Disc Details
Special Features:	Widescreen anamorphic format Chapter selections Featurette: "The Making of Mysterious Island" Documentary: "The Harryhausen Chronicles" Featurette: "This is Dynamation" Photo gallery Theatrical trailers
Video Format:	Anamorphic Widescreen (1.85:1) [SS-DL]
Languages:	English (Dolby Digital 2.0)
Subtitles:	English, Spanish, French.
Captions:	Yes
Casing:	1-Disc Keep Case

“Mysterious Island” is based loosely on the works of Jules Verne. A group of Union soldiers escape from a confederate POW camp via a hot-air balloon. The group is caught up in a freak storm an carried miles away. The balloon finally crashes on an island inhabited by extremely large animals, insects and Captain Nemo (Herbert Lom). What follows is a delightful mixture of science fiction, high adventure and excellent (for the most part) animation by Ray Harryhausen. The movie also benefits from an outstanding score by frequent Hitchcock collaborator, Bernard Herrmann.

Harryhausen began making color movies with "The Seventh Voyage of Sinbad." "Mysterious Island" is aided and hurt by the use of color. The creatures are very lifelike (especially the crab!), but the matte paintings of the landscapes are obviously just that, paintings. British director Cy Enfield (ZULU!) directed “Mysterious Island.” The movie is helped immensely by this. Mr. Enfield was probably the most prominent director to helm a Ray Harryhausen film. The film also depends as much on plot and character development as it does on Harryhausen's animation, though the animation is some of the best of his career. Most notable among the scenes are the soldier's battle with the giant crab, and the attack on the castaways camp by a comical prehistoric chicken. The film also contains one of the worst sequences animated by Harryhausen: the underwater battle with a giant nautilus.

Harryhausen attempted to solve one of the last problems facing animators while working on "Mysterious Island." Strobing is the phenomenon caused by the animation process. When a live-action scene is filmed, blurring occurs due to the natural motion of the object being filmed. This blurring does not occur in animation since it is shot a frame at a time, and the subject is still. Harryhausen attempted to solve this for the giant bee sequence, with little success. Harryhausen's protege Jim Danforth claimed to have solved this problem by double exposing each frame in "When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth."

Picture Quality: 10/10
Columbia remastered this picture in high definition. Superbit is the only thing that could make this picture better. No artifacts, pixilation or delineation problems. The only problem with having such a clear picture is that you can see the occasional matte lines around the actors or creatures during special effects scenes. Harryhausen's work is still impressive, but folks weaned on CGI may not appreciate the artistry and work that went into this movie. Still impressive 41 years later!

Sound Quality: 10/10
Bernard Herrmann composed some of the best scores in motion picture history. His work on "Mysterious Island" rivals anything he ever did for Hitchcock. Mr. Herrmann was notorious for ridiculing bad movies as he scored them. Mr. Herrmann developed a great admiration for the work of Ray Harryhausen. It is said that Ray Harryhausen and Alfred Hitchcock were the only filmmakers spared the caustic tongue of Mr. Herrmann. Columbia has delivered a wonderful soundtrack. I could listen to the score without the film. From the opening strains of the theme playing of the Columbia logo, to the final credits, this DVD delivers well-balanced, full rich sound.

Menu: 10/10
The design is a real treat. Animation buffs will recognize that the design is an in-joke. The menu's design is a great example of how a matte-painting process shot is accomplished. Very colorful. Great use of Mr. Herrmann's score. Easy to navigate. I didn't find any Easter Eggs.

Extra Features: 10/10
The big extra on this DVD is the documentary "The Harryhausen Chronicles." Harryhausen’s 50 year film career is the subject of this loving documentary by Time Magazine film critic Richard Schickle. Fans and non-fans alike will enjoy this intimate portrait of the creator of countless dreams.

The documentary includes interviews with Harryhausen's boyhood friend, Ray Bradbury. The two men (along with the conspicuously absent Forrest J. Ackerman) met as youths and pledged to remain friends, never grow up and to always love dinosaurs. Harryhausen recounts his career in interviews at the Berlin museum, which now houses many of his creations. There are also still photographs of Harryhausen's youth and early animation efforts.

There are enough clips from Harryhausen's films to whet the appetite of any fantasy fan. If the documentary has a flaw, it is its brevity. I wish there had been more film clips of Harryhausen's work. I still rate the documentary a 10. For those familiar with Harryhausen's work, this DVD is a Godsend. To those who's knowledge of dinosaurs on film is limited to the CGIosauruses from "Jurassic Park," get this DVD and see the work of the man who all modern special Effects technicians consider to be a living legend.

The DVD includes two featurettes. Ray Harryhausen narrates the "Making Of" featurette. The 10-minute featurette tells about the evolution of the script. The work of Cy Enfield and Bernard Herrmann.

The other featurette is an old studio promotional film that was released when Harryhausen made "The 7th Voyage of Sinbad." The 3-minute promo talks about Harryhausen's animation process called "Dynamation." There is also a good photo gallery that includes 20 sketches, production stills and poster art. There are trailers for this and two other Harryhausen films.

The Final Word:
Hail Columbia! The "Ray Harryhausen Signature Collection" is one of the best DVD series I've ever seen. Mr. Harryhausen's legion of fans worldwide will love this. "Mysterious Island" is my favorite of his films. It was one of the first movies I remember seeing. "Mysterious Island" is a keeper.

Rusty White