Ray Harryhausen
(1920-2013)
The Last of the Old
School Special Effects Masters has passed away. Now Harryhausen joins Albert
Whitlock, Derek Meddings, L.B. Abbott and a small handful of others creating
special visual effects for the Afterlife—all without computers!
Big Ray was no hired
hand, though:
Harryhausen’s was the
rare case of the special effects man determining the path of the motion picture
routinely—essentially acting as a hands-on producer (even the directors usually
hired by him and partner Charles H. Schneer were non-entities: so as not to
interfere?). His individualized, specific form of stop-motion animation is
intractably tied to the movies they were in and vice versa.
There is a certain tone to Harryhausen’s flicks, combined
with an extravagant but classical sense of fantasy that puts his name directly
on the same level as George Pal and Walt Disney as the Masters of Family-Friendly
Fantasy. You might consider it a level of “cheese” in Harryhausen’s wholesome
enterprises, but it is extremely earnest, and absolutely charming—and drips
with the hard work of one solitary man.
