Directed by Desmond Davis / Screenplay by Beverley Cross

Although Star Wars (1977) and its first sequel The Empire Strikes Back (1980) made occasional use of the stop-motion process, new advances in visual effects meant that the writing was on the wall for the technique made famous by the fantasy films of Ray Harryhausen - but as the 1980s dawned, there was still time for one last hurrah from the grand master. Clash of the Titans reunited Harryhausen with his Jason and the Argonauts screenwriter Beverley Cross for a fresh take on the legend of Perseus, the hero who beheaded the Gorgon Medusa and rescued Princess Andromeda from a sea monster (in the original legend the beast is called Cetus, but among several creative liberties Cross chose instead to call it the Kraken, a name from Scandinavian folklore). The winged horse Pegasus and the blind Stygian witches were also associated with the Perseus myth, while other elements of the screenplay, including the villain Calibos and the mechanical owl Bubo, were new inventions. Director Desmond Davis was hired on the strength of a recent BBC production of Shakespeare’s Measure for Measure, and his credentials helped Clash of the Titans to attract an impressive cast of classical actors including Siân Phillips, Tim Pigott-Smith, Flora Robson, Maggie Smith, and in the role of Zeus, none other than Laurence Olivier. A larger than usual budget meant that Harryhausen was able to bow out with some of his cleverest and most memorable sequences: the taming of Pegasus; the giant scorpion battle; the Kraken rising from the waves; and best of all, the petrifying Medusa sequence, which is the film’s atmospheric highlight and one of Harryhausen’s crowning achievements.

Framed Dimensions: 330mm x 410mm

Acrylic on 300gsm Arches oil paper
Glazed, mounted and framed

Supplied with signed letter of authenticity from Barnaby.