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Harryhausen's swan song
This was the last film which employed the talents of Ray Harryhausen and features some of his best work. The stop-go animations hold up well against modern CGI methods, for example, the sequence using Medusa not only required a slight change in movement for each frame of the sequence, but as Medusa had thirteen snakes on her head each of these needed minor movements also! The plot itself revolves around the legend of Perseus and Andromeda, and while not knowing enough myself to vouch for the story's accuracy, I know that the film has been used in some American schools as part of taught modules on Greek mythology. As an owner of the US DVD release, the film transfer is bright and colourful although there has been no restoration, it appears to have been taken from the same master which was used for the VHS and laserdisk versions of ten years ago. The disk extras include a featurette of Ray Harryhausen's memories of the film, a type of feature which appears on many of his previous DVD releases. Of particular interest to many British fans will be the cameo of Pat 'Bomber' Roach in the film, known to many for his character in 'Auf Weidersen Pet' but to me (and I'm showing my age here!) as a tough wrestler on Saturday afternoon's ITV wrestling spot in the 1970s.
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