Mysterious Island (1961) opens with a spectacular clash of signature Bernard Herrmann brass; from then on, it's a headlong rush from one thrill-packed set-piece to the next. This classic fantasy adventure tale, the best of many screen adaptations of Jules Verne's sequel to his own Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, is the inspired collaboration of a superb action director--Cy Endfield, who would give us one of the greatest of all true-life epics, 1964's Zulu--and an authentic Hollywood genius: Ray Harryhausen, inventor of the film's "SuperDynaMation" stop-motion animation process and a "total" filmmaker, spearheading the story, art direction, and design of such masterworks as The 7th Voyage of Sinbad (1958) and Jason and the Argonauts (1963).I'm actually very surprised that Ray Harryhausen didn't take on more Jules Verne projects, instead focusing much of his creative talent in the 1950's and 1960's to mythological works. This version of Verne's Mysterious Island remains the greatest of a number of adaptations of this book. All of the pieces of the film work well together, and when some aspect lags a little, there is another piece there to boost the film right back up.
The film's cast consists mainly of 1960's B movie mainstays, no one that would raise an eyebrow of today's cinema audience, but they are surprisingly fit for the task. Cy Endfield's name may be under the director's credit, but as with any Harryhausen film, it was Ray's show. The creature design and animation were all Harryhausen, and if you were a kid in 1961, you came for the monsters. Mysterious Island is surprisingly light on giant beasts, but the ones that make it to the screen are superlative.
One of the great things about Mysterious Island is that, unlike some of Harryhausen's work, Endfield manages to keep the action moving between effects shots. I wouldn't say we have a huge amount of empathy for the characters, but enough of them are given back stories that there is something to hold on to. Another of the film's great benefits is Bernard Herrmann's score. Herrmann was a frequent collaborator of Harryhausen's, and Mysterious Island fits right in between Psycho and Cape Fear on his CV chronologically, so there is a massive confluence of talents at their peak in this film, and it takes what could have been a mediocre outing and makes it into a gripping piece of action.
I'm not going to lie and say that this is my favorite Harryhausen film, it would probably be Jason and the Argonauts, but Mysterious Island is a film that doesn't deserve to be among second tier Harryhausen works. Sure, there are more phantasmagorical creatures in Jason and the Sinbad movies, but Mysterious Island has a lot of heart and some truly outstanding effects work even when the creatures aren't on screen. I love this film, and it's one I can show to my son fifty years after its release and he'll still get a kick out of it. That's success.
The Disc:
Twilight Time is a niche company, and as such their catalog is still very small when it comes to Blu-ray releases, however, if they're all this good, you can sign me up as a fan. Mysterious Island looks just as good as the other Blu-ray Harryhausen's already on the market from Sony. I'm really glad that his work has made it to HD so early in the format's life. If you've seen other Harryhausen films on Blu-ray, you know what to expect. Due to the mix of shooting styles and formats, there is a wide variety of on screen image quality, but it is all as good as it gets. Close-ups show a stunning about of fine detail while wide shots with matte painting backgrounds look more beautiful than ever.
The Super DynaMation technique that Harryhausen employed involved shooting with multiple plates, which ultimately meant second and third generation images on the final print. The shots where this technique was used are very apparent, but it only serves to remind the audience what a genius the man was to create such lifelike effects with stop motion all those years ago. Mysterious Island has been given a visual treatment to equal its merits, and that is great!
Bernard Herrmann's score gets equally good treatment. Twilight Time have provided not only a DTS-HD MA 5.1 surround track and a DTS-HD MA 2.0 mono track, but also an isolated score track, which sounds gorgeous. I sampled both of the regular tracks and found them to be equally good, though I'm always a fan of a little LFE oomph now and then.
There are only a couple of extras apart from the isolated score. First up are two trailers, one is the original theatrical trailer which runs a little over two minutes, and the second is a black and white TV spot. The other extra comes in the form of an 8 page booklet with an essay from commentator Julie Kirgo and some neat original artwork from the promotional campaign. I love written essays, and especially when a film is a little light on video extras, they can really take up the slack.
Twilight Time's Blu-ray edition of Mysterious Island is a must have for Harryhausen fans. The niche nature of the disc and a higher than usual price tag may scare some folks off, but I guarantee that if you put your money down, you'll be more than satisfied with the product. I'm really looking forward to next month's release of Fright Night after watching this disc. Highly recommended!