REEL RETRO CINEMA: The Phantom Planet
Before there was Star Wars, there was … THE PHANTOM PLANET!
REEL RETRO CINEMA — Danger: Diabolik
Think comics movies are cool now? You ain’t seen nothin …
REEL RETRO CINEMA: New looks at old flicks — and their comics connections… By ROB KELLY June 12, 1981 – My Dad is taking my sister and me to the movies, where I am about to experience an adventure, set in the distant past, featuring an indefatigable, lantern-jawed hero who faces one dire threat after another. But enough about Raiders of the Lost Ark, let’s talk Clash of the Titans! Yes, both films hit American movie screens that day, and while Indiana Jones won my Dad’s hard-earned dollars first, it didn’t take long until we took in the other film I had wanted to see. Clash of the Titans is the swan song for special effects legend Ray Harryhausen and producer Charles H. Schneer. I had seen their previous effort, 1977’s Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger, in the theater, and other films of theirs like Jason and the Argonauts, Mysterious Island, and The 7th Voyage of Sinbad were staples on my local UHF station, Channel 48 in Philadelphia. The film follows Perseus (Harry Hamlin) on a mission to save the Princess Andromeda (Judi Bowker), who has been betrothed to the monstrous Calibos. To win her hand, Perseus sets out on a perilous adventure, where he meets friends and foes alike. Watching all this—and occasionally interfering—are the Gods themselves, like Zeus (Laurence Olivier), Thetis (Maggie Smith), and Athena (Susan Fleetwood). Zeus in particular often regards these mere mortals as playthings, pitting them against one another for his own amusement. The major knock (and a fair one it is) on these Harryhausen-Schneer films is that they have paper-thin-yet-also-stiff-as-a-board characters. Occasionally, the right bit of casting and a particularly committed performance from an actor managed to break through to elevate the material. A good example of that is 1974’s The Golden Voyage of Sinbad, which I think remains the gold standard for these run of films. But for the most part, that stuff doesn’t matter too much, because what these movies were selling—and what audience members like myself were showing up for—are the startlingly imaginative action set pieces, painstakingly executed by Harryhausen. And in that regard, Clash of the Titans delivers. In fact, every time I watch the film, I come away with the belief that it’s a different Harryhausen scene that is the best. It’s the opening with the...
REEL RETRO CINEMA: New looks at old flicks — and their comics connections… — UPDATED 6/12/26: Raiders of the Lost Ark came out 45 years ago! Perfect time to reprint this column by Rob Kelly that first ran June 12, 2016. (It’s been slightly edited for time references.) But you know what also came out on the same day 45 years ago? Clash of the Titans — and Rob’s got a REEL RETRO CINEMA column on that too! Click here to check it out. Dig it! — Dan — By ROB KELLY Forty-five years ago today, on June 12, 1981, many millions of moviegoers’ minds were blown when they first saw a little film called Raiders of the Lost Ark. I am not going to waste any time recapping the film’s plot, since I am sure that 100 percent of you reading this know it by heart. Rather, on the occasion of its 45th anniversary, I’m taking time out to reflect on what makes this movie so enduringly great, as well as take a look at the Marvel Comics adaptation published simultaneously. Hatched on a beach in Hawaii by George Lucas and Steven Spielberg, archaeologist and adventurer Indiana Smith (rechristened Jones on the first day of production) was conceived to be their version of James Bond. Spielberg had long wanted to direct a 007 installment, but was supposedly turned down by the producers. When informed of this, Lucas suggested to his pal he had something even better, a character based on the 1940s and ’50s movie serials that the two industry titans had grown up on, as well as a mix of other pop-culture influences. Despite the pedigrees of Spielberg and Lucas, most of the major movie studios had no interest in making a big-budget tribute to an archaic film genre. Eventually — thankfully — Paramount Pictures decided to fund it, after it was stipulated that the production would have to remain tightly under control. Specifically, it would be producer Lucas’ job to rein in director Spielberg (who was just coming off the expensive flop 1941) to ensure there weren’t too many runaway costs while shooting. On the casting front, Spielberg wanted Harrison Ford from the beginning, but Lucas thought he was too familiar as Han Solo. Other actors were considered, and tested, with Tom Selleck eventually getting the...
Before there was Star Wars, there was … THE PHANTOM PLANET!
Think comics movies are cool now? You ain’t seen nothin …