Clash of the Titans [1981]

In the wake of Star Wars, special effects maestro Ray Harryhausen was able to get financing for one last epic, a return to the feel of his classic Jason and the Argonauts with the heroic Perseus [Harry Hamlin] encountering a succession of monstrous creatures as he quests to rescue the lovely sacrifice [Judi Bowker] from a hissing, reptilian Medusa. Laurence Olivier, Maggie Smith and other Gods watch regally over the game, while mortals clash with creatures. The influence of Star Wars is evident in Burgess Meredith's Obi-Wan-like mentor and an unfortunate beeping mechanical owl sidekick that lets the side down enormously, but this is mostly an attempt to make juvenile adventure with some respect for craftsmanship. What Harryhausen was doubtless aware of but valiantly struggled against was that George Lucas's success had changed the mould of effects movies: no longer would a film be the work of one visionary craftsman who was willing to lock himself into a studio with his miniatures and move them a frame at a time for the long months needed to generate monsters who are actual characters; from now on, competing teams of technicians whose credits would run for minutes after the audience had left would labour over each effects sequence, yielding films stuffed with different styles of effects and somehow heartless rather than soulful. The downside of the Harryhausen approach is that often the footage surrounding his remarkable effects seems makeshift and tiresome: Clash of the Titans at least tries to cast personable performers and keep the interest - Bowker has a nude bath scene which might not make it to TV - between the monster fights, but it only really comes alive when credited director Desmond Davis steps aside and maestro Ray gets his armatures in action.
KIM NEWMAN

First Published on the BBCFilms site

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