
other monster-on-the-loose movies; Harryhausen's animation lifts this one
above the mundane hoard of imitators, though. This film contains a multitude
of animation sequences which show the Ymir's growth from one foot high to
twenty feet. They are notable not only for the excellent design of the
creature, but also for the locations used. Ymir is chased from Sicily to
Rome. Along the way Harryhausen shows the creature in action in such varied
locations as a barn at night; under a waterfall; in the brightly lit Italian
countryside; and in Rome. Harryhausen commented on the Roman scenes, "we used
all the Roman ruins and monuments, including the coliseum. The creature was
matted into the real scenes, (rather than model sets)."
Ymir is a lively creature, pacing through the film like a cagey boxer.
Like a child with ADHD, Ymir is rarely still. Like the forest fire scene in
"Earth Versus the Flying Saucers," Harryhausen matches the lighting of the
diversely lit live-action scenes with uncanny accuracy. Author Bill Warren
wrote that "the Ymir's first appearance, trotting on a tabletop is one of the
best sequences of his films. Joan Taylor (in the background plate) enters the
room and switches on the light. The light falling on the Ymir is precisely
correct...and the illusion of reality is almost perfect....When you realize
the animation was filmed months after the live-action footage, the
accomplishment becomes astounding."
By now, Harryhausen had experimented with various methods of filming
animation. On "20 Million Miles to Earth" he settled on the process he would
use for the rest of his career. It involved rear-screen projection, a
foreground matte, with the animated figure between them. Harryhausen dubbed
this process "Dynamation" for the release of his next film, "The Seventh
Voyage of Sinbad."
Harryhausen's worst from Mysterious Island
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In 1958, Harryhausen and Schneer shifted gears and moved into the fantasy
film field. They would make six fantasy films together from 1958 to 1981.
Harryhausen soloed on the Aforementioned "One Million Years B.C.."
Harryhausen and Schneer paid tribute to Willis O'Brien in the 1969 cowboys
and dinosaurs saga "The Valley of Gwangi." Their final two science-fiction
films were part of the cycle spawned by the success of Disney's "20,000
Leagues Under the Sea." This was a wholesome family-oriented film, with more
emphasis on action and adventure than on science fiction. Other films in this
cycle included "Journey to the Center of the Earth" and "Master of the
World." Harryhausen's contributions to this cycle were 1961's "Mysterious
Island" and 1964's "The First Men IN the Moon."
Giant crab from Mysterious Island
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Harryhausen began making color movies with "The Seventh Voyage of
Sinbad." "Mysterious Island" is aided and hurt by the use of color. The
creatures are very lifelike (especially the crab!), but the matte paintings
of the landscapes are obviously just that, paintings. The film also depends
as much on plot and character development as it does on Harryhausen's
animation, though the animation is some of the best of his career. Most
notable among the scenes are the soldier's battle with the giant crab, and
the attack on the castaways camp by a comical prehistoric chicken. The film
also contains one of the worst sequences animated by Harryhausen: the
underwater battle with a giant nautilus.
Mysterious Island
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Harryhausen attempted to solve one of the last problems facing animators
while working on "Mysterious Island." Strobing is the phenomenon caused by
the animation process. When a live-action scene is filmed, blurring occurs
due to the natural motion of the object being filmed. This blurring does not
occur in animation since it is shot a frame at a time, and the subject is
still. Harryhausen attempted to solve this for the giant bee sequence, with
little success. Harryhausen's protege Jim Danforth claimed to have solved
this problem by double exposing each frame in "When Dinosaurs Ruled the
Earth."
Harryhausen's last science fiction film, "The First Men IN the Moon"
contains very little animation. The movie was more a labor of love than
anything else. Harryhausen had always wanted to film the H.G. Wells story,
but producer Schneer always nixed the idea because there was not enough
Call Orken! The lunar centiped from First Men IN the Moon
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animation to fill a feature length film. Harryhausen persuaded Schneer to
produce the film by concocting a modern day prologue in which a United
Nations space shot discovers a rotting Union Jack flag on the surface of the
moon, setting off a search for the aging space explorer. The film has a
lighthearted tone, as the serious scientist of the 1950s science fiction film
was replaced by a bumbling, veddy, veddy English scientist (Lionel
Jefferies). The only animated creature in the film is a gigantic lunar
centipede. The moon is occupied by a race of Selenites which look more like
children in grasshopper suits than anything else. The film may be a
disappointment to Harryhausen fans, but it is an entertaining and enjoyable
family film.
Harryhausen retired from film after the release of the 1981 film, "Clash
of the Titans." He said he was "tired of spending year after year locked
inside a dark room." The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences awarded
Harryhausen a lifetime achievement award for his contributions to the world
of film in March 1992. One writer commented that it was appropriate that he
was honored with a statue of a a man only 13 1/2 inches tall. An obvious
reference to Harryhausen miniature models. Though Harryhausen has retire from
the business, his influence is seen in the work of current model and computer
animators. Those of us who give ourselves over to the magic of Harryhausen
"believe" the creatures are alive, just as we pay homage to the man who
breathed life into them.
I want to thank Jim Rodkey for the use of all illustrations. Jim has a
wonderful web-site devoted to the life and work of Ray Harryhausen called
"The Fantastic Films of Ray Hayyhausen." If you love these films like I do
check out his site. It is a treasure trove of information and images.
Because I origonally wrote this as a research paper in college I feel
obliged to include the bibliography.
Brosnan, John (1978) Future Tense. New York: St. Marten's Press.
Frank, Alan (1982). The Science Fiction and Fantasy Film Handbook. Totowa,
New Jersey: Barnes and Noble Books.
Kinnard, Roy (1988). Beasts and Behemoths: Prehistoric Creatures in the Movies
. London: Scarecrow Press.
Luciano, Patrick. (1987). Them or Us. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.
Menville, Douglas and Reginald R.. (1977) Things To Come: An Illustrated
History of Science Fiction Film. New York: New York Times Books.
Perry, Danny. (1984). Omni's Screen Flights Screen Fantasies: The Future
According to Science Fiction Cinema. Garden City, New York: Doubleday.
Rovin, Jeff. (1977) The Fabulous Fantasy Films. New York: A.S. Barnes and
Company.
Shipman, David, (1985). A Pictorial History of Science Fiction Films.
Twickingham, England: Hamlyn Publishing.
Shipman, David. (1982). The Story of Cinema. New York: St. Martin's Press.
Sobchack, Vivian Carol. (1980). The Limits of Infinity: The American Science
Fiction Film 1950-75. New York: A.S. Barnes and Company.
Warren, Bill. (1982). Keep Watching the Skys: American Science Fiction movies
of the Fifties-Volume 1 1950-1957. London: McFarland.
Warren, Bill. (1982). Keep Watching the Skys: American Science Fiction movies
of the Fifties-Volume 2 1958-1962. London: McFarland.
Wloszczyna, Susan. (1992). "Ray Harryhausen, a man of many mini miracles."
USA Today. March 30, 1992. P.9E.
Rusty White
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