contents Issue Six.

February 2010
WEIRD AND
WONDERFUL Features
BRITISH FILMS 06 / Spotlight
RESCUED FROM Bright Ideas:
OBSCURITY Evocative colour use
AND PRESENTED ‘The transfers on the silver screen
IN HIGH-QUALITY come to Blu-ray 14 / Art & Film
EDITIONS in better shape Dream Catcher:
than many recent Stephen Coates and the
blockbusters’ revival of Dreams That
Kim Newman Money Can Buy

24 / Widescreen
Terror Vision:

New from the BFI A re-appraisal of 3-D’s

FLIPSIDE
latest incarnation

30 / 1000 Words
Beautiful Creatures:
Ray Harryhausen
and stop-motion
photography

30 Regulars
04 / Reel World
Dr. Starngelove

18 / One Sheet
‘I was partial to tragedy Main Attraction
in my youth. That was
before experience taught 34 / On Location
Monument Valley, Utah
me that life was tragical
enough without my 38 / Screengems
Medusa’s Head

cover image gentlemen prefer blondes (courtesy park circus ltd.)

having to write about it.’
Ammon 42 / Parting Shot
Invisible Men

44 / Competition
Steve Shorter, the biggest pop star of In 1960s London, a beautiful When Suzy arrives in London to Who’s that girl?
his day, is loved by millions. But, in continental au pair finds herself visit an old school friend, she is

reality, he is a puppet whose
carefully managed popularity is
designed to keep the country’s youth
under control. From the
controversial director of The War
Game.
caught up in the affections of three
men. But fun and freedom soon
turn to shame and despair and she
must confess a terrible secret. The
world premiere release for this
previously unseen sixties gem.
24
unwittingly plunged into the 46 / Listings
ruthless world of the ‘groupie’. Soon
her exciting new world of sex and Films coming to a big
drugs leads to tragedy. Includes screen near you
complete bonus feature, Bread.
The Big Picture ISSN 1759-0922 © 2010 intellect Ltd. Published by Intellect Ltd. The Mill, Parnall Road. Bristol BS16 3JG / www.intellectbooks.com
Editorial office Tel. 0117 9589910 / E: info@thebigpicturemagazine.com Publisher Masoud Yazdani Guest Editor Scott Jordan Harris / Art Direction Gabriel Solomons
Released 25 January Contributors Jez Conolly, Nicholas Page, Emma Simmonds, Daniel Steadman, Alanna Donaldson, Helen Tenant, Chris Barraclough, Tony Nourmand, Alison Elangasinghe
Special thanks to John Letham, Sara Carlsson and all at Park Circus, Jelena Stanovnik, Michael Pierce at Curzon Cinemas and Gabriel Swartland at City Screen
Please send all email enquiries to: info@thebigpicturemagazine.com / www.thebigpicturemagazine.com l The Big Picture magazine is published six times a year

Published by intellect | Produced in partnership with www.parkcircus.com

bfi.org.uk Buy on DVD & Blu-ray from
february 2010 3
 reelworld

above slim pickens drops out in dr. strangelove or

how i learned to stop worrying and love the bomb

As spectacles go, it could of nuclear explosions (an

be argued that an atomic
explosion, with its ensuing
iconic mushroom cloud, is the
grandest of them all. Putting
aside the small matter of mass
destruction, post-apocalyptic
fallout and the eradication of
all known life (save perhaps
the odd cockroach or two),
the awesomness of these
god-awful explosions is
undeniable. So much so that
idea suggested by master of
the obscure sight gag, Spike
Milligan) – incorporated
stock footage of 19 nuclear
explosions, the ninth of which
is nuclear test “Baker” from
“Operation Crossroads”, the
first post-war nuclear tests on
the Bikini atoll (see image).
The genius of this scene is
in its choreography and the
blacker than black humour

Whoops
movies have often exploited elicited by such inspired
their wide-screen-friendly juxstaposition of humanity’s
grandeur to full effect, as
Kubrick harnessed the
demise alongside a rousing
multi-megaton kabooms lay sing-song. With no real
waste to large swathes of
nuclear explosion’s the world’s population. None
option other than to use stock

Apocalyps�
imagery of real explosions
naked cinematic have been more effective
though than the stock footage
(special digital effects were
still in their infancy), Kubrick
potential to create one of nuclear blasts used in the
finale of Stanley Kubrick’s
harnessed their naked
potential to create one of
of the finest and most ascerbic parody of war Dr.
Strangelove or How I learned
the finest and most apt film

apt film endings ever. to stop worrying and love

endings ever – an ending that
both terrifies us and makes us
the bomb. The final scene – a smile. Go figure. [tbp]
surreal medley in which Vera
Movie moments don’t come any bigger than those that herald the end of above The “Baker” explosion, part of Operation Crossroads Lynn’s “We’ll Meet Again”
Photo by united States Department of Defense is played over several shots info@thebigpicturemagazine.com
the world. Lucky for us it’s just make believe. Words by Gabriel Solomons

alsosee... The Day After (1983) / Miracle Mile (1988) / Terminator 2 & 3 (1991/2003)

4 www.thebigpicturemagazine.com february 2010 5

spotlight Images courtesy of Park Circus Limited
far left jane russell and
marilyn monroe go for broke
left pretty spectacular: monroe

back
on the
big
screen Gentlemen Prefer
Blondes (1953)
Dir.Howard Hawks

There’s no spectacle in cinema

quite like the sight of Marilyn
Monroe. Here, the epitome of
twentieth-century sex appeal
plays Lorelei Lee, ‘the only
girl in the world who can stand
on a stage with a spotlight in
her eye and still see a diamond
in a man’s pocket’.

Hawks’ mastery of
his musical material
provides for a
delightful whirl of
c ove r fe at u r e golden age glamour

Society of
and whistle-worthy
show-stoppers.

The Spectacle
Monroe’s fellow siren Jane
Russell plays Lee’s fellow
showgirl Dorothy Shaw, who’s
supposedly chaperoning Lee
on an ocean liner carrying
multiple millionaires, and
the entire US Olympic team,
across the Atlantic. Every
As audiences prepare to welcome Howard Hawks’ classic
man onboard bids for a seat
50s romp Gentlemen Prefer Blondes back into cinemas, the at the girls’ table but when
Big Picture gives you the chance to vote for which of our Lorelei proves she really does
shortlist of spectacular movies you’d most like to see back believe ‘diamonds are a girl’s
on the big screen. Introduction by Scott Jordan Harriss best friend’ she makes a high
society spectacle of herself
and attracts the resolutely un-
amorous attentions of lawyers
and lawmen. Hawks’ mastery
of his musical material ensures
Voting is easy: Voting opens on she’s extricated from her
simply select your favourite title February 14th. troubles in a delightful whirl
from the films featured on the The winning film and of golden age glamour and
whistle-worthy show-stoppers. ➜
following six pages, visit screening venues will
www.thebigpicturemagazine.com be announced on the Gentlemen Prefer Blondes is
and follow the instructions on the back in UK cinemas from 26th of
website on March 30th. February. See page 46 for details.
‘Back in Cinemas’ page.

Now go cast your vote for one of the following films you’d like to see Back in Cinemas...
february 2010 7
spotlight Simply Spectacular
Calamity Jane (1953)
Dir. David Butler
vote
01
This Wild West musical is
Everything about it is classical Hollywood cinema at
its most joyously spectacular.
larger than life: from Doris Day plays Calam’, a
gun-toting, thigh-slapping
its sweeping love story cowgirl who considers herself
one of the boys – until, that
to Day’s flamboyant is, a glamorous showgirl
blows into town and the two
performance... it is become rivals in love. The
pure reverie, as cinema rollicking soundtrack includes
the classics ‘Whip-Crack-A-
ought to be... Way’, ‘Black Hills of Dakota’
and ‘Windy City’, with
delightfully frivolous lyrics
above doris day makes a scene in calamity jane such as ‘Men wear sideburns,
and they oughta/ Cos a
haircut costs a quarter’.
how to vote Go the Big Picture website and follow the instructions on the ‘Back in Cinemas’ page
8 www.thebigpicturemagazine.com
Kobal
movie
champion
Alanna
Donaldson
This gem from the golden age
deserves to be back on the big
screen because everything
about it is larger than life:
from its sweeping love
story to Day’s flamboyant
performance. Whimsical and
charming, it is pure reverie,
as cinema ought to be: as one
love-struck character sings, ‘I
wouldn’t be at all surprised /
If I were only dreamin’ all of
this…’ AD
Theatre of Blood (1973)
Dir. Douglas Hickox
vote
02
Friends, Britons, countrymen,
Lionheart’s fellow moving-picture
enthusiasts, I implore
bloodthirsty you to consider Theatre of
Blood. This spine-chilling
schemes, inspired spectacle features wicked
wit and ingenious executions,
by the work of his perpetrated by the maverick
– nay, the master – of the
beloved Bard, quite macabre, the incomparable
simply have to be Vincent Price. Add a
devilish dame (Diana Rigg),
seen to be believed. catastrophically shoddy
coppers and a cast of doomed
British icons and it makes for
above gagging for attention: theatre of blood a marvellous medley.
when to vote Voting opens on February 14th, 2010. The winning film will be announced March 30th
Image Courtesy of Park Circus Limited
movie
champion
emma
simmonds
In this cinematic banquet
of beastliness, Price plays
Edward Lionheart, a
Shakespearian ham, presumed
dead after a dramatic plunge
into the Thames, returning to
enact revenge on the critics
whose reliably dreadful
reviews dogged his career.
Lionheart’s bloodthirsty
schemes, inspired by the work
of his beloved Bard, quite
simply have to be seen to be
believed: witness death by
dog-pie, murderous tramps
and a killer coiffure. People of
Britain: vote Theatre of Blood!
It’s an absolute ruddy riot. ES
february 2010 9
spotlight Simply Spectacular
Electric Dreams (1984) movie
champion
daniel
Dir. Steve Barron steadman
A batty, techno-centric concept,
a unique love-triangle plot,
and a mid-1980s synth-fest
vote soundtrack, pop-promo-guru
03 Barron’s Electric Dreams
is Reagan-Thatcher era
spectacle at its most glorious.
Beginning from the yuppiest
of concepts – a San Franciscan
property developer buying
an enormous home computer
– the film spirals deliriously
beyond sense, as the plucky
PC acquires a personality.
At first, this represents an
unlikely boon for owner Miles
(Lenny Von Dohlen) – Cort,
the computer, synchs with
his household appliances and
Italian electro-
disco maestro
Giorgio Moroder’s
‘score’ sets time
and tone perfectly
for an ecstatic
snapshot of an age
of misunderstood
technical advance...
offers romantic assistance
when super-hot cellist
Madeline (Virginia Madsen)
moves in next door. But when
Cort develops its own compu-
crush on Madeline – using
Miles’ techno-heavy domestic
set-up to sabotage its love
rival – Dreams goes all out in
dayglo, cultish excess.
Italian electro-disco maestro
Giorgio Moroder’s ‘score’ sets
above lenny von dohlen in electric dreams
time and tone perfectly for
an ecstatic snapshot of an age
of misunderstood technical
advance and dizzyingly
unchecked overindulgence that
deserves to be re-seen on the
big screen. DS
how to vote Go the Big Picture website and follow the instructions on the ‘back in cinemas’ page
10 www.thebigpicturemagazine.com
Images Courtesy of Park Circus Limited
Desperately Seeking Susan (1985)
Dir. Susan Seidelman
movie
champion
helen Roberta (Rosanna Arquette)
tenant is married to a bath salesman,
lives in suburbia and spends
vote her boring housewife
04 days imagining the stories
behind personals in the
newspapers. Her obsession
with Susan (Madonna), a
fascinating freewheeler
who communicates with her
boyfriend through personal
ads, launches her into an
inadvertent adventure
featuring amnesia, mistaken
identity, a chase with the
mafia and falling in love.
it’s the spectacle
of Madonna
at her coolest
from which its
keenest cinematic
pleasures come.
The film caught the zeitgeist
of the New York new wave,
but it’s the spectacle of
Madonna at her coolest from
which its keenest cinematic
pleasures come. Madonna
established a new paradigm of
a pop-star-as-style-icon, with
sheer tops, lacy bras, vintage
dresses and the most amazing
studded boots in cinema.
Balmain is doing those
studded boots this season:
the 1980s are cool again – and
Desperately Seeking Susan
definitely deserves a rerun
on the big screen as a glimpse
of when we all wanted to be
Madonna. HT
above girls aloud: rosanna arquette and madonna in desperately seeking susan
when to vote Voting opens on February 14th, 2010. The winning film will be announced March 30th
february 2010 11
spotlight Simply Spectacular
Sexy Beast (2000)
Dir. Jonathan Glazer
vote
05
From the opening moments,
Even when standing when bronzed bank robber
Gal (Ray Winstone) is almost
in just his Y-fronts, crushed by a runaway boulder,
Sexy Beast is obviously far
Kingsley evokes more from a typical cockney crime
caper. Director Jonathan
menace with a single Glazer is immediately bold
enough to plaster the titles
piercing glare than a over Winstone’s speedo-clad
million Travis Bickles crotch, and drops tender
moments right alongside
ever could. disturbingly surreal images of
an Uzi-toting monster rabbit.
The result is a tense and
hilarious spectacle from start
above ben kingsley sees red in sexy beast
to blood-soaked finale, pushed
into sheer freneticism by
Ben Kingsley’s mesmerising
how to vote Go the Big Picture website and follow the instructions on the ‘back in cinemas’ page
12 www.thebigpicturemagazine.com
movie
champion
Chris
Barraclough
performance as the psychotic
Don Logan. Here is a
character so depraved that
even Ray Winstone is afraid
of him! Even when standing
in just his Y-fronts, Kingsley
evokes more menace with a
single piercing glare than a
million Travis Bickles ever
could.
A vote for Sexy Beast is
a vote for thrilling and
provocative cinema. Just
don’t take your granny. CB
Images Courtesy of Park Circus Limited
movie
Zelig (1983) champion
scott
jordan
Dir. Woody Allen harris
vote
06
The world’s wittiest man is and visual effects – which
Newsreels were a more usually associated with
spectacles than spectacle,
position Allen alongside
famous figures from the film’s
uniquely cinematic but his 1983 masterpiece
of mockumentary-making
1920s setting in otherwise
genuine newsreel footage
medium and so, to be is different. Zelig is an
astonishing satire on our need
– that provide the true
spectacle. Newsreels were a
appreciated properly, to conform that showcases
the talents of ‘The Human
uniquely cinematic medium
and so, to be appreciated
Zelig must be seen in Chameleon’ Leonard properly, Zelig must be seen
a cinema. Zelig – a man so keen to
fit in he shifts shape, size,
in a cinema. As Allen argues,
conformity isn’t always
personality and profession
in order to resemble those
ideal. But it is here: Do The
Chameleon. Vote Zelig. SJH
above same again please: zelig around him. While Allen’s
physical transformations are
sufficiently spectacular to link
Zelig to our theme here, it is
the film’s ingenious editing
when to vote Voting opens on February 14th, 2010. The winning film will be announced March 30th
february 2010 13
 art&film
Dream
Long before the current crop
of artists, headed notably
by Steve McQueen (Hunger,
2008) and Sam Taylor
Catcher
Wood (Nowhere Boy,
2009), switched career
paths towards filmmaking,
a loose collection of art-
world creatives were
persuaded to commit their
ideas to celluloid. The result
was Dreams That Money
Can Buy (1947): a film that
continues to play to full
houses on its rare outings,
Jez Conolly revisits a classic crossover between
art and film, and talks with the musician
enhanced by a new musical
soundtrack.
responsible for its recent revival. This pre-Lynchian satire
of Hollywood (the great
dream factory) is a surrealist
portmanteau featuring seven
pieces linked by the story of
Joe, a self-confessed bum,
who tries to make a living
out of selling dreams. More
than half a century after its
original release, the BFI
commissioned the innovative
musician Stephen Coates,
founder of the group ‘The
Real Tuesday Weld’, to
write an alternative score
14 www.thebigpicturemagazine.com
for the film. Coates was a
perfect choice; his self-termed
This pre-Lynchian ‘antique beat’ style is an
attempt to capture the way
satire of Hollywood is a
he heard music when he was
a child – the strange and
surrealist portmanteau haunting sounds of old songs
floating from radios in the
featuring seven pieces late afternoon. ‘I remember
playing and singing along to
linked by the story of
old 78s on a portable record
player even when I was
very small,’ he says. ‘And I
Joe, a self-confessed would be totally transported
by songs like White Horses
bum, who tries to and Somewhere over the
Rainbow.’
make a living out of The new score, blended
with Joe’s original rhyming
selling dreams.
voice-over, lends each
section of the film a fresh
intrigue and piquancy.
Max Ernst’s ‘Desire’ is a
above & opposite stills from hans richter’s masterpiece fever dream of vivid colour,
eroticism, lace, velvet and
dry ice. Fernand Léger’s ‘The
Girl with the Prefabricated
Heart’ features a romance
between two mannequins.
Man Ray’s visual treat, ‘Ruth,
Roses and Revolvers’, is
a self-reflective piece
about cinema and cinema
audiences. Marcel Duchamp
provided ‘Discs’: a poetic
dream of spinning ellipses
interspersed with shots
that recall his earlier
painting Nude Descending
a Staircase. Alexander
Calder, noted mainly for his
sculptures, contributes two
segments, ‘Ballet’, a dance
of floating mobiles of various
shapes and sizes, and ‘Circus’,
a parade of wire figures,
mechanisms, moving parts
and springs. Finally Hans
Richter, the mastermind
behind the whole project,
caps the film with Joe’s own
dream, ‘Narcissus’, in which
our narrator turns blue and
experiences alienation.
 Coates’ involvement with
the re-score dates back
to 2005. ‘Originally it was
conceived as a purely live
performance. Stuart Brown
at BFI events introduced me
to Marek Pytel of Reality
Film who has pioneered the
production of collaborations
between musicians and ➜
february 2010 15
art&film Dreams That Money Can’t Buy
films with an existing
soundtrack. We watched a
few potential films, one of
which was Dreams That
Money Can Buy. I was blown
away; I couldn’t believe it
was not better known. I loved
the look of it, and having a
strong interest in dreams
and psychology it seemed
an inevitable choice. The
band felt the same way and
we worked out how to do it
using narrators – C belle and
David Piper – and performed
it initially at BFI Southbank
and then at Tate Modern for
the first ‘Long Weekend’ in
the Turbine Hall. It worked so
well that the BFI asked us to
record the alternative score
for the first release of the film
on DVD.’
In tune with the nature of the
original film, the musicians
were able to retain a sense of
experimentation: ‘There were
no prescriptions at all. Stuart
was completely open to what
we came up with in the first
place and it developed in a
above & opposite performing the score at the bfi southbank
series of live improvisations
and then recorded sessions
based around a set of written
themes.  We incorporated
16 www.thebigpicturemagazine.com
sounds, samples and text
from the original.’ Being
a relatively early colour
feature Dreams That Money
Can Buy provided a unique
sensory spectacle for Coates
and his cohort to respond to.
‘There are a lot of flaws in the
film – technical, editing, etc. –
probably budget-related, but
mainly it looks absolutely
gorgeous and of course the
new restoration by the BFI
brought that out. It really
fit with the palette that we
have been working with over
the years in terms of images
and colour, so that was a big
thing.’
Coates has a clear
connectedness with the work
of the artists that feature in
the film but is less enamoured
with the cinematic efforts of
contemporary practitioners:
‘I’m not interested personally
– I generally prefer HBO
series! I am a fan of movies
but not particularly art
films. Dreams That Money
Can Buy was an exception,
partly because of the era that
it comes from and partly the
weight of the content of its
contributors. There are so
‘The response is many great filmmakers – I
find the artists now generally
amazing. We have can’t compete.’
The live performances of
played it internationally, the new score accompanying
screenings of the film continue
even in Moscow with
to entertain audiences, most
recently at the Bath Film
Cyrillic subtitles. It’s a Festival, much to Coates’
satisfaction: ‘The response
wonderful but difficult is amazing. We have played
it internationally, even
film, which people are
in Moscow with Cyrillic
subtitles. It’s a wonderful
but difficult film, which
generally amazed by...’ people are generally amazed
by and I think what we do
makes it easier in some
ways. We aim to make it an
enjoyable theatrical event.’
A favourite segment? ‘Max
Ernst’s “Desire” is wonderful
– but I find the final sequence
by Richter himself very
moving now. I know the text
inside out and it seems like it
is the thoughts and images,
reflections and dreams of a
consciousness at the end of a
life.’ [tbp]
alsosee... [film ] Dadascope (1961) [website ] www.tuesdayweld.com [film ] Hunger (2008)
february 2010 17
 onesheet
deconstructing film posters
Main
Attraction When the emergence of
television threatened
cinema, movies – and movie
posters – were stretched to
unprecedented extremes.
Tony Nourmand, of London’s
Reel Poster Gallery, takes
a look at four striking
examples.
gofurther... www.reelposter.com [matinee idol ] William Castle [artist ] Josk Hinchcliff
18 www.thebigpicturemagazine.com
In the space of just three years,
between 1948 and 1951, cinema
audiences almost halved. This
fall was a direct result of the rise
of television. People were much
happier to sit comfortably at
home watching the new ‘novelty
box’ than venture out to their
dusty local film theatre. The film
studios’ response was to focus
on productions that were not
possible with television’s limited
technology. The Big Country,
for example, was a big budget
western told on an epic scale with
an epic cast and an epic story.
Such grand spectaculars were
only possible on the big screen,
and enticed audiences back into
cinemas. Legendary designer
Saul Bass’ ‘style B’ poster for The
Big Country aptly reflects the
epic scale of the movie. ➜
The Big Country (1958) Original us / Art by Saul Bass
onesheet Main Attraction The Fly (1958) Original British / Art by Jock Hinchcliff

Castle scary
Schlockmeister William
Castle was a master of
B-movies. As an independent
producer, Castle recognized
the necessity of having an
edge over his competitors
both in the film and television
industries. He also noted
the growing public interest
in shock-horror and science-
fiction movies and capitalized
on it by developing various
gimmicks to accompany his
films: for The Tingler, Castle
wired-up certain cinemas so
that audiences would be given
mild electric shocks through
their chairs. This feature
was exploited as a major
selling point in the US poster
campaign.

for The Tingler,

William Castle
wired-up certain
cinemas so that
audiences would be
given mild electric
shocks through Proof positive
their chairs.
Jock Hinchcliff’s kitsch
Likewise, Jock Hinchcliff’s
kitsch British poster for
The Fly used a gimmick
British poster for The Fly that offered cinemagoers
the chance to win £100 (the
used a gimmick that offered equivalent of more than £1500
today) if they could prove
cinemagoers the chance to win its premise was impossible.
Aside from the monetary

money if they could prove its incentive, the ‘prove it can’t

happen’ tagline also played

premise was impossible.

on public anxiety about
the recent discovery of the
structure of DNA, which
made a mutant fly a more
credible scientific possibility
and encouraged the idea that
there was a real threat of
The Tingler (1959) Original US
existing species being altered
by scientific experiments or
nuclear radiation.

20 www.thebigpicturemagazine.com february 2010 21


House of Wax (1953) Original US Proof positive
Another technique used to
lure audiences back to the
silver screen was 3D. In 1953,
Bwana Devil, the first full-
length colour feature film shot
entirely in the 3D process,
was released. Audiences were
entranced and the film was
a sell-out success, grossing
over $1.3 million in the first
month of general release. This
sparked the early-1950s boom
in 3D features.
gofurther... www.reelposter.com [film ] Bwana Dvil (1953) [film ] Josh Hinchcliff
22 www.thebigpicturemagazine.com
AfricAn / nigeriAn
AmericAn – Hollywood
onesheet Main Attraction
AmericAn – independent
ArAb
AustrAlAsiAn directory of
britisH
cAnAdiAn world
cHinese
eAst europeAn
cinema
frencH
germAn The Directory of World Cinema aims to bring a
new dimension to the academic study of film.
irAniAn The directory is intended to play a part in the
distribution of academic output, by building a
indiAn forum for the study of film from a disciplined
itAliAn
theoretical base.
JApAnese
www . worldcinemadirectory. org
russiAn
swedisH
Visit the website where you can:
Just a few months later, Learn more about the project
Warner Brothers released
House of Wax and billed it
as the first major studio 3D
film. The American billboard
turkisH Comment on any of the reviews
Write your own film or director reviews
spAnisH / portuguese
poster was the perfect size to
fully exploit the promotion of Offer to edit a volume of the directory
this new technology. [tbp]
soutH New
AmericAn / brAziliAn
restq of tHe
Download the free world
volume (including
isrAel, koreA,
Directory denmArk,
of World Cimema: Japan
finlAnd, norwAy And icelAnd,
 widescreen
looking
again:
3-D
tchnology
Terror
Vision
The recent resurgence in 3-D means it’s
time to reappraise just what the format
adds to the cinematic experience.
Emma Simmonds argues that only the
horror genre successfully exploits the
technology’s potential, by putting it
brazenly centre stage. ➜
24 www.thebigpicturemagazine.com
Like that old pest Jason
Voorhees rising inexplicably
but predictably from his latest
demise, 3-D is back. 2009
brought with it a slew of high
profile 3-D releases, amongst
them: animated features Up
and Coraline; family-friendly
spectacle Journey to the
Center of the Earth; James
Cameron’s long-awaited
Avatar and horror flicks The
Final Destination and My
Bloody Valentine. Whether
this is the format of the future
or merely another flight of
spectacular cinematic whimsy
is still very much up for
debate. Yet, a more apposite
question may be whether it
was worth making many of
these movies stereoscopic
at all. Is the extra layer of
artifice – epitomized by its
opposite the early days of 3d cinema / below feeling the force / right old school scares
continued dependence on the
gawkish glasses – too high a
price to pay for effects that
frequently achieve only a
limited impact?
3-D as a spectacle demands
to be noticed and it’s
something of a bore when it’s
not. However, for most films,
repeatedly drawing attention
to the wizardry is contrived
and distracting, siphoning
attention from the narrative.
The horror genre alone
has the advantage of being
uniquely and unashamedly
manipulative, so can play
up the trickery as another
weapon in its arsenal. Friday
13th Part III (1982) is a
landmark example of this.
Its consistently inventive,
sometimes frightening but
often witty use of 3-D is
a powerful contrast to its
general God-awfulness, with
characters conspicuously
holding objects up to the
screen for our dastardly
delectation. It’s an arch
approach but one that’s
entirely appropriate for a
franchise horror movie.
In addition, the act of
being terrorized – the
heightened, rapt immersion
associated with being held
in nail-nibbling suspense –
significantly distracts from
the cumbersome eyewear
and often imperfect effects.
Whether this is the As demonstrated by Friday
13th Part III, it is easy to
format of the future or excuse films of this ilk any
manner of other failings
merely another flight of
provided they succeed in their
bare bones remit to create
spectacular cinematic
tension and frights; the skilful
cultivation of such an intense
and diverting experience
whimsy is still very can temper the detrimental
impact of a multitude of
much up for debate. inadequacies.
➜
february 2010 25
 widescreen 3-D technology
left pixar does it again: Up
below making moves down under: journey to the center of the earth 3-D’s ‘in-your-face’
technology has the capacity
to enhance – rather than
distract from – a horror film’s
sinister surprises (usually
only fleetingly glimpsed and
therefore not subjected to
tremendous scrutiny) with
effects that appear to smash
through the fourth wall. In the
guise of a threat, such effects
can meaningfully erode the
line between the big screen
and the audience’s space,
ratcheting up the fear factor

Purely in terms of as audiences are fooled into

dodging images that seem to

visceral impact, can leap off the screen.

Purely in terms of visceral

the three-dimensional
impact, can the three-
dimensional rendering of a
house buoyed by hundreds of
rendering of a house colourful balloons in Up really
compare with the moment
buoyed by hundreds of when a pickaxe comes haring
toward the audience in My

colourful balloons in Up Bloody Valentine 3D? What

other type of movie can use

really compare with the

the extra dimension to prompt
©disney/pixar all rights reserved

a thrilling physical reaction?

To paraphrase the advertising
moment when a pickaxe campaign for The Last House
on the Left, how do we keep
comes haring toward the telling ourselves it’s only
a movie when the skilful
audience in My Bloody utilization of 3-D can conjure
such convincing assaults?

Valentine 3D? While all this may be true

of the big screen experience,
however, the experience
for those viewing at home
Ultimately, the still trails limply behind.
The modern polarization
revitalization technique avoids much of the
of 3-D is less a discolouration and ghosting
associated with the earlier
way to further versions of 3-D technology,
immerse ourselves but the familiar headache-
inducing anaglyph system,
in animated viewed in conjunction with the
poxy coloured-lens glasses,
wonderlands is the only technology that
and more an our beloved telly-boxes will
currently support. So, anyone
opportunity to who found themselves in thrall
inspire shock and to the macabre manipulations
of, say, My Bloody Valentine
awe in seasoned, 3D will – on purchasing the
inured punters... DVD version – find the impact
sadly diminished.
But fear not couch potatoes:
significant developments
in home entertainment are
imminent, with Sony planning
left in the cut: the final destination to start selling 3-D Ready TV ➜

alsosee... Robot Monster (1953) / House of Wax (1953) / Creature From the Black Lagoon (1954)

26 www.thebigpicturemagazine.com february 2010 27

widescreen 3-D technology
below breaking the 4th wall: avatar bottom an audience watches u2 in 3d
18 TO 28 FEBRUARY 2010
sets in 2010 and Sky launching
a 3-D channel the same year.
Both will use versions of
the polarized system that
so successfully terrorizes
cinemagoers. For now, though,
and until such advances
become commonplace and
affordable, the disparity
between the cinematic and
televisual impact of 3-D gives

©twentieth century fox all rights reserved

us yet another reason to keep
heading to the pictures.
Ultimately, the
revitalization of 3-D is less
a way to further immerse
ourselves in animated
wonderlands and more an GFF10’S RETROSPECTIVE
CARY GRANT
opportunity to inspire shock
and awe in seasoned, inured
punters after the most
depraved depths have been
plundered. It’s an undeniably
bombastic, knuckle-headed
approach, but it’s a bona fide
hoot and, for a franchise film
like The Final Destination
WWW.GLASGOWFILMFESTIVAL.ORG.UK/CARY
or a remake like My Bloody
Valentine, it’s a new lease of
life – as these are the perfect,
cynical vehicles for such crass,
but fun, exploitation. [tbp]

BACK★ in ★ CINEMAS
VOTE FOR THE FILM YOU’D LIKE TO SEE BACK ON THE BIG SCREEN!

Calamity Jane
Desperately Seeking Susan
The disparity between the
cinematic and televisual Theatre of Blood
impact of 3-D gives us yet
another reason to keep
Electric Dreams
heading to the pictures. Sexy Beast / Zelig ✔

alsosee... Find out more information at:

tbp.
VOTE
Andy Warhol’s Frankenstein (1973) / T2 3-D: Battle Across Time (1996) / Coraline (2009)
www.thebigpicturemagazine.com ★ ★
28 www.thebigpicturemagazine.com ★ ★
★ ★
 1000words Below The Golden Voyage of Sinbad
for his work in King Kong,
which successfully combined
stop-motion effects with
footage of real-life actors.
The result bewildered even
industry experts – with some
exclaiming that a 50-foot tall
gorilla must have actually
existed.
The secret of stop-motion
was finally revealed to the
masses by Look magazine,
which featured a memorable
photograph of actress Fay
Wray shaking hands with
an 18-inch high model of the
giant gorilla. Harryhausen
immediately began
constructing his own models
in an attempt to replicate
the technique, until a chance
meeting with O’Brien led to a
rather bittersweet outcome.
The animator took one look at
Harryhausen’s attempt at a
stegosaurus, and immediately
proclaimed it had ‘legs like
sausages’.
Regardless, Harryhausen
worked hard to perfect
his craft and remained
in constant contact with
O’Brien, eventually becoming
his protégé. The pair first
worked together on Mighty
Joe Young, another film about
humans exploiting a giant
gorilla that ultimately ends
in tragedy. As O’Brien was
overworked, Harryhausen
was responsible for the
m o m e nts that changed film forever majority of the film’s stop-
splicing creature effects and
real-life actors: effectively
sandwiching the stop-motion
reel between other footage.
This integration soon became
practically seamless, as
shown in 1963’s Jason and
the Argonauts, in which the
titular hero famously, and
convincingly, battles a horde
of skeletons in a four-minute
sequence that took four
months to produce.
Harryhausen’s creatures
– for we don’t call them
monsters – remain amongst
the most lifelike and
expressive ever conceived,
even compared to their
modern day computer-
generated equivalents. To
create such convincing beasts,
he invested a lot of time
getting beneath their skin.
For Mighty Joe Young, he
confessed that ‘I even went so
far as to eat celery and carrots
in my tea break’. Many of his
creatures were sympathetic
characters, provoked into
their destructive assaults
by careless experiments
or greedy humans keen to
exploit them: the Rhedosaurus
that emerged from the ocean
in 20,000 Fathoms was
awakened by nuclear testing;
just as 20 Million Miles to
Earth’s Ymir was torn from
its habitat at the start of the
film and immediately set upon
by a dumbfounded nation.
Indeed, the Ymir exhibits a
Harryhausen wonderful display of emotion
when – after killing an
used his enraged elephant – it takes a
experience lingering look at the animal’s
corpse, and then guiltily slinks
to develop a away.
Although Harryhausen
revolutionary was a master at invoking
method of feelings from lumps of
plasticine, he also created
splicing creature spectacular set pieces that
effects and real- amazed audiences. From
the Rhedosaurus’ rampage
life actors. along North America’s east
coast, to Clash of the Titans’
climactic battle against the
ferocious Kraken, the action ➜
Below The master at work: the Kraken from Clash of the Titans

Beautiful
Ray Harryhausen was in his
early teens when he first saw
seminal creature feature King
Kong. As he watched the
motion animation and his
efforts so impressed the
Academy that the film was
awarded an Oscar for Best
Visual Effects in 1949.

Creatures
Harryhausen & stop-motion photography
Text by Chris Barraclough
famous ape battle terrifying
dinosaurs and ultimately
wreak terrible destruction on
New York City, he knew for
certain that his future lay in
cinema. What he didn’t know
was how pioneering animator
Willis O’Brien had brought a
50-foot gorilla to life.
At the time of the film’s
release, in 1933, only a handful
of people knew O’Brien’s
secret: he had used stop-
motion photography, in which
tiny models are painstakingly
moved and shot a frame at a
time. It was a technique he
had first implemented eight
years earlier in The Lost
World and, while that film is
undoubtedly still impressive,
it was simply a warm up
While O’Brien’s career
floundered amid promises
of projects that were never
realized, Harryhausen took
stop-motion as his own.
Each film he worked on,
from 1954’s The Beast from
20,000 Fathoms to 1981’s
Clash of the Titans, pushed
the technology further and
further to produce evermore
startling effects. Beast had
a budget of just £200,000 – a
pittance by modern standards
even after inflation – and
yet still delivered a horrific
and enormous humanoid
dinosaur destroying huge
cities and an entire theme
park. Harryhausen used
his experience to develop
a revolutionary method of gofurther... Mighty Joe Young (1949) / The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms (1954)

30 www.thebigpicturemagazine.com february 2010 31


Above special effects ‘stripped to the bone’: jason and the argonauts
scenes in his films are as good
as anything in the biggest
Hollywood blockbusters.
Even more impressive is the
way Harryhausen integrated
real-life locales into his films.
Clearly inspired by King
Kong’s New York assault, he
went on to devastate major
global cities from Washington
DC to Rome. The destruction
of the Washington Monument
in Earth vs. The Flying
Saucers was a personal
highlight – one that required
a full model reconstruction
of the mighty structure.
Meticulous stop-motion was
used to show the collapse
of every piece of debris as
the alien craft bulldozed the
monument, with Harryhausen
going so far as to paint each
individual wire out of the
picture before he took a shot.
The great animator finally
retired in the 1980s, after
working on almost 20 films.
alsosee... 20 Million Miles to Earth (1957) / Earth vs. The Flying Saucers (1956) / Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009)
32 www.thebigpicturemagazine.com
Harryhausen’s creatures – for
we don’t call them monsters –
remain amongst the most lifelike
and expressive ever conceived,
even compared to modern day
computer-generated standards.
‘In the 1950s, we were the
only ones doing fantasy,’ he
said in a later interview. ‘Now
there are so many companies,
everything’s been done. There
reaches a point where you
can’t see yourself spending
another year of your life in a
darkened room, twisting little
models around. But I still
love the work and I miss it
sometimes.’
Although he’s no longer
making movies, Harryhausen’s
influence on the art can still be
1000words
seen. Industry giants such as
Peter Jackson and Tim Burton
may never have even picked
up a camera were it not for
his work, and his devotion to
stop-motion photography has
inspired scores of directors to
adopt the same techniques.
Burton had huge hits with
The Nightmare Before
Christmas and Corpse Bride,
while Wes Anderson turned
to stop-motion for his latest
effort, Fantastic Mr Fox.
Harryhausen kept the practice
alive, and, in the process,
gave us the most memorable
collection of creatures ever
seen on the silver screen. In
fact, his menagerie has only
ever been upstaged once – by
Raquel Welch’s infamous
cavewoman costume in One
Million Years B.C. [tbp]
A remake of Clash of the
Titans is due out in cinemas
March 26th, 2010
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 Natural movie locations don’t come more
spectacular than America’s Monument Valley, a
seemingly endless backdrop that has inspired many
a dusty western. Nicholas Page takes a look at
some of this famous valley’s appearances on film.

The
Searchers
(1956)
Dir. John Ford
USA, 119 minutes
Starring John Wayne, Vera
Miles, Jeffrey Hunter
Often seen as a revisionist
take on the western genre, The
Searchers core themes include
inherent racism and fear of
miscegenation. These aspects
are dealt with in an obvious, yet
somewhat tentative fashion,
by John Ford, and are upheld
in the views of his flawed
protagonist, Ethan Edwards
(Wayne). The surly Ethan,
fuelled by his hatred for all
things Native American, leads
a band of searchers across
southern America looking
for his nieces, who have been
captured by Comanche raiders.
Stagecoach
(1939)
Dir. John Ford
USA, 96 minutes
Starring John Wayne,
Claire Trevor, Andy Devine
John Ford’s Stagecoach may
have taken up a fairly unas-
suming position in the archives
of the western genre, but
its importance as a template
for things to come is well
documented: as is its position
as the movie that launched the
career of John Wayne – one of
Hollywood’s biggest icons. The
film, which sees Wayne playing
a fugitive named the ‘Ringo
Kid’ as he helps protect a
stagecoach against an Apache
attack, was not only the first
sound western that Ford made
but also his first feature to be
shot in Monument Valley.

onlocation

Monument
above looking for salvation: the searchers
right sweeping statements: stagecoach

Valley
34 www.thebigpicturemagazine.com
• utah,u.s.a•

february 2010 35

onlocation Monument Valley
My Darling
Clementine
(1946)
Dir. John Ford
USA, 97 minutes
Starring Henry Fonda, Walter
Brennan, Linda Darnell
An extremely loose take on
the legend of the O.K. Corral
shoot-out, John Ford’s My
Darling Clementine follows
former lawman Wyatt Earp
(Henry Fonda) as he comes
out of retirement to capture
the notorious Clanton clan,
simultaneously ridding the
small town of Tombstone of
its blight and avenging the
death of his younger brother,
James. In his quest for justice,
Wyatt encounters many
shady characters, as well as a
beautiful young lady named
Clementine.
Kobal (1)
36 www.thebigpicturemagazine.com
Kobal (2)
Easy Rider
The film, which was (1969)
nominated for two Dir. Dennis Hopper
USA, 95 minutes
Academy Awards, Starring Dennis Hopper, Peter
Fonda, Jack Nicholson
is an extraordinary
encapsulation of
Contrary to what this article
may imply, not all films shot,
American counter- or set, in Monument Val-
ley are westerns. Dennis
culture in the 1960s. Hopper’s Easy Rider, a 1969
road movie that follows two
hippie motorcyclists (played
by Hopper and Peter Fonda)
left henry fonda rides high in my darling clementine above chasing the american dream: easy rider as they make their way across
America to Mardi Gras, fea-
tures the location somewhat
briefly as part of the passing
landscape. The film, which was
nominated for two Academy
Awards, is an extraordinary
encapsulation of American
counter-culture in the 1960s.
alsosee... Once Upon a Time in the West (1968) / Three Amigos! (1986) / Thelma & Louise (1991)
february 2010 37
 screengems
Kobal
• screengem •
Medusa’s
Head Continuing our look at memorable
objects in film, this issue’s choice was
quite simply too much to look at.
Words by Chris Barraclough
left Harry Hamlin makes a killing in
Clash of the Titans (1981)
more screengems visit www.thebigpicturemagazine.com
38 www.thebigpicturemagazine.com
Medusa’s most memorable
celluloid appearance came
courtesy of Ray Harryhausen
in his 1981 swansong, Clash
of the Titans, when the hero,
Perseus, finds himself hunting the
grotesque gorgon so he can use
her powers to destroy the Kraken.
The eventual confrontation
in her lair is both tense and
terrifying, and made all the more
unbearable by the soundtrack
that quickly builds from stony
silence to crashing cacophony.
Perseus finally betters Medusa
by decapitating her and his prize
is her severed head – a trophy as
deadly as it is grisly.
Harryhausen always maintained
that he never made horror films,
but he could certainly conjure up
horrifying moments when needed.
Once you’ve seen that head, the
image remains forever burned in
your brain: a mess of snakes for
hair and eyes so fierce that they
glow green – the same colour
as the disgustingly scaly skin.
Even worse are the teeth, a set
of razor-sharp incisors that could
bite through steel cables or even a
stale Jaffa Cake. The moment that
Perseus victoriously holds the
head aloft is undeniably rousing,
but it’s a relief when that hideous
visage is finally concealed within a
cloth bag.
Medusa’s head somehow retains
its destructive power despite
being separated from her body, as
if it’s an individual, living entity.
While universally recognized as
a symbol of potency as well as
rage, her appearance in Clash of
the Titans has to be her crowning
glory. Take one last, lingering look
at that face, then turn the page –
the next time you’ll see her will be
in your nightmares. [tbp]
february 2010 39
 Intellect
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 partingshot
left The invisible man (1933)

James Whale’s 1933

adaptation of H.G. Wells’ The
Invisible Man was one of
the great Hollywood horror
films of its era and led to
numerous sequels, spin-offs
and spoofs. The film launched
the career of Claude Rains
(chosen for his distinctive,
‘intellectual’ voice), despite
the fact that his face is only
seen in the film’s final shot.
Until that point, it is obscured
by the tightly wrapped
bandages the invisible man
wears to give himself the
appearance of substance. His
completely bandaged face is
a strikingly disturbing image
that has been echoed in dark
i m i tat i o n i s t h e s i n c e r e s t f o r m o f f l at t e ry psychological thrillers such
as Hiroshi Teshigahara’s

Invisible
The Face of Another (1966),
Roman Polanski’s The Tenant
(1976), and Scott McGehee
and David Siegel’s Suture
(1993).

Men
In the early days of cinema,
the development of the
close-up (or ‘big head’ as
it was called) meant that
film could dispense with the A film character’s
exaggerated acting style
it had inherited from the face tells us who
theatre, and the face became
the expressive surface of
they are, but for
cinema. A film character’s these faceless
Mel Gibson wasn’t film’s first man without a face. face tells us who they are, but
characters who
for these faceless characters
Alanna Donaldson explores how, after The Invisible who they are becomes they are becomes
Man, the fully bandaged head became a recurrent unfathomable. Each of these
unfathomable.
adam sandler and emily morton (punch drunk love)
films deals with the fragility
image in generations of thrillers. of identity and each character
has suffered a traumatic
loss of their sense of self: a top The face of another (1966) / above suture (1993)
sinister implication of their
bandages is that, as with the
invisible man, there is no one go further The Face of Another (1966) / Darkman (1990) / Time Crimes (2007)
left inside. [tbp]

42 www.thebigpicturemagazine.com january/february 2009 43

Competition Backpages

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 Backpages

Film Index Back in Cinemas

So you’ve read about the films, now go watch ‘em! Putting the movies back where they belong...

Dr. Strangelove (1964)

Dirs. Stanley Kubrick
Avatar (2009)
Dir. James Cameron
This edition of The Big Picture has been
g see page 4/5 g see page 28 produced in partnership with Park
Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953) Journey to the Center Circus, who are committed to bringing
Dir. Howard Hawks of the Earth (2008)
g see page 6/7 Dir. Eric Brevig classic films back to the big screen.
g see page 27
Calamity Jane (1953)
Dir. David Butler The Golden Voyage of Sinbad (1973)
Have a perfect Valentine’s Day by
g see page 8 Dir. Gordon Hessler
g see page 30
sharing a romantic movie with your
Theatre of Blood (1973)
Dir. Douglas Hickox Clash of the Titans (1981)
loved one. Classics such as Brief
g see page 9 Dir. Desmond Davis
Encounter and Casablanca are back
g see page 32/38
Electric Dreams (1984)
Dir. Steve Barron Th e Searchers (1956)
in cinemas around the country and,
g see page 10 Dir. John Ford
as a special treat this year celebrating
g see page 34
Desperately Seeking Susan (1985)
Dir. Susan Seidelman Stagecoach (1939)
its 20th anniversary, the ultimate
g see page 11 Dir. John Ford
rom-com Pretty Woman is screening
g see page 35
Sexy Beast (2000)
Dir. Jonathan Glazer My Darling Clementine (1946)
for one day only, 14 February, at
g see page 12 Dir. John Ford
Cineworld Cinemas nationwide.
g see page 36
Zelig (1983)
Dir. Woody Allen Easy Rider (1969) The glamour continues as the
Dir. Dennis Hopper
g see page 13
g see page 37 magical, musical spectacular
Dreams That Money Can Buy (1947)
Dir. Hans Richter The Invisible Man (1933) Gentlemen Prefer Blondes is being
Dir. James Whale
g see page 14/15
g see page 42 re-released from 26 February at BFI
My Bloody Valentine (2009)
Dir. Patrick Lussier The Face of Another (1966) Southbank and selected cinemas.
g see page 25 Dir. Hiroshi Teshigahara
g see page 43
Up (2009)
Dirs. Pete Docter / Bob Peterson Suture (1993)
g see page 26 Dirs. Scott McGehee / David Siegel
g see page 43
More details of cinema screenings of these
and other classic movies from the Park Circus
catalogue can be accessed via:
www.backincinemas.com
the
big picture thebigpicture disclaimer
issue 7
available The views and opinions of all texts, including
March editorial and regular columns, are those of the
15th, 2010 authors and do not necessarily represent or
reflect those of the editors or publishers.

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