Clash of the Titans (1981) (NTSC)

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General		Extras
Category	Fantasy	Main Menu Audio Filmographies-Cast Listing-Cast & Crew Featurette-A Conversation With Ray Harryhausen Featurette-Map Of Myths And Monsters (7) Theatrical Trailer
Rating
Year Of Production	1981
Running Time	117:48
RSDL / Flipper	RSDL (49:33)	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	1,2,3,4	Directed By	Desmond Davis
Studio Distributor	Warner Home Video	Starring	Harry Hamlin Laurence Olivier Judi Bowker Burgess Meredith Claire Bloom Maggie Smith Ursula Andress Sian Phillips Neil McCarthy
Case	Amaray-Transparent-Secure Clip
RPI	$29.95	Music	Laurence Rosenthal

Video (NTSC)		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	English Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s) French Dolby Digital 1.0 (192Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	1.78:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	480i (NTSC)
Original Aspect Ratio	Unknown	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	English French Spanish Portuguese Japanese Chinese Indonesian Thai Korean	Smoking	No
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	No

    Loosely based on Greek mythology, Clash of the Titans is not a great movie, but it might be a fun movie for those who love Greek mythology, or for film-buffs, as it is the last movie to feature Ray Harryhausen's work before he retired.

    Let me begin by admitting that as a child, I loved both Greek and Roman mythology. I read all I could about it in both fact and fiction books. According to Greek myth, the Titans were the Gods who ruled before the Olympians. After a war, the Titans were imprisoned by the Olympians. Zeus, an Olympian, the son of the former 'Head-Titan', became the supreme God. As Gods, the Olympians are not perfect. They suffer some of the character flaws of humans. Motivated by anger, revenge, envy and lust, they often meddle and interact with humans.

    Interestingly, as a child I never saw this movie, but I did read the novelisation of it (my family didn't own a video player). Lovers of mythology might enjoy this movie, as it weaves a number of different myths and mythological characters into one coherent story. Purists, however, will probably hate it for this very reason. In Clash of the Titans, the story begins when the King of Argos banishes his daughter and her illegitimate son, Perseus, to the sea. What the King doesn't know is that Zeus (Laurence Olivier) is the father of Perseus. Zeus is enraged by the King's actions, and orders Poseidon (Jack Gwillim) to release the last of the Titans, the Kraken (a giant 'Sea Monster'), to reek havoc on Argos. While Argos is destroyed, Zeus ensures that Perseus lands safely on a nearby Island, where he grows into a strong, young man. Perseus' (Harry Hamlin's) care-free existence ends when, by a twist of fate, he finds himself in Phoenicia. Phoenicia has also insulted a God, and once again the Kraken has been set lose. With the help of a few friends, and his winged stallion Pegasus, Perseus must do battle with Calibos, Medusa, Dioskilos, and others to rescue the beautiful Princess Andromeda (Judi Bowker) and save Phoenicia from the Kraken.

    As I mentioned earlier, this is the last movie to feature Ray Harryhausen's work before he retired. When it comes to movie special effects, there are few people who manage to raise the bar and create a new level of realism and expectation in moviegoers. One such person is Ray Harryhausen. Harryhausen was the creative genus behind the visual effects in movies such as The Three Worlds of Gulliver (1960), Jason and the Argonauts (1963), One Million Years B.C (1966), and The 7th Voyage of Sinbad (1974). Harryhausen's mastery of stop-motion animation, miniatures, double exposures and matte paintings were to inspire many others. Most notably, George Lucas, Steven Spielberg, and James Cameron all cite Harryhausen's work as being both inspirational and very influential. It must be noted that in the modern age of CGI, Harryhausen's work now looks very dated, and even a little cheesy. However, it must also be remembered that without people like Harryhausen, movies like Star Wars could never have been made.

Video

    The quality of this NTSC transfer is limited by its grainy and aged source material.

    The transfer is presented in an aspect ratio of 1.78:1 and is 16x9 enhanced.

    The sharpness is reasonable, but the shadow detail is poor. For example, consider the shot of the amphitheatre at 16:56.

    The quality of the colour is variable, and sometimes it appears faded with age.

    MPEG and film-to-video artefacts are not a problem. A variety of small film artefacts appear infrequently throughout.

    There are nine sets of subtitles present, and the English subtitles are simplified but accurate.

    This is an RSDL disc, with the layer change placed at 49:33. It is relatively smooth, considering that it occurs during a scene.

Video Ratings Summary

Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

    Apart from the default English Dolby Stereo-Surround track, there is also a French mono track.

    The dialogue quality and audio sync are fine, but I did notice the odd audio drop-out.

    The musical score is credited to Laurence Rosenthal, and it is a dramatic, orchestral score, occasionally revealing a romantic flair, and some Greek flavouring.

    The surround presence and activity is quite surprising. The rears are used for both effects, such as the wind and waves at 1:28, and to help carry the score, for example the opening score at 2:40.

    The subwoofer, however, never drew attention to itself.

Audio Ratings Summary

Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

     There are a few extras.

Menu

    A simple menu, presented in an aspect ratio of 1.78:1, 16x9 enhanced, with Dolby Digital 2.0 audio.

Theatrical Trailer

    Presented in an aspect ratio of 1.85:1, 16x9 enhanced, with mono audio.

Cast & Crew

    Text-based information.

Conversation with Ray Harryhausen (12:14)

    Presented in an aspect ratio of 1.33:1, with Dolby Digital stereo audio, Harryhausen discusses this movie and some of his other work.

Map of Myths And Monsters

A map with icons allows the viewer to access more information about some of the myths and monsters that appear in the movie.

    Clash of the Titans was released on DVD in Region 1 in August 2002. The two discs seem identical, with the R4 getting the same NTSC transfer (complete with FBI copyright warning).

    Clash of the Titans is a fun B-Grade Sunday matinee movie which now appears quite dated.

    The video quality is reasonable.

    The audio quality is good for Dolby Stereo-Surround.

    The extras are interesting.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall