It’s the Ray Harryhausen Show. You’re not here for the story, surely, or the characters. You’re just waiting patiently for the monsters to appear. The only element that’s ever wrong with this kind of picture is that in-built delay. The need to set up the story and establish the oddities of the world before the behemoths trundle into view.
Doesn’t matter whether the creatures already live in an accommodating global ecosystem like Jason and the Argonauts (1963) or One Million Years B.C. (1966). Or whether you are going to come across them by the simple device, most famously, of dropping through a rabbit hole (Alice in Wonderland) or via a cupboard door (The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe) or a rockface cracking open (Prehistoric Women / Slave Girls, 1967) or a time warp (Wonder Woman, 2017).
Here, it’s a bunch U.S. Civil War soldiers who need to break out of their prison and commandeer a handy hot-air balloon that can fly thousands of miles to the uninhabited volcanic island occupied by giant beasts. So we’ve got a monstrous crab, giant bees, chicken, gigantic octopus. And the success or failure of the picture relies not so much on whether our heroes can overcome these than that they look realistic.
And, boy, they are just brilliant. This is fairly early on the Harryhausen catalogue but if his stop-motion animation was still going through an experimental stage it’s hardly noticeable. Enhanced claws and beaks are just dandy for trapping humans, having them wriggling madly to avoid being split open with one snap. And the bee is pretty cunning, filling in the hole the invading humans have created in the massive honeycomb.
And should, perchance, your mind be wandering director Cy Endfield (Zulu, 1964) has a bout of sequel-itis, throwing in Captain Nemo from author Jules Verne’s 20,000 Leagues under the Sea (1954), and prequel-itis – the pirates from his In Search of the Castaways (1962) – plus, to add the romantic touch, a couple of shipwrecked damsels and, for the climax, volcanic eruption.
No doubt you’re dying to know about the characters you couldn’t really care less about who are encountering this legion of beings. So, we’ve got the grizzled Capt. Harding (Michael Craig), young Herbert (Michael Callan) who will express his romantic side, Sgt. Pencroft (Percy Herbert), Corporal Nugent (Dan Jackson) and Gideon (Gary Merrill). There are joined by posh English lady Mary Fairchild (Joan Greenwood), who happily buckles to and is handy with a rifle, and her niece Elena (Beth Rogan) who decides laziness is the better option when she’s not canoodling with Herbert.
Their job is to squabble, beat off the monsters, adapt a local geyser for cooking purposes, set to building a boat to escape, and await the next monster/person who’s going to upset their plans.
Captain Nemo certainly makes an impression, his ship, the Nautilus, stranded under the volcano and the man himself taking a break from the world since he doesn’t believe he is such a good fit. Turning up out of the waves in an improvised aqualung isn’t quite an entrance on a par with Ursula Andress in Dr No (1962), but it runs it close, though bikini tops rubber-suit all the time.
The pirates are just a menace and I wouldn’t be surprised if you came away with the notion that they are rammed into the tale just so their sunken ship, scuttled by Nemo, can miraculously rise from the waves thanks to the sailor’s ingenuity.
Time has been kind to Harryhausen. What was once viewed as appealing only to children and the childish wondrous aspects of adults has now become cult viewing. And no wonder. In the age of CGI, it’s quite astonishing what he has managed to achieve with what appears the most rudimentary of techniques.
Of the actors, British star Michael Craig (Doctor in Love, 1960) has his hands full to stop the picture being stolen by rising American actor Michael Callan (The Interns, 1962), a grumpy Gary Merrill (A Girl Named Tamiko, 1962), an almost avuncular Herbert Lom (The Frightened City, 1961) and a delightful turn by plummy-voiced Joan Greenwood (The Moon-Spinners, 1964).
You wouldn’t think this was the ideal movie to set you up for Zulu, but Cy Endfield does a good job of keeping the story moving and keeping out of the way during the Harryhausen sections. Screenplay by John Prebble (Zulu), Daniel B. Ullman (the television writer’s only movie of the decade) and veteran Crane Wilbur (The George Raft Story, 1962).
Huge fun. All hail King Ray.
The Magnificent 60s 
Harryhausen movies were on American television a lot in the middle and late sixties and seemed wondrous at the time. This was actually the first one I ever saw, probably around ’65. I didn’t see it again for decades and upon later viewing found it actually holds up pretty well and remains one of my two favorite Harryhausen films just behind “First Men in the Moon.”
I’d say it easily has the best cast of all of these films along with one of the better directors and writers along with one hell of a Bernard Herrmann score. The monsters are also quite impressive and the giant crab and bee sequences rival anything in the later movies. It also is hands down the best of the slew of “20,000 Leagues Under the Sea” knockoffs of the era and works very well as something of a faux sequel to the Disney film.
Thanks for taking the time to post on the holiday and from one former Catholic school boy to another Merry Christmas.
LikeLike
Thanks, byron, much appreciated. Forgot to mention the Hermann score. Happy Xmas.
LikeLike
Got to take Ray and his wife for dinner in Glasgow one night, wonderful people, great company. As you say, he’s probably as recognised a brand as Disney to film fans today, and with a more consistent and personable output. He imbues his figures with such character, this, like most of his films, is a pleasure to watch. And Joan Greenwood with a rifle? Why not! Merry Christmas!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Jealous. He would have been fascinating company I guess. Beats my Albert Finney lunch hands down. Where did you take them?
LikeLike
Dinner at the Abode, in the Old Education restaurant. Think it was Michael Caine’s downstairs? He was doing an event the next day. His understanding of new animation techniques was intuitive. I think your Finney lunch beats this, but there are no losers here.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Abode was a nice place. When I was running the Scottish Chef Awards and editing Caterer & Hotelkeeper before that I had decades of eating out splendidly.
LikeLike