Frequently Bought Together
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Product details
|
Reviews
Amazon.co.uk Review
Notable neither for its director nor its stars, Mysterious Island has been given the widescreen DVD treatment rather because of its special-effects man, the legendary Ray Harryhausen. And though his input here is minimal compared with other movies, his stop-motion contributions add zest to a cracking good yarn. A gang of American Civil War soldiers hijack a hot-air balloon and escape from the frying-pan of a military prison to the fire of a deserted tropical island. When a couple of English girls are washed ashore and a legendary nautical figure resurfaces, the scene is set for a ripping survival adventure, taking in weighty theories of political democracy, equality and cowardice, and still managing to add a healthy dollop of stirring music, dodgy accents, old-fashioned sexism, pirates, giant bees, a giant crab and a fearsome, err, giant chicken.
Harryhausen's eighth feature contains all the elements that make his movies great, and the pacey script, based on the Jules Verne novel, has you gripped from the off. One of his more modern-feeling early films, the colour film stock, the exotic settings and wider stable of stars (black and English actors feature alongside a pre-Clouseau Herbert Lom) move it forward an era from his dated black-and-white schlock-fests. Gripping, erudite and easily on a par with the more well-known Sinbad and Argonauts movies, this is one to be marooned with.
On the DVD: Mysterious Island's colour picture is bright, clean and crisp in this anamorphic 1.85:1 widescreen transfer, and the Dolby digital mono soundtrack is clear enough. The theatrical trailer will please the kitsch fans, as will the featurette "This Is Dynamation" produced at the same time as the first Sinbad movie. The real corker here though is the generously lengthy documentary "The Harryhausen Chronicles". Narrated by Leonard Nimoy, it features a stellar cast of devotees (George Lucas among them) waxing lyrical about the influence of Harryhausen's films, and allows the man himself to ramble fascinatingly over clips of his filmic canon. If you're a fan, it's Harryhausen heaven. --Paul Eisinger
Special Features
English Aspect Ratio 1.85:1 The Harryhausen chronicles
Mysterious Island Featurette
This is Dynamation Featurette
Photo Gallery
Theatrical Trailer
Trailers
Mysterious Island Featurette
This is Dynamation Featurette
Photo Gallery
Theatrical Trailer
Trailers
Tags Customers Associate with This Product(What's this?)Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
|
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
24 of 24 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
This 1961 picture was a box office hit not only because of his special effects but most of all because it's great fun.
Loosly adapted from Jules Vernes Book, this picture offers one hour and a half of fantasy and entertainment that will appeal to everyone that's young at heart.
With a classic Bernard Herman score, great color photography and sequences like the one of the giant Crab this is truly a classic 60ths adventure film!
Loosly adapted from Jules Vernes Book, this picture offers one hour and a half of fantasy and entertainment that will appeal to everyone that's young at heart.
With a classic Bernard Herman score, great color photography and sequences like the one of the giant Crab this is truly a classic 60ths adventure film!
31 of 32 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
Any fan of Ray Harryhausen should have this DVD in their collection. Although probably overshadowed by his other films like "Jason and the argonauts" and therefore not as well know, "Mysterious Island" offers the viewer with more excellent special effects - especially as it was filmed in colour. Ray Harryhausen brings to life a giant crab ,a pre-historic bird and bees in this Jules Verne story. The final part of the film is excellent where the shipwrecked survivors dressed in bizarre diving equipment help Captain Nemo destroy a giant gastropod kind of monster and try and save the "Nautilus" submarine. Great fun!!! - They dont make Sci fi / fantasy like this anymore - sadly its all computer generated images now. Ray Harryhausen's models were the best. There is a very interesting extra on the DVD all about Ray Harryhausen's life and films over the years which is narrated by Leonard Nimoy - of "StarTrek" fame.
9 of 9 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
This is a nice, satisfying telling of the Verne story, with special effects by Ray Harryhausen and a good score by Bernard Herrman. Escapees from a Civil War prison camp are blown way off course in a balloon they stole. They find themselves on an apparently deserted island somewhere in the Pacific, are joined by two women who were shipwrecked, and eventually come face-to-face with Captain Nemo and the wrecked Nautilus.
They have to deal with pirates, an erupting volcano and Harryhausen's creature threats. These include very large versions of a hungry red crab, an aggressive chicken, a bee and an unhappy squid. Some of the creatures turn out to be very good boiled or roasted.
The movie holds up well because of a strong story, good action, and fairly well-defined characters. It features Herbert Lom, in my view an under-rated actor, and Joan Greenwood. By this time Greenwood was taking character parts and doing a lot of stage work. But from the mid-Forties to the mid-Fifties she was, I think, one of the sexiest, smartest and funniest star actors Britain has ever produced. Her plummy, smoky voice is inimitable. She is coy and slightly lascivious in Kind Hearts and Coronets, sexy and brave in The Man in the White Suit.
The DVD transfer is just fine.
They have to deal with pirates, an erupting volcano and Harryhausen's creature threats. These include very large versions of a hungry red crab, an aggressive chicken, a bee and an unhappy squid. Some of the creatures turn out to be very good boiled or roasted.
The movie holds up well because of a strong story, good action, and fairly well-defined characters. It features Herbert Lom, in my view an under-rated actor, and Joan Greenwood. By this time Greenwood was taking character parts and doing a lot of stage work. But from the mid-Forties to the mid-Fifties she was, I think, one of the sexiest, smartest and funniest star actors Britain has ever produced. Her plummy, smoky voice is inimitable. She is coy and slightly lascivious in Kind Hearts and Coronets, sexy and brave in The Man in the White Suit.
The DVD transfer is just fine.
Would you like to see more reviews about this item?
Were these reviews helpful?
Let us know
Most Recent Customer Reviews
Harryhausen Animation Guru
One of Harryhausen's less known films. More low key monster types, giant crab, bee and chicken. The balloon, ship and squid are good. Read more
Published 18 days ago by Mr. E. Sierpowski
A CLASSIC FILM!
Mysterious Island has always been a favourite of mine and i'm glad i purchased the DVD! The classic scene with the giant crab is just great to watch and the special effects from... Read more
Published 2 months ago by L. D.
Pass the crab dressing
Michael Craig (Captain Harding) organizes an escape from a Confederate prison during the US Civil War in the 1800s with fellow inmates Michael Callan (Herbert) and Dan Jackson... Read more
Published 7 months ago by Alex da Silva
all colour,all action
one of the finest adventure movies of its kind,originaly shown as part of a double bill with the pirates of blood river[also available on region 1 dvd]this was one of the bigest... Read more
Published 7 months ago by Wayne Allen
Great for 8 year old boys
My 8 year old son chose this as he'd seen a bit of it on TV. He loved it and is now writing a story about the film - it captured his imagination wonderfully. Read more
Published 8 months ago by Alfie
What I did was in the name of peace. Your war, like all wars, glories...
Mysterious Island is a loose adaptation of Jules Verne's novel of the same name. It's out of Columbia Pictures and was filmed at Shepperton Studios in England with exteriors on the... Read more
Published 15 months ago by Spike Owen
Mysterious Island
This is one of those films which make you think, "Why hasn't this been remade by Hollywood?" It did get made in 2005 as a TV movie, but its not the same. Read more
Published 17 months ago by The Academate
Mysterious Island
An absolute hoot of a film. British actors play Americans ( You haven't lived until you see Percy Herbert playing a confederate soldier) along side Americans who play Americans... Read more
Published on 7 Feb 2010 by I. A. Price
Mysterious Island Review
Great Jules Verne story about castaways struggling to survive against giant creatures and pirates on an uncharted island, and all the while, a volcano rumbles ominously in the... Read more
Published on 20 Oct 2009 by E. Banks
Fun,but no classic
This was fun to see again after so many years,but it was not as action-packed or as filled with the many wonderful Harryhausen creations as many of his other films. Read more
Published on 13 Oct 2009 by Close Range.
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
Listmania!
Look for similar items by category
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
