JASON AND THE ARGONAUTS (1963, Blu-ray released July 6, 2010 – MSRP $24.95)
I’m in absolute awe. I’ve been a fan of the work of stop-motion animator Ray Harryhausen since I was a child – my mother going so far as to wake me late at night if The 7th Voyage of Sinbad or The 3 Worlds of Gulliver happened to be airing on the boob-tube – but I have never seen his work looking so vibrant as on this new Blu-ray edition of Jason and the Argonauts.
Grover Crisp and his wizards at Sony have done it again. Their new transfer of the film onto Blu-ray has made me feel like I’ve just seen Jason and the Argonauts for the first time. It’s the same classic story that debuted on-screen in 1963 – Jason, favoured by the Gods to reclaim his kingdom from an evil despot, gathers a crew of mighty warriors in a quest to obtain the magical Golden Fleece and prove his worth to his people – but now it looks and sounds better than ever before. It’s almost like watching a brand spanking new print of the film in the theatre!
There’s a healthy amount of film grain present here, with levels of detail far beyond anything I’ve ever seen before in this film. Those unfamiliar with Harryhausen’s type of stop-motion animation might be displeased with the inconsistency in the image from shot to shot, scene to scene (the film cuts from clean, crisp, restored images to soft, effect shots) but loss of detail and fidelity is to be expected in those moments and is a natural side-effect of the process. Fans of the film will note that some day-for-night shots (shooting in the day with a filter and camera settings to make the picture darker, giving an appearance of night-time) have been brightened or re-timed to match the time-line of the story (most notably in the Harpie sequence.) Alterations like these are few on the disc but significant and follow the wishes of the filmmakers, setting this effort far apart from the previously released DVD edition of the film.
Speaking of the DVD, colours appear to be more subdued in this new high-def transfer, with flesh tones appearing more natural now. Less radiant orange as in the old SD version. You might also note that the aspect ratio is slightly different here, exhibiting a more open-framed 1.66:1 than the DVDs full frame and 1.75:1 widescreen options. If you ask me, the Blu-ray is the superior option all around.
And that goes for the fairly full DTS-HD Master 5.1 surround track, which is far less “thin” than you would expect a film of this age to sound. I’m sure this can be attributed to the muscular Bernard Herrmann score, which sounds more robust and dynamic here than ever before.
Allow me to continue heaping praise on this disc by raving about the extraordinary special features Sony has assembled. Sure, there’s almost 2-hours of entertaining and informative documentary features including the excellent, hour-long “The Harryhausen Chronicles” narrated by Leonard Nimoy, the 25-minute “The Harryhausen Legacy” and a 12-minute interview by director John Landis. But the real highlights of the disc are the two extraordinary feature-length commentary tracks, with Ray Harryhausen and film historian, writing partner and biographer Tony Dalton delivering an almost interview style of conversation on the first and Lord of the Rings director Peter Jackson and visuals effects artist William Randall Cook rambling their mile-a-minute nerd-knowledge on the second. As fantastic as it is to hear the the 90-year old Harryhausen recall details of the film as he screens the new Blu-ray, I have to say I found the Jackson/Cook track to be the more engaging and informative of the two. Those guys really know their stuff and they’re damn passionate about it! A great listen on a great disc!
Jason and the Argonauts on Blu-ray receives my highest possible recommendation!
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[...] of Ray Harryhausen. I’m sure POP won’t have the old-school, stop motion charm of his Jason and the Argonauts or Clash of the Titans but, as critical as I’m certain I’ll be of the writing, the [...]
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