Clash of the Titans
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- Distinguish from the Nelvana/Teletoon series, Class of the Titans.
Among its stars were Harry Hamlin (as Perseus), Maggie Smith (as Thetis), Claire Bloom (as Hera), Ursula Andress (as Aphrodite), Judi Bowker (as Andromeda), Burgess Meredith (as Amon), Sian Phillips (as Cassiopeia), and Sir Laurence Olivier (as Zeus).
Stop motion animation is used to a large extent in the film to animate the various monsters. The special effects creatures were created by Ray Harryhausen. Harryhausen retired from filmmaking after the movie.
Plot summary
Inaccuracies
There are numerous departures from the original Greek myth, of which some notable examples are:- The sea monster sent to kill Andromeda is called the Kraken, a Scandinavian name. The Greeks called it "ketos".
- Perseus tames and rides the winged horse Pegasus, a feat that was accomplished in Greek mythology by Bellerophon. In the original myth, Pegasus is born of Medusa's blood when Perseus decapitates her with his sword, and he does not ride Pegasus at all. Nevertheless, portrayals of Perseus riding Pegasus long predate the film.
- The movie shows Perseus throwing Medusa's head into the sea in the end. In the Greek story he first uses it to dispense with an unwelcome wedding guest, then presents it to Athena, who placed it on her shield.
- Bubo, a mechanical owl that flies heavily and tweets and beeps around, remarkably resembles the robot R2-D2 of the contemporary , but Harryhausen had started work earlier.
- No mention is made of Medusa's two sister Gorgons, Stheno and Euryale. Also, the home of Medusa is an island in the Underworld, beyond the river Styx, as opposed to the original story, which places her in Libya.
- Dioskilos, the guardian of Medusa's shrine, a ferocious dog with two heads is possibly based on Orthrus or Cerberus. Harryhausen had intended originally to make the creature Cerberus, but found that a three-headed minature was too cumbersome to animate.
- On the cover of the DVD, Perseus is wearing a helmet when facing the Kraken. However, in the film, the helmet was lost in a swamp never to be found again. Also, the helmet had the power to make its wearer invisible. Therefore, the cover art should not depict Perseus as wearing the helmet, because to do so would, as per the mythology delineated in the enclosed movie, render Perseus invisible and therefore absent from the cover art. Apparently, the artist and film studio did not take this into account when designing the DVD cover art.
Trivia
- From an off-screen romance that occurred during the filming of this movie, Hamlin and Andress have a son named Dimitri.
- A scene in which the Kraken arrives from the sea can be seen in the introduction of the sitcom Malcolm in the Middle.
- As of May 1st, 2006, writer Travis Beacham is writing a new script for a planned remake of the film. [link] The general plot outline seems to be the same, but a "darker, more realistic" tone is going to be infused into the story.
See also
- Boast of Cassiopeia
- Clash of the Titans (parties) for series of Berlin parties
- Calibos
- Thetis
External link
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