Stop-Motion Guru Gets Royal Treatment With DVD Set

Sure, the 1933 film classic "King Kong" inspired director Peter Jackson to remake the film several years ago -- but long before that, the film also ignited the imagination of special effects guru Ray Harryhausen, the legendary filmmaker whose name has been synonymous with stop-motion animation.

Anyone familiar with Harryhausen's work knows that he's enjoyed traveling back and forth in time -- in addition to his films about legends like "The Golden Voyage of Sinbad," he trekked into the science fiction genre with such films as "20 Million Miles to Earth," "Earth vs. the Flying Saucers" and "It Came From Beneath the Sea" -- a trio of classics that are featured in the "Harryhausen Gift Set," new on DVD (Sony Pictures Home Entertainment).

In addition to the discs, the gift set includes a scrap booklet containing excerpts from Harryhausen's "An Animated Life," a book that, among other things, examines the early stages of the special effects process.

"There's something mystical about the way people look at animation," Harryhausen told me in a recent @ The Movies interview. "It's like a nightmare -- you know it's not real, but it looks real."

What excites the 85-year-old filmmaker the most is that his films have held up so well over the years. All three films in the gift set, in fact, were made in the mid-1950s.

I think our films are more appreciated today than when they were released," Harryhausen said. ""People didn't know much about them in the early days. We had to make them on a very cheap budget, and now, our pictures are lasting when so-called 'A-pictures' have fallen by the wayside."

For those unfamiliar with the films, "Earth vs. the Flying Saucers" chronicles a group of zombie-like aliens hostile reception at a U.S. Army base. "20 Million Miles to Earth" is about Ymir, a monster from Venus, who wreaks havoc in Italy.

Harryhausen said that the funny thing about "20 Million Miles to Earth" was that the film at first had a decidedly different setting.

"Originally I had the rocket ship land in Lake Michigan in my first outline, then I decided that I wanted a trip to Europe, so I decided to crash outside of Italy," Harryhausen said, laughing.

The Harryhausen gift set doesn't spend all of its time in outer space. It also plunges into the sea with "It Came From Beneath the Sea," a tale where a submarine commander (Kenneth Tobey) and a pair of scientists (Faith Domergue and Donald Curtis) battle a giant octopus driven from the depths of the ocean by an H-bomb explosion.

"The fascination of a giant octopus -- nobody knew of what would happen if an atomic bomb was exploded under the water," Harryhausen said. "The whole point of all the stories is 'What if?'"

Forward 'Motion'

Harryhausen has had a hand, quite literally, in numerous classics, including "Jason and the Argonauts," "One Million Years, B.C." "Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger" and "Clash of the Titans."

Whether you've seen the films on DVD or remember them from their numerous television runs during your youth, the images are indelible: The skeleton warriors and the towering bronze titan, Talos from "Jason and the Argonauts"; the Medusa from "Clash of the Titans"; the Centaur, the Cyclops, the Griffin and Serpent Woman from the "Sinbad" movies. And those are only a few of the characters that have populated the universe of Harryhausen.

But among his most memorable gigs is that of first technician animator on that other giant ape film classic, "Mighty Joe Young."

"That was first professional feature," Harryhausen beamed. "I was an assistant to ("King Kong" stop-motion pioneer) Willis O'Brien. That was a great pleasure because O'Brien and ("King Kong" director and "Mighty Joe Young" writer) Merian Cooper were my mentors. When I saw the first 'King Kong,' they were my heroes."

The wonderful thing is, Harryhausen has gone on to become an inspiration himself -- and a lot of famous filmmakers have followed in his footsteps.

Among them are Nick Park and Tim Burton, who have kept the stop-motion technique alive with their films "Wallace and Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit" and "Corpse Bride," respectively.

"In 'Corpse Bride' there's a piano named after me," Harryhausen said, laughing. "I'm glad people appreciate the work that went into our films. We put a lot of thought into our pictures. We made simple stories, but they're good stories that are tied all together. You can't make complicated, psychological stories about myths and fairy tales."

Other filmmakers have honored Harryhausen in different ways. Director Ron Underwood, for example, featured Harryhausen in a cameo role in his 1998 remake of "Mighty Joe Young."

"It's an easier way to make a living, being an actor," Harryhausen chuckled.

And, he knows he made the right choice by staying behind the camera as a special effects artist, producer and director.

"I have a Zeus complex -- my characters do exactly as I want them to do," Harryhausen mused. "And they don't talk back."