World Famous Comics: Ray Harryhausen Gift Set (20 Million Miles to Earth / It Came from Beneath the Sea / Earth vs. the Flying Saucers)
Ray Harryhausen Gift Set (20 Million Miles to Earth / It Came from Beneath the Sea / Earth vs. the Flying Saucers)
Starring: Peter Cugno Directed By: Marc Lougee Average Rating: Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1 Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated) Binding: DVD Format: Box set, Black & White, Color, DVD, Widescreen, NTSC Label: Sony Pictures Number of Items: 6 Region Code: 99 Release Date: October 07, 2008 Running Time: 7 minutes Theatrical Release Date: June 30, 2007
Product Description: 20 Million Miles to Earth Dazzling special effects by Ray Harryhausen highlight this thrilling sci-fi extravaganza about a Venusian monster who wreaks havoc in Italy. On its way home from Venus, a U.S. Army rocket ship crashes into the sea of Sicily leaving Colonel Calder (William Hopper of Rebel Without a Cause) the sole survivor...or so it seems. A sealed container is also recovered from the wreck and, when a zoologist (The Mark of Zorro's Frank Puglia) and his granddaughter (Joan Taylor) open it, the gelatinous mass inside escapes. Overnight, it grows into a horrific monster that has doubled in size. In desperation, Calder calls in the Army to help fight the monster, which has taken refuge atop the Coliseum in Rome. But it will take more than man's weapons to fight the evil forces of the unknown and save the world from destruction.
It Came from Beneath the Sea The action is wet and wild in this sci-fi thriller that pits man - and woman - against a giant octopus. Submarine commander Pete Mathews (Kenneth Tobey) and scientists Lesley Joyce (Faith Domergue) and John Carter (Donald Curtis) battle an angry sea monster driven from the depths of the ocean by an H-bomb explosion. In search of non-contaminated food, this tentacled tyrant counts among its victims a fishing trawler and its passengers, a family sunning at the beach, several San Francisco skyscrapers and even the Golden Gate Bridge! A daring attempt by the scientists to destroy the monster while saving themselves is a gripping finale to this aquatic adventure. The riveting special effects were created by Ray Harryhausen.
Earth vs. the Flying Saucers Relive the exciting days of sci-fi movie matinees with the cult classic Earth vs. the Flying Saucers! Featuring extraordinary visual effects by cinematic genius Ray Harryhausen, the film pits earthlings against alien humanoids in a violent battle for Earth's survival! When the zombie-like aliens arrive at the U.S. Army base in search of help for their dying planet, they try to make friendly contact with scientist Dr. Russ Marvin (Hugh Marlowe) and his recent bride Carol (Joan Taylor). But the military greets their fleet of saucers with gunfire, and the aliens are forced to retaliate. Can Marvin invent the ultimate weapon in a deadly game of beat-the-clock to save the human race? Hold on to your seat for an intergalactic flight into fantasy with Earth vs. the Flying Saucers!
Long live the Ymir!!!! The Ymir is a man sized creature that was brought back to Earth in 1957 with our first manned mission to that planet.
In reality it was basically a moveable toy that was created by Ray Harryhausen. It had hinged joints so it could be made to appear to move. It had holes in its feet so they could be screwed into the board represnting the surface it was moving on. And finally it had a bag in its chest so that Harryhausen could press a pump and create the illusion that it breathed.
Seeing 20 Million Miles to Earth (the movie which featured the Ymir) along with the other Harryhausen classics is just plain fun.
Watching the Ymir along with the 50s actors that were interacting with him (at least I think the Ymir was a him) was both intentionally and unintentionally entertaining. It was unintentionally entertaining because the 50s actors were assigned to play parts that were largely more unbelievable than the fake creatures Harryhausen created.
The military guys were all barrell chested and bravado in the way 50s leading men could be. And the women were ultimately irrelevant in the way 50s cinema could so happily make them.
And the best part was the audio commentary including Harryhausen. Fifty years later, he still sounds like what you would expect from a guy who made a living creating fake creatures for 50s type sci fi movies. He proudly discusses the realistic shadows cast by his flying saucers. He opines on how he worked with the actors so they'd know where to look on screen for his fake creatures. And he's pleased with how the colorization process has brought his old black and white movies (they didn't have enough money to make them in color) to life.
And if this isn't enough for you, you get an Ymir model for your very own. I got mine on discount because the box was damaged but even if I hadn't gotten that lucky I think I'd have popped the bucks and in fact, would recommend you do so too!!!
20 Million Miles to Memory Lane I'm 62 years old and have great memories of seeing these three films when they were first released. I was concerned about the Chroma Color especially when it came to Kenneth Tobey in IT CAME FROM BENEATH THE SEA. I was waiting for somebody to get his hair color wrong. Surprize, they got it right. I lived three houses from Ken when I was eight years old and enjoyed speaking to him about movies. I went to the old Wiltern Theatre is Los Angeles to see the double feature of EARTH VS THE FLYING SAUCERS and THE WEREWOLF when Columbia released them. I had my own ideas of what color the alien was and the purple hued head works for me in the colorized version. The color of Dr. Marvin's car brought back memories of my father's car in 1956. I always thought 20 MILLION MILES TO EARTH was a sad film. It showed how quickly we misjudge people, because they look differant. I don't know if Ray was thinking in terms of race during the late 50's, but looking at this film today I wonder. The statue of the Ymir is great and does look menancing while guarding my collection of Ray's films on my TV center. The improvement in colorization really shows in these films even if they still have problems with facial tones. The choice of the color for the military uniforms seems to effect the facial colors at time, but all in all I was very happy to visit my old friends in this new format. You must watch the lovely Joan Taylor's, age has not deemed her beauty, memories of Hollywood. It was also interesting to note that EARTH VS THE FLYING SAUCERS was co-written by a black listed writer, Bernard Gordon, from the McCarthy Era and his name has been restored to it's proper credit. I have an old Black and White copy with his friends name on it which means more to me now after hearing that back story. I strongly recommend everyone to these films.
Update of 3 disk Harryhausen Giftset This six-disc boxed set features the two-disc special editions of 3 early Harryhausen classics:
"20 Million Miles to Earth: 50th Anniversary Edition" "It Came From Beneath the Sea" "Earth vs. The Flying Saucers"
All three are in both digitally-restored black & white original versions and newly colorized versions. These are the same ones currently available separately using "Chromachoice" as the mechanism to switch between B/W and Color. I feel this is a flawed process due to incompatibilities with *some* DVD players. I'll not go into details here as you can read about the problems in reviews of the individual products.
"It Came From Beneath the Sea" DVD Special Features Include: Audio Commentary by Ray Harryhausen and Visual Effects Specialists Featurette: Ray Harryhausen on It Came From Beneath The Sea Featurette: A Present Day Look at Stop Motion Featurette: David Schecter on Film Music's Unsung Hero Featurette: Tim Burton Sits Down with Ray Harryhausen Still and Production Art Gallery A Video Discussion of It Came From Beneath the Sea's 1955 marketing and advertising campaign by producer Arnold Kunert Sneak Peek of Digital Comic Book It Came from Beneath the Sea...Again!
"Earth vs. The Flying Saucers" DVD Special Features Include: Audio Commentary by Ray Harryhausen and Other Visual Effects Specialists Featurette: Harryhausen on Earth vs. The Flying Saucers Featurette: A Present Day Look at Stop Motion Featurette: Tim Burton Sits Down with Ray Harryhausen Featurette: Interview with Joan Taylor Featurette: David Schecter on Film Music's Unsung Hero Featurette: The Hollywood Blacklist and Bernard Gordon Video Photo Galleries Advertising Artwork video montage of film's ad materials by Producer Arnold Kunert Sneak Peek of Digital Comic Book Flying Saucers vs. the Earth
Included in the gift set is a collectible Ymir figurine based on Ray Harryhausen's original 1957 hand-crafted design. Very cool looking!
A double-dip is only needed if you want/need the Ymir figurine as the films and special features are the same as the currently available 2-disk releases. It's a shame the Ymir is not available separately.
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