Mysterious Island (Widescreen)
by Cy Endfield, Richard Schickel
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Joan Greenwood, Leonard Nimoy, Michael Craig, Ray Bradbury, Tom HanksDirector: Cy Endfield, Richard Schickel
Brand: Sony Pictures
Writer: Richard Schickel
Producer: Anna Sofroniou
Writer: Crane Wilbur
Writer: Daniel B. Ullman
Writer: John Prebble
Writer: Jules Verne
DVD: Region Code 99
Audio: English (Unknown), Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono; English (Subtitled); Spanish (Subtitled); French (Subtitled); English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono
Format: Anamorphic, Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
Picture Format: Anamorphic Widescreen, 1.85:1
Running Time: 100 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2002-10-29
Audience Rating: Unrated
Studio: Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
Movie Reviews of Mysterious Island (Widescreen)
Movie Review: Mysterious Dynamation
Summary: 5 Stars
"Mysterious Island" is a 1961 adaption of the book of the same name by Jules Verne, a film that features effects animated with stop motion by Ray Harryhausen. It was a lot of fun to watch, and the special features on the DVD were great.
In the midst of the American civil war, a group of prisoners escape and hijack a balloon. Unfortunately gets caught in a storm and blown all the way through to the Pacific Ocean. The group manage to survive the squall and the seas and wash up on a mysterious island, lush, fertile and crowned with a still active volcano. Together with a couple of women from a shipwreck, they make a living, gather goats and work on making a ship to get back home. Blunt and primitive axes are the least of their problems. This mysterious island is full of giant animals: giant crabs, giant birds and giant bees, all of them rather defensive when they come in contact with people. There's also the threat of pirates, and the curious Captain Nemo. Will the group ever make it off the island? Is there something about this island they should know?
There's a lot to like about this film, I reckon. It's well paced, it's got a memorable bunch of characters who have great little conversations. My favorite character is probably Mr Spilitt, the war journalist whose a bit rough around the edges, and the only civilian man washed up on the island. They're always giving him a hard time, it's kind of funny. Ray Harryhousen's stop motion special effects are really cool too, as they always are. The matte paintings used for the backgrounds are beautifully done, and really added to the mystery and depth of the island. The tropical location helped too.
Special features include an hour length documentary called "The Harryhousen Chronicles", narrated by Leonard Nimoy (he gets around, doesn't he?). It's covers Ray Harryhousen's stop motion career, from it's beginnings in his parent's garage, all the way to his Oscar win in 1992 for his contributions. It features interviews with Ray Harryhousen, Ray Bradbury and George Lucas, to name a few people, and also features a little bit (not a whole lot, but a little bit) of previously unseen stop-motion footage from a couple of Ray Harryhousen's rejected and unfinished projects. It was all really interesting. There's also an original 1960s featurette called "This is Dynamation", which is mostly a promotional showcase for Harryhousen's effects in "The Seventh Voyage of Sinbad", plus a featurette specifically about Harryhausen's effects in "Mysterious Island", featuring Ray Harryhausen once again. There's also a photo gallery of various shots and promotional material. A good selection of special features, I thought. It's thorough, but not overwhelming.
I'd recommend this film to anyone with a love of adventure and anyone with an eye for old time special effects. It's worth a look.
Summary of Mysterious Island (Widescreen)
Features include:
?MPAA Rating: UNRATED
?Format: DVD
?Runtime: 100 minutes
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