After working on Jason and the Argonauts together, director Don Chaffey and Ray Harryhausen re-teamed yet again for this film. Jason and the Argonauts was actually not that big of a success during it's initial theatrical run, and by the mid sixties these kinds of films were even less "in style". So, not surprisingly, Raquel and her glorious frame was the center of attention in all it's promotion and it paid off. Martine Beswick is actually just as easy on the eyes in this, in my opinion, but nevertheless went on to having a mere cult following, while Welch became one of the biggest sex symbols of all time.
Harryhausen's dinosaur work in this is very impressive. The only lame choice was using real regular sized lizards in some scenes, blown up to look big. They should of went with stop motion model work throughout the whole thing. The film overall is weak story wise, but the presence of Raquel and Ray's effects boost my rating to a 6, where otherwise it would of gotten a 3 or 4 without them. All the characters sporting 60's hair styles adds to the camp factor.
This review pertains to the Region 1 91 minute DVD released in 2003. There's a 100 minute UK cut, but as shown in the restoration comparison featurette, Fox was mainly interested in using the highest quality print, not the longest print.
Harryhausen's dinosaur work in this is very impressive. The only lame choice was using real regular sized lizards in some scenes, blown up to look big. They should of went with stop motion model work throughout the whole thing. The film overall is weak story wise, but the presence of Raquel and Ray's effects boost my rating to a 6, where otherwise it would of gotten a 3 or 4 without them. All the characters sporting 60's hair styles adds to the camp factor.
This review pertains to the Region 1 91 minute DVD released in 2003. There's a 100 minute UK cut, but as shown in the restoration comparison featurette, Fox was mainly interested in using the highest quality print, not the longest print.