Ray Harryhausen was born on 29 June 1920. He is an icon of 20th-century special effects. And when I was growing up, anything he made was instantly considered a classic. And the films live on. The skeleton sword fight in The 7th Voyage of Sinbad holds up a lot better after almost 70 years than the Neo playground fight in Matrix Reloaded only 20 years ago.
Harryhausen was a protégé of special effects icon Willis O’Brien — best known for King Kong but like Harryhaussen basically defined the field during his prime. They worked together on Mighty Joe Young, which won an Oscar for O’Brien. Additionally, O’Brien thought Harryhaussen should share the award with him. Harryhaussen would ultimately receive a lifetime achievement Oscar, which makes sense given that no single film stands out. The two men also produced the fabulous dinosaur section in The Animal World (1956).
His first major solo success was The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms. It was very successful — even with critics who tended to dislike films of this type. But perhaps most important, it was the direct influence of Godzilla. And Ray Harryhausen spent the rest of his life hating the Japanese monster despite the fact that it was rendered completely different (man in a suit with tiny models). But this is pretty typical of great artists who work in the shadows. Consider, for example, Richard Matheson.
Up next was the similar (I think better, at least in terms of the special effects) It Came from Beneath the Sea. It was similarly successful with audiences. Critics tended to ignore it. The following year he went in a different direction with Earth vs the Flying Saucers. But he was back to monsters in 1957 with 20 Million Miles to Earth.
With The 7th Voyage of Sinbad, Ray Harryhausen entered a new phase of his career. For one thing, the films are all made in color. And they aren’t monster movies anymore. Mostly, it is the fantasy that his best known for — and some science fiction. Here is the skeleton sword fight I mentioned above from his first color feature:
Other notable films of this era are Jason and the Argonauts, the bizarre The Valley of Gwangi, and his last film, Clash of the Titans. But that was pretty much the end of his career, at least when it came to large projects. This was, after all, when digital effects were taking off. And he was 60-years-old. It was time for the industry to applaud him even as the projects ran dry. But he lived on — dying in London in 2013 at the age of 92.
Ray Harryhausen image by Max Crawford (Potatojunkie) under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0.