Customer Reviews

20 Million Miles To Earth

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

A few months ago, Ray Harryhausen told an interviewer that his 50's black and white classics were being colorized, and he was happy with the quality. Amazon lists these 3 films as being in color, but they are NOT (Supplemental material is in color). The booklet contains exerpts from Harryhausen's Animated Life book, so there is no new material here for Harryhausen fans. Since these three films are already included in the Sci-Fi Harryhausen box set, I am curious as to why this set was released at all. If you don't have these films, I highly recommend them as an example of the brilliant stop-motion animation work produced during Harryhausen's early career. For rabid fans, nothing new.

These movies ARE colorized! Read the instructions included. You must utilize your DVD player's remote control. Using the "toggle" button, I was able to switch back and forth effortlessly, from the black and white version to the colorized version. The movies appear in black and white initially until you switch them to the colorized version, using the DVD remote control!

I won't take the time to write about the plots of these movies as that can be found anywhere on the internet with a "movie search." I bought this set because I remember seeing the originals at our local movie theater back in 50s and 60s. Ray Harryhausen's special effects were labor intensive and NOT computer generated. VERY IMPRESSIVE to the point where I remembered them over the decades and was glad to add this DVD set to my collection. GREAT STUFF!

I love all the old movies. A devoted fan with hundreds of these great old movies, (bordering on the thousands).
All I want to know is which review is true??
How can one person say they are colorized and the next person say they are not? What gives?
Are they colorized or are they in black and white?
Are all 3 colorized, if not which ones are and which ones are not?
How about a few details from the person who put these all together and is making all the money off them.
How about putting a little more effort into selling them and more information, not just wanting to make a quick buck off the sales without putting any effort into the actual process.
What happened to the good old days when the build up was almost as good as the movie itself?
Thank you for listening.

12:00 AM, 26-SEPTEMBER-07

Harryhausen SF Films Due In Color

Three of visual-effects pioneer Ray Harryhausen's most famous films will be available for the first time in color when Sony Pictures Home Entertainment releases the Ray Harryhausen In Color Gift Set DVD collection on Dec. 4.

The six-disc box set features two-disc special editions of It Came From Beneath the Sea, Earth vs. the Flying Saucers and 20 Million Miles to Earth: 50th Anniversary Edition.

The DVDs feature both a digitally restored black-and-white original version and a newly colorized version. Viewers will be able to toggle between the two as they watch. The set carries a suggested retail price of $59.95.

Also included in the gift set is a collectible Ymir figurine based on Ray Harryhausen's original 1957 hand-crafted design.

On the same day, the company will also release 20 Million Miles to Earth: 50th Anniversary Edition exclusively on Blu-ray high-definition disc, with a suggested retail price of $28.95.

*******UPDATED INFO*************

Update 14/11/2007 - Sony have removed this gift set from their schedule, and will now release the two exclusive titles separately in January.

Sony Pictures Home Entertainment have announced the Region 1 DVD release of Ray Harryhausen In Color Gift Set on 4th December 2007 priced at $59.95 SRP. Three of the earliest film classics from stop-motion animation genius Ray Harryhausen will be available for the first time in vibrant colour with this gift set from Sony. Fortunately each film in the set is also present in pristine, digitally restored black & white original versions along with the newly colourised presentations.

Inside the set are two-disc special editions of -- It Came From Beneath the Sea, Earth vs. The Flying Saucers (each making their two-disc DVD debuts), and 20 Million Miles to Earth: 50th Anniversary Edition. Also included in the gift set is a collectible Ymir figurine based on Ray Harryhausen's original 1957 hand-crafted design.

With the cutting-edge high-definition colorization technology, developed and patented by industry leaders Legend Films, Harryhausen has been able to visually recreate his films. Harryhausen said, "I am thrilled these films are finally being seen in color. I had wanted to do them in color in the 1950s, but the budgets were not large enough to accommodate that luxury. Now, thanks to the marvelous advances made in the colorization process by San Diego's Legend Films and others, audiences will be able to see the movies as I originally intended."

20 Million Miles to Earth: 50th Anniversary Edition - Details here.

It Came From Beneath The Sea - Directed by Robert Gordon the film depicting a giant octopus attacking San Francisco stars Kenneth Tobey, Faith Demergue, Donald Curtis and Ian Keith.

Features include:
Featurette: Ray Harryhausen on It Came From Beneath The Sea
Audio Commentary by Ray Harryhausen and Visual Effects Specialists
A Video Discussion of It Came From Beneath the Sea's 1955 marketing and advertising campaign by producer Arnold Kunert
Featurette: A Present Day Look at Stop Motion
Featurette: David Schecter on Film Music's Unsung Hero
Featurette: Tim Burton Sits Down with Ray Harryhausen
Still and Production Art Gallery
Sneak Peek of Digital Comic Book It Came from Beneath the Sea...Again!
English audio and English subtitles

Earth vs. The Flying Saucers - With its ground breaking visual effects techniques, Earth vs. The Flying Saucers was the first of several collaborations between producer Charles H. Schneer and special effects wizard Ray Harryhausen. The film about the invasion of earth and destruction of Washington D.C. was directed by Fred F. Sears and stars Joan Taylor, Hugh Marlow, Donald Curtis and Morris Ankrum.

Features include:
Featurette: Harryhausen on Earth vs. The Flying Saucers
Audio Commentary by Ray Harryhausen and Other Visual Effects Specialists
Featurette: A Present Day Look at Stop Motion
Video Photo Galleries
Featurette: Tim Burton Sits Down with Ray Harryhausen
Featurette: Interview with Joan Taylor
Advertising Artwork video montage of film's ad materials by Producer Arnold Kunert
Featurette: David Schecter on Film Music's Unsung Hero
Featurette: The Hollywood Blacklist and Bernard Gordon
Sneak Peek of Digital Comic Book Flying Saucers vs. the Earth
English audio and English subtitles

This film has a lot going for it.....EXCELLENT special effects....nice pacing,solid acting,...and a great creature!
I remember this film as a boy and couldn't get the image of the menacing Ymir out of my head.
A true sci fi classic!!!

This is my first time buying any of the 3 movies included in this set. I loved them all, and although I havent tried watching any of them in color yet, the picture quality is great for as old as these movies are. A must have for fans of 50's sci-fi, Harryhausen's stop motion work on the ufo's and creatures in these movies is astounding to watch, even 50+ years later. If your looking for award winning acting, this isnt where you'll find it, but if your looking for many a fun evening watching old fashioned monster movies you'll be in heaven owning this set. One scene in particular (but amung many)I was impressed with was the scene in 20 Million Miles to Earth where the Cicilian fisherman are in their boat watching the massive rocket ship slowly sink into the ocean depths,after just having saved the 2 astronauts inside it. The illusion of the sheer size of the ship in comparison to the fishing boat is amazingly effective. If your not a Harryhausen fan before seeing these movies you absolutely will be afterwards.
As far as money spent on entertainment goes (about $10.00) this set is a grand-slam.
Even came with a super-boss little book featuring Harryhausens artwork for the movie scenes. Cha-ching!!

A boy (Bart Bradley) on the beach finds a canister form a wayward spaceship that crashed in the sea. Hence the title "20 Million Miles to Earth" It yields a cute little creature that just loves to eat sulfur. He just wants to be friends and is intrigued with his environment. As with all innocent space creatures just as he is beginning to trust us, he is enslaved abused and thoroughly disenchanted. This is just an enjoyable creature movie with some people interaction and a question of what you do with a misplaced Ymir.

As you have guessed this movie is packed with Ray Harryhausen's stop motion. See more of Ray's work in "Clash of the Titans" notice how that there titan from the sea looks like the Ymir.

See William Hopper tackle something a bit bigger in "The Deadly Mantis" (1957)

Like the other reviewer stated this set is NOT in color even though it is billed as such. Now I merely have duplicate copies of 3 Harryhausen movies. Caveat Emptor and shame on you AMAZON for being misleading!