It's that time of year again, folks! Time for me to once again go through film history, and personally look through what are considered classics in the horror genre. The scariest, the cheesiest, the most powerful. And, in honor of a recent trip to Greece, I decided to tackle two of the most well known films on Greek mythology, which also feature monsters (because I have to maintain the facade that this is a series about horror and monster movies) as the first two films. And starting that off is Jason and the Argonauts.
The account of the Argonauts that most modern iterations draw from was the epic poem Argonautica by Apollonius of Rhodes, in the 3rd Century BCE. Since then, Jason and the Argonauts has been adapted by a number of other authors, and Jason himself has made appearances, including a cameo in Dante Aligheri's 12th century poem Inferno. In the 20th century, there were many filmed adaptations, including an appearance in 1958's Hercules, starring Steve Reeves. However, the real hero of this particular film was its special effects director and associate producer Ray Harryhausen. The mastermind behind the stop motion effects for films like Mighty Joe Young, The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms, and Earth vs. Flying Saucers, Harryhausen wanted to distance himself from B-movie monster antics, which led him to produce The 7th Voyage of Sinbad in 1958. After the success of that, there was originally going to be a sequel, where Sinbad (despite being from the 11th century) teams up with the Argonauts. This was scrapped, and a stand alone feature for Jason was instead made. Harryhausen teamed up with Don Cheffey, and composer Bernard Herrmann (most known for composing the score for Psycho). It was originally called Jason and the Golden Fleece, but a similarly named Italian feature lead the producers to change the name. It was filmed primarily in Italy. The effects took much longer to produce and film, with the ending skeleton scene having been shoot over for months. After release, the film garnered financial success, and influenced an entire generation of filmmakers. Tom Hanks, speaking at Harryhausen's Special Oscar award in 1992, remarked, "
Some people say Casablanca or Citizen Kane. I say Jason and the Argonauts is the greatest film ever made". But does it live up to the hype? Let's take a look.
The film begins with Pileas (Douglas Wilmer) getting a prophecy from the god Zeus (Niall McGinnis), that he will overthrow King Aristo, of Thassaly, and take over the Kingdom. During said coup, he kills Aristo's daughter, Briseis (Davina Taylor), while she prays to the goddess Athena (Honor Blackman, who some may remember as the Bond Girl from Goldfinger) . Athena, enraged, warns Pileas of a man with one sandal, and vows to protect Aristo's infant son, Jason. Years later, Jason (Todd Armstrong), raised by one of the soldiers from the palace, saves Pileas from drowning, unaware of who he is. Jason seeks to regain his throne, by gaining the legendary Golden Fleece. Pileas decides to support this effort in a bid to destroy Jason, having his son Acastus (Gary Raymond) tag along. Jason briefly discusses this with Zeus and Athena. Athena tells Jason that she will only help him five times during his journey. Athena also directs Jason to the location of the Fleece in Colchis. Jason assembles a crew, including ship builder Argus (Laurence Naismith), and crew Hercules (Nigel Green) and Hyla (John Cairny). Naming the ship Argo, they set sail for Colchis, with Athena's help. With many fantasic obstacles in their way (large bronze statues that come to life, demons, crusing cliffs, skeletons), can they get the Golden Fleece?
The main aspect of this film that is most talked about is the stop motion effects, and they deserve all the praise they get. The special effects in this film are incredible, even in this day, with the most advanced CGI around in movies. The way the effects and actors are integrated, while crude, does give some credibility to the action happening. The famed skeleton scene at the end is especially notable, for the amount of detail that Harryhausen put in, during the fight. The acting is serviceable, standout performances comung from Honor Blackman and Nigel Green. The story, while mundane, is still a classic Greek adventure, and seeing all those colorful creatures from mythology come to life was great.
This movie has inconsistent pacing. The story set-up is done very quickly, causing you to miss parts of the story. For instance, it jumps 20 years between Pileas' coup and Jason's reemergence, but I couldn't tell until later on. This is a recurring problem, and I got confused sometimes when characters would appear out of nowhere. (Also, them being muscle bound cacausian men made them hard to tell apart, aside from Jason and Argus). Other times, the pacing would slow down, such as when they were journeying or fighting. The dialogue is stilted, and also causes confusion at points, since they explain events too late. The characterization, especially of Jason himself, leaves much to be desired.
I could see why this film is so beloved, despite its flaws. The effects are very impressive, and it does have that classic epic adventure atmosphere that is lacking now. However, it is imperfect, muddling in narrative elements. Still, if you're into Greek mythology, classic monster movies, stop motion animation, or want to see the myth that inspired Percy Jackson:Sea of Monsters, check this one out.
Next time, the other Harryhausen Greek mythology movie, the original Clash of the Titans.
The account of the Argonauts that most modern iterations draw from was the epic poem Argonautica by Apollonius of Rhodes, in the 3rd Century BCE. Since then, Jason and the Argonauts has been adapted by a number of other authors, and Jason himself has made appearances, including a cameo in Dante Aligheri's 12th century poem Inferno. In the 20th century, there were many filmed adaptations, including an appearance in 1958's Hercules, starring Steve Reeves. However, the real hero of this particular film was its special effects director and associate producer Ray Harryhausen. The mastermind behind the stop motion effects for films like Mighty Joe Young, The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms, and Earth vs. Flying Saucers, Harryhausen wanted to distance himself from B-movie monster antics, which led him to produce The 7th Voyage of Sinbad in 1958. After the success of that, there was originally going to be a sequel, where Sinbad (despite being from the 11th century) teams up with the Argonauts. This was scrapped, and a stand alone feature for Jason was instead made. Harryhausen teamed up with Don Cheffey, and composer Bernard Herrmann (most known for composing the score for Psycho). It was originally called Jason and the Golden Fleece, but a similarly named Italian feature lead the producers to change the name. It was filmed primarily in Italy. The effects took much longer to produce and film, with the ending skeleton scene having been shoot over for months. After release, the film garnered financial success, and influenced an entire generation of filmmakers. Tom Hanks, speaking at Harryhausen's Special Oscar award in 1992, remarked, "
Some people say Casablanca or Citizen Kane. I say Jason and the Argonauts is the greatest film ever made". But does it live up to the hype? Let's take a look.
The film begins with Pileas (Douglas Wilmer) getting a prophecy from the god Zeus (Niall McGinnis), that he will overthrow King Aristo, of Thassaly, and take over the Kingdom. During said coup, he kills Aristo's daughter, Briseis (Davina Taylor), while she prays to the goddess Athena (Honor Blackman, who some may remember as the Bond Girl from Goldfinger) . Athena, enraged, warns Pileas of a man with one sandal, and vows to protect Aristo's infant son, Jason. Years later, Jason (Todd Armstrong), raised by one of the soldiers from the palace, saves Pileas from drowning, unaware of who he is. Jason seeks to regain his throne, by gaining the legendary Golden Fleece. Pileas decides to support this effort in a bid to destroy Jason, having his son Acastus (Gary Raymond) tag along. Jason briefly discusses this with Zeus and Athena. Athena tells Jason that she will only help him five times during his journey. Athena also directs Jason to the location of the Fleece in Colchis. Jason assembles a crew, including ship builder Argus (Laurence Naismith), and crew Hercules (Nigel Green) and Hyla (John Cairny). Naming the ship Argo, they set sail for Colchis, with Athena's help. With many fantasic obstacles in their way (large bronze statues that come to life, demons, crusing cliffs, skeletons), can they get the Golden Fleece?
The main aspect of this film that is most talked about is the stop motion effects, and they deserve all the praise they get. The special effects in this film are incredible, even in this day, with the most advanced CGI around in movies. The way the effects and actors are integrated, while crude, does give some credibility to the action happening. The famed skeleton scene at the end is especially notable, for the amount of detail that Harryhausen put in, during the fight. The acting is serviceable, standout performances comung from Honor Blackman and Nigel Green. The story, while mundane, is still a classic Greek adventure, and seeing all those colorful creatures from mythology come to life was great.
This movie has inconsistent pacing. The story set-up is done very quickly, causing you to miss parts of the story. For instance, it jumps 20 years between Pileas' coup and Jason's reemergence, but I couldn't tell until later on. This is a recurring problem, and I got confused sometimes when characters would appear out of nowhere. (Also, them being muscle bound cacausian men made them hard to tell apart, aside from Jason and Argus). Other times, the pacing would slow down, such as when they were journeying or fighting. The dialogue is stilted, and also causes confusion at points, since they explain events too late. The characterization, especially of Jason himself, leaves much to be desired.
I could see why this film is so beloved, despite its flaws. The effects are very impressive, and it does have that classic epic adventure atmosphere that is lacking now. However, it is imperfect, muddling in narrative elements. Still, if you're into Greek mythology, classic monster movies, stop motion animation, or want to see the myth that inspired Percy Jackson:Sea of Monsters, check this one out.
Next time, the other Harryhausen Greek mythology movie, the original Clash of the Titans.
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