Earth Vs. The Flying Saucers/It Came
From Beneath The Sea (Sony DVD Sets)
Picture:
C+ Sound: C+ Extras: A- Films: Earth B+/It B
Among the
extras included with both of these Ray Harryhausen films (Earth Vs. The Flying Saucers and It Came From Beneath The Sea) is “Tim Burton Sits Down with Ray
Harryhausen.” On paper, this would seem
to be every fanboy’s dream interview; unfortunately, Tim Burton, much to his
credit as a human being but detriment as a potential interviewer, turns out to
be the ultimate fanboy. His questions
are repetitive, non-linear, often non-sequitorial, and he frequently talks over
the answers that the ever-gentlemanly Harryhausen is attempting to provide. Still, there is much to amuse and wonder at. A low point, however, is struck by both when
Burton brings up the ostensible reason for the 2-disc reissues of these ‘50’s fantasy
classics: colorization.
At first
both Burton and Harryhausen seem a bit sheepish about colorization but then
warm up to the topic. Harryhausen presses
the point that these films would have been made in color if the budget had
allowed, therefore colorization is natural and, by extension, a great idea. No matter what you call it - in this case
“ChromaChoice” - it is what it is: a gimmick to move units. That being said, the “Choice” part of
“ChromaChoice” is what really makes this fun, something not addressed by either
Burton or Harryhausen. By clicking the
perennially under-utilized "angle" button on your DVD remote (didn’t
know you had one, you say?), you can instantly switch back and forth from colorized
(they were never made in real color) to black and white and back again faster
than you can say “pass that thing, will ya?” The uniqueness of the gimmickry, however, is
its own downfall; it takes mere seconds to compare various types of scenes
(daylight, day-for-night, back projection, fires/explosions, special
effects etc.) to see what works and what doesn’t.
Once the
buzz has worn down and you settle comfortably into one or the other (b & w
for me, thank you very much), there remain two great stop-motion fantasy films.
Earth
Vs. The Flying Saucers is a fantastic piece of work; it manages to pickup
the resonance that was 50’s paranoia, rivaled chiefly in B movie cinema by the
original Invasion of the Body Snatchers
(1956), which came out the year following Earth. Admittedly with Earth, there is more subtext than text
compared to Invasion, but managing
to destroy some of Washington DC’s greatest monuments to capitalistic democracy
was no mean trick for the 50’s. The producers of this set underscore this
with an interesting extra, The Hollywood Blacklist and Bernard Gordon. One of two of the original screenwriters to
work Curt Siodmak’s treatment of Donald Keyhoe’s novel, Bernard Gordon was
originally credited as “Raymond T. Marcus” because of his blacklisting during
the McCarthy era for alleged Communist ties. What better revenge than to cut the Washington
Monument in half and bury a saucer deep in the Capitol Dome? Of course, besides the genre, there are
other, more persuasive reasons this is classed a B Movie; there
is both a ludicrous romance and certain head scratching story
elements which detract some from the overall effort. Still, the
special effects are center stage, as they should be.
Harryhausen’s stop-motion work is the glue that holds both
these films together and not enough can be said about their groundbreaking
nature and continuing influence. In addition, these are the first films
in the long creative collaboration of Ray Harryhausen and producer Charles H.
Schneer.
The year
after Japan's Godzilla (1954)
thumped on the scene, another radioactive monster, this time a giant
octopus, made its garish debut in It Came From Beneath The Sea. Slightly less adventurous and
a tad less resonant than Earth,
It is saddled with a laughably analogous romance and a monster that can
threaten the main land only as far as its tentacles can
reach. Yet, as always, there is superior Harryhausen magic
here, including the destruction of the Golden Gate Bridge and a trashing of San
Francisco's Embarcadero that rivals the most legendary of 48 hour shore
leaves. The talky plot often gets in the way of the bigger story and
the assertion of Professor Lesley Joyce's (Faith Domergue) equal rights in
her verbal tussles with Commander Pete (Randy would have been more
appropriate) Mathews (Kenneth Tobey) are so backhanded as to be a virtual
slap in the face. Ah, the 50’s: what a time to be alive! Japan's
righteous fear of nuclear consequences gains a giant tentacle-hold in It and would become a commonplace
element in cinema and the surrounding culture for many years to come.
Both
films share three extras: the aforementioned Burton interview, "A Present-Day Look at Stop-Motion,"
and "David Schecter On Film Music's
Unsung Hero." Both have video photo galleries,
a "Remembering" featurette (“Remembering
Earth Vs. the Flying Saucers,” “Remembering
It Came from Beneath the Sea”) "Original Ad Artwork" and "Digital Sneak Peaks" at comic books
derived from both films. Both "Remembering" features give us what the Burton interview did
not: Harryhausen on Harryhausen. These are worth the price of
the respective discs. Harryhausen explains how he did many of the
special "Dynamation" effects and the viewer is even more amazed after
the details are revealed. He supplies his perspective on
how his work merged with the live action director Robert Gordon (It) (he sent his dailies by currier
from a rented storefront in Long Beach to Hollywood, where the live action
sequences were being filmed), and his praises are sung by some of cinema’s
current luminaries, who acknowledge his all-pervasive influence.
Any film
buff will want to see the extra "David
Schecter On Film Music's Unsung Hero." This tells the
story of how Mischa Bakaleinikoff put together the scores of many of Columbia's
B movies, including Earth and It. Schecter is an expert par excellence;
he is at once amusing, encyclopedic and charismatic in a low key way. The
recycling of music from old studio romances, speeded up and slowed down, and
even of Bakaleinikoff's own unique compositions, from film to film gives
insight into both the process and a bygone era.
The “A Present Day Look at Stop-Motion” is
the only extra that falls flat. Simply
put, it is amateurish and out of place on these discs.
That
being said, the care given throughout to these two-disc reissues is even
evident in the cheesiest of extras, the “Video Photo Galleries.” The
producers simply added music to the stills. That simple touch makes
this perennial unessential interesting; the viewer no
longer feeling like s/he is watching Uncle's Ray's budget vacation slides
from a generic holiday resort.
All in
all, these two discs are at present the definitive versions of some of the best
fantasy B movies ever made. If you are a fan of the genre, don't
hesitate; you won't be disappointed.
- Don Wentworth
