Jason And The Argonauts (UK)

Jason and the Argonauts is regarded by Ray Harryhausen as one of his favourite films. A lot of people have seen the film, probably as a result of the many television showings the film has enjoyed, and a lot of film makers queue up to say how much they enjoyed it, and how it influenced their work. This is very strange when you realise that 'Jason' was a hit film in 1963 in Britain and the rest of Europe, but a failure in the US. On checking some of the facts of the production I noticed that the US reviews are almost all negative while the UK reviews were nearly all positive - Me; I am British, I saw the film on its release - in a cinema - and I love it.

Based on the poem The Argonautica by Apollonious Rhodios the adventure tells of Pelias (Douglas Wilmer) waging war against Thessaly, however a prophecy says that his son will never be king. In the course of the battle he desecrates the temple of Hera (Honor Blackman) and is told that a man with one sandal will bring the downfall of his new kingdom. Forward 20 years, and Pelias is rescued from a river by Jason (Todd Armstrong) - who has lost a sandal in the river during the rescue. Jason does not know he is a guest of Pelias and accepts the advice to build a ship and find the Golden Fleece before attempting to win his kingdom. So starts the epic journey to Colchis - with the battle against Talos, a giant bronze statue - capturing the Harpies who have been tormenting Phineas (Patrick Troughton) (who gives them the directions) and the meeting with the Hydra and the Skeleton's (the sons of the Hydra's teeth).

Although Jason and the Argonauts has many and varied special effects - including some very clever opticals - all anyone wants to hear about are Ray Harryhausen's stop motion sequences. The first of these is the duel with the discus, but most people will say its the battle with the giant bronze statue Talos. This sequence sets the standard for the rest of the film (and for quite a lot of other films). The critics who complain about The Harpies - the unrealistic look of their leathery wings when they are flying and the fact that they do not have much detail in their faces - will have to let me know where I can see a real one (just so that I can compare you understand). Since the rest of the gods are just like people - only a lot bigger - what on earth (or Mount Olympus) is wrong with King Neptune being a huge man, with a fish tail instead of legs? The most famous sequence is the sword fight between 3 men and 7 skeletons. The sequence lasts just 4 minutes but took over 4 ½ months to animate - let alone the time it took to choreograph and stage for the live actors - and it looks as fresh and exciting today as it did in 1963. (Its enough to make me wish they had spend 4 ½ minutes on choreographing the 'tribute' version in 'The Mummy' - the bit where Brendan Fraser fights the guards in the tomb - if you have both discs then just watch the sequences back to back and marvel how, 40 years ago, Ray Harryhausen did it so much better than modern CGI).

The cast are uniformly very good. Although Todd Armstrong as Jason and Nancy Kovack as Medea both got their first star billing in 'Jason', Nancy Kovack does not appear until the final third of the film. The rest of the time various stalwart British actors - Gary Raymond is a wonderful baddie, Laurence Naismith, Niall MacGinnis,
Michael Gwynn, Douglas Wilmer, Honor Blackman, Patrick Troughton Andrew Faulds and Nigel Green all combine to make this more of an ensemble gathering than a star vehicle.

The DVD is one of the first I bought when I got my first player, and has the heavy clear plastic case that Columbia used 4 or 5 years ago. I did not have a widescreen television at the time and I thought then that the picture quality was excellent - however, watching the film now, even though it is enhanced for 16x9, a few faults show up. The opening, and in fact all the live action, is beautifully clear, with vibrant colours and solid blacks. The night time and the day for night scenes have a contrast and depth that made me think there had been Technicolor consultant on the film (as film stock changed and cinematographers got used to colour the job died out), but it is the model work that shows the limitation of the 1963 film stock. The worst bit is the sequence with Talos and other models, where the grain of the film shows up markedly - it was a bit jarring for me, as up to then, even the optical effects had been very good. However, the day for night scene with The Harpies attacking Phineas, is very clear, which makes me wonder about the film stock.

The sound is straight ahead Mono (although some sites claim the film was recorded in Stereo - the original LaserDisc is marked with a Digital Stereo soundtrack), with the dialogue; the sound effect and Bernard Herrmann's score all coming through clearly

The extras include 5 language tracks and 20 language subtitles along with filmographies, and American Trailer and 'Ray Harryhausen Chronicles' the documentary that Columbia have put on all the other Ray Harryhausen DVD's. The documentary is well worth watching - but not again and again.

As I said at the beginning I thoroughly enjoyed this film when I first saw it and I see no reason to change my view today.

You never know; Columbia could always have the film colour graded - find the stereo track and then put it out as one of their 'Superbit' collection, I'm daft enough to buy it.

This was a really good film.

Extras maybe small but they were decent.

I will admit i thought it would be rubbish but I was Wrong