☆ ☆ ☆ ½
Jason and the Argonauts (1963) – D. Chaffey
Seeing this again through the eyes of a 7-year-old (Amon) refreshed it
quite a bit. Of course, it is the Ray
Harryhausen stop-motion animation scenes that carry the film. Jason and his crew battle the giant bronze
statue Talos, the harpies that plague blind Phineas, the seven-headed hydra,
and of course, the skeleton battalion that grow from the hydra’s teeth. The craftsmanship is impressive (a lost art?).
In between these set pieces, there is some passable acting that explicates the
plot. Jason (Todd Armstrong) is the
rightful king of Thessaly but first must find the golden fleece at the end of
the world before he can return to claim the throne from evil usurper
Pelias. The gods, particularly Hera (Honor
Blackman) and Zeus (Niall MacGinnis) either help or hinder his quest. Medea (Nancy Kovack), high priestess of
Hecate, sells out her own kingdom to help Jason after falling in love with him.
The Argonauts themselves are rather indistinguishable (save perhaps Hercules –
Nigel Green) but character depth is not the point here. When I asked Amon how many stars this adventure
yarn deserved, he simply said “lots”!
No comments:
Post a Comment