MAKSQUIBS CINEMATHEQUE: MYSTERIOUS ISLAND (1961)

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Sunday, June 26, 2016

MYSTERIOUS ISLAND (1961)

Theoretically, this ought to be the standout film in the series of combination live-action/stop-motion adventures produced by Charles H. Schneer & animated by Ray Harryhausen. It’s one (of four) with a Bernard Herrmann score*; has a cast of real actors instead of nobodies (Michael Craig, Joan Greenwood, Gary Merrill, Herbert Lom); a swell Jules Verne novel as its source; even a legit director with a knack for action in Cy Endfield. Alas, any hopes for a more unified artistic product are illusory. Instead, the usual mix of ginned-up showmanship (monsters & Sci-Fi elements) in place for Verne’s carefully designed storytelling rhythms & delayed surprises. Oh well, still good fun on its own terms, though with less than convincing matte painted vistas, along with a fair amount of leftover Verne holding things together as outline (Civil War escapees balloon to a not-so deserted isle), and a smash set piece with giant bees no kid will soon forget.

LINK/READ ALL ABOUT IT: *Make that Hear All About It. Herrmann’s score deserves a proper outing. Many recordings of various excerpts out there, and a hard to find soundtrack album. Here’s a link with Herrmann conducting his own extended suite. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s4TKbiJa0n4

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A last thought before we go.

Well, enough from me. But before we sign off, here's a great quote from Emile Zola's L'OEUVRE (THE MASTERPIECE), which is about painting rather than the yet to be invented medium of film, but which points a fine critical eye toward the whole idea of art criticism. It's a good, if chilly, thought to keep in mind, especially when you surf the net.

"Has it ever struck you that posterity may not be the fair, impartial judge we like to think it is?

"Suppose the artist's paradise turned out to be as nonexistent as the Catholics, and future generations prove just as misguided as the present one and persisted in liking pretty pretty dabbling better than honest to goodness painting. There are some accepted masterpieces for which I myself wouldn't give a twopenny damn.

"Classical training has given us a wrong view of everything and forces us to acclaim as geniuses a lot of fellows who are no more than well-balanced, facile painters, while what we might really prefer is the work of more emancipated but less even artists known only to an initiated few. Immortality at present depends entirely on the average, middle-class mind and is reserved only for the names that have been most forcibly impressed upon us while we were still unable to defend ourselves...

"Perhaps that's the sort of thing that's best left unsaid. It's certainly the sort of thing that gives me the shudders!"- Emile Zola

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Now Over 5500 Reviews and (near) Daily Updates!

Sunday, June 26, 2016

MYSTERIOUS ISLAND (1961)

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A last thought before we go.

DROP ME A LINE