Remembering Ray :: Where Were You in ’78? (June, 1978)

 

 

 

 

 

 
And we’ll wrap up this week long tribute to Ray Harryhausen where it began for me. E’yup. It was here, in a similar matinee setting back in the 1970′s, that I saw my first Harryhausen film, Jason and the Argonauts, and got my first taste of Dynamic Dynamation. Already enchanted and mesmerized by what I had seen, I clearly remember the climax, when the Children of the Hydra (the skeleton army) first broke out of the ground and assembled, I had edged so far forward in my seat, pulled along as gravity asserted itself on my lower jaw, I almost toppled over into the row ahead of us. And though my dream of being a stop-motion monster animator this encounter inspired never came to pass, I have been living vicariously through Harryhausen’s films ever since and enjoying the hell out of every minute of them. And for that I would like to say, thanks.

Ray Harryhausen
(1920-2013)

Remembering Ray :: Baby Gorilla Reared by Girl Becomes Powder-Keg Pet of Society! (October, 1949)

 

 

 

 

 
“I’m another snowball. Willis H. O’Brien started the snowball, then I picked it up, then ILM picked it up and now the computer generation is picking it up. Where it will end, I don’t know.”

Ray Harryhausen
(1920-2013)

Mighty Joe Young (1949) Argosy Pictures :: RKO Radio Pictures / EP: John Ford / P: Merian C. Cooper / D: Ernest B. Schoedsack / W: Ruth Rose, Merian C. Cooper / C: J. Roy Hunt / E: Ted Cheesman / M: Roy Webb / S: Terry Moore, Ben Johnson, Robert Armstrong, Frank McHugh, Douglas Fowley

Close-Up (1948) Harry Brandt Productions :: Eagle-Lion Films / P: Frank Satenstein / AP: Robert L. Joseph / D: Jack Donohue / W: John Bright, James Poe, Martin Rackin, Max Wilk / C: William Miller / E: Robert Klager / M: Jerome Moross / S: Alan Baxter, Virginia Gilmore, Richard Kollmar, Loring Smith, Phillip Huston

Remembering Ray :: Excitement High as the Sky! Mystery Deep as the Sea! (January, 1962)

 

 

 

 

 
“They were considered B pictures because they were made on a tight budget. But we outlived many of the A pictures made at the same time.”
 

Ray Harryhausen
(1920-2013)

Mysterious Island (1961) Ameran Films :: Columbia Pictures / P: Charles H. Schneer / D: Cy Endfield / W: John Prebble, Daniel B. Ullman, Crane Wilbur, Jules Verne (novel) / C: Wilkie Cooper / E: Frederick Wilson / M: Bernard Herrmann / S: Michael Craig, Joan Greenwood, Michael Callan, Gary Merrill, Beth Rogan, Percy Herbert, Dan Jackson, Herbert Lom

The Long Rope (1961) Associated Producers (API) 20th Century Fox Film Corporation / P: Margia Dean, Robert Hamner / D: William Witney / W: Robert Hamner / C: Kay Norton / E: Peter Rolfe Johnson / M: Paul Sawtell, Bert Shefter / S: Hugh Marlowe, Alan Hale Jr., Robert J. Wilke, Lisa Montell, William Kerwin, Chris Robinson

Remembering Ray :: Out of the Age of Wonders — One of the Most Wonderful Motion Pictures of Our Time! (December, 1958)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
“I think it’s the thought of trying to bring something to life, an inanimate object to life. Maybe it’s a Frankenstein complex.”

Ray Harryhausen
(1920-2013)

The 7th Voyage of Sinbad (1958) Morningside Productions :: Columbia Pictures / P: Charles H. Schneer / AP: Ray Harryhausen / D: Nathan Juran / W: Ken Kolb / C: Wilkie Cooper / E: Edwin H. Bryant, Jerome Thoms / M: Bernard Herrmann / S: Kerwin Mathews, Kathryn Grant, Richard Eyer, Torin Thatcher, Nana DeHerrera

Remembering Ray :: Travel Back Through Time and Space to the Edge of Man’s Beginnings … Discover a Savage World Whose Only Law Was Lust! (July, 1967)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
“I’m very happy that so many young fans have told me that my films have changed their lives. That’s a great compliment. It means I did more than just make entertaining films. I actually touched people’s lives — and, I hope, changed them for the better.”

Ray Harryhausen
(1920-2013)

Other Points of Interest:

More ads for Harryhausen’s films.

One Million Years B.C. (1966) Associated British-Pathé :: Hammer Films :: Seven Arts Productions :: 20th Century Fox / P: Michael Carreras / AP: Aida Young / D: Don Chaffey / W: Michael Carreras / C: Wilkie Cooper / E: Tom Simpson / M: Mario Nascimbene / S: Raquel Welch, John Richardson, Percy Herbert, Robert Brown, Martine Beswick, Lisa Thomas

The Devil’s Own a/k/a The Witches (1966) Hammer Films :: 20th Century Fox / P: Anthony Nelson Keys / D: Cyril Frankel / W: Nigel Kneale, Norah Lofts (novel) / C: Arthur Grant / E: Chris Barnes, James Needs / M: Richard Rodney Bennett / S: Joan Fontaine, Kay Walsh, Alec McCowen, Ann Bell, Ingrid Boulting

Fabulous! Fantastic! Terrifying! Notorious Beauties Lost in a Fantastic Hell-On-Earth! (September, 1958)

 

 

 

Other Points of Interest:

Poster campaign for Viking Women & the Sea Serpent at the Archive.

Poster campaign for The Astounding She-Monster at the Archive.

The Saga of the Viking Women and Their Voyage to the Waters of the Great Sea Serpent (1957) Malibu Productions :: American International Pictures / EP: James H. Nicholson, Samuel Z. Arkoff / P: Roger Corman / D: Roger Corman / W: Lawrence L. Goldman, Irving Block (story) / C: Monroe P. Askins / E: Ronald Sinclair / M: Albert Glasser / S: Abby Dalton, Susan Cabot, Bradford Jackson, June Kenney, Jonathan Haze, Richard Devon, Betsy Jones-Moreland, Sally Todd

The Astounding She-Monster (1957) Hollywood International Pictures :: American International Pictures / P: Ronald V. Ashcroft / D: Ronald V. Ashcroft / W: Frank Hall / C: William C. Thompson / E: Ronald V. Ashcroft / M: Gene Kauer / S: Robert Clarke, Kenne Duncan, Marilyn Harvey, Jeanne Tatum, Ewing Miles Brown, Shirley Kilpatrick

Ghastly Tales Drenched with Gouts of Blood! Carnage and Violence Mark this Double-Barralled NIGHT OF HORROR! (May, 1969)

 

 

 

 

 

 
I haven’t had the pleasure of watching Herschell Gordon Lewis’ A Taste of Blood yet, but from what I’ve read I think I need to take a look — and fast. Seems somebody has accidentally ingested some blood of Dracula, who is now seeking revenge on the descendents of those who done the Transylvanian Count in. That’s right: an unofficial sequel to Bram Stoker’s novel that clocks in at an astonishing 2 hours! No wonder it’s referred to as Lewis’ Gone with the Wind. As for our second feature, I’ve only seen the MST3k’d version of Teen-Age Strangler a/k/a Terror in the Night but I always kinda dug the hometown auteur flavor of the proceedings. It’s clumsy and a bit kooky, but it also has a bit of a nasty streak, making it worth a look unmolested — if you can find it.

A Taste of Blood (1967) Creative Film Enterprises Inc. :: Ajay Film Company / EP: Sidney J. Reich / P: Herschell Gordon Lewis / D: Herschell Gordon Lewis / W: Donald Standford / C: Andy Romanoff / E: Richard Brinkman / M: Larry Wellington / S: Bill Rogers, Elizabeth Wilkinson, William Kerwin, Lawrence Tobin, Otto Schlessinger

Teen-Age Strangler (1964) Ajay Film Company :: American Diversified Services :: Original Six / EP: Elvin Feltner / P: Clark Davis / D: Bill Posner / W: Clark Davis / C: Fred Singer / E: John Detra / M: Danny Dean / S: Bill Bloom, Stacy Smith, John Humphries, Rick Harris, Jo Canterbury

Drive-In Mash-Up :: Calling All Gravediggers: Dig Up a Ghoulfriend and Shovel Off for a Horrific Heart-Stopping Show! (July, 1965)

 

 

 

 

 

MultiPlex Mash-Up :: September, 1977

 

 

 

 

We Dare You to See the Most Amazing Motion Pictures of Our Time! (January, 1958)

 

 

 

 

 

Other Points of Interest:

Poster campaign for I Was a Teenage Werewolf at the Archive.

Poster campaign for Invasion of the Saucer-Men at the Archive.

I Was a Teenage Werewolf (1957) Sunset Productions :: American International / EP: James H. Nicholson, Samuel Z. Arkoff / P: Herman Cohen / D: Gene Fowler Jr. / W: Herman Cohen, Aben Kandel / C: Joseph LaShelle / E: George Gittens / M: Paul Dunlop / S: Michael Landon, Yvonne Lime, Whit Bissell, Guy Williams, Tony Marshall, Ken Miller, Cindy Robbins, Dawn Richard

Invasion of the Saucer-Men (1957) Malibu Productions :: American International / EP: James H. Nicholson, Samuel Z. Arkoff / P: Robert J. Gurney Jr. / D: Edward L. Cahn / W: Robert J. Gurney Jr., Al Martin / C: Fred West / E: Charles Gross Jr. / M: Ronald Stein / S: Steven Terrell, Gloria Castillo, Frank Gorshin, Raymond Hatton, Lyn Osborn