Clash of the Titans

Information about Clash of the Titans

Not to be confused with the Nelvana/Teletoon series, Class of the Titans.
Clash of the Titans
Directed byDesmond Davis
Produced byRay Harryhausen
Charles H. Schneer
Written byBeverley Cross
StarringLaurence Olivier
Harry Hamlin
Maggie Smith
Ursula Andress
Music byLaurence Rosenthal
CinematographyTed Moore
Editing byTimothy Gee
Distributed byMGM (USA)
United Artists (Non-USA)
Release date(s)June 12, 1981
Running time118 min
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget
All Movie Guide profile
IMDb profile
Clash of the Titans is a 1981 fantasy and mythology movie based on the myth of Perseus.

Stop motion animation is used to a large extent in the film to animate the various monsters. The special effects creatures were created by Ray Harryhausen, who retired from filmmaking shortly after the movie was released.

Plot

King Akrisius of Argos expresses anger towards Zeus for impregnating his daughter, Princess Danae. He then casts Danae and her infant son Perseus out to sea in a wooden chest. Unknown to everyone, a white bird who witnessed everything was really Poseidon, who informs Zeus of Akrisius' unfaithfulness. Zeus orders Poseidon to release the Kraken to destroy Argos by flooding his entire kingdom. While Argos is completely devastated, Danae and Perseus are safely brought to the island of Seriphos where they live a happy life and Perseus grows up to manhood.

Calibos - the spoiled son of Thetis, the goddess of the Sea - was a handsome young man destined to marry Princess Andromeda, the daughter of Queen Cassiopeia and heir to the rich city of Joppa and eventually all of Phoenicia. Zeus entrusted Calibos to care for the Wells of the Moon; Calibos instead hunted, trapped and killed everything that lived there, including Zeus’ sacred herd of flying horses, leaving only the stallion Pegasus alive. As punishment, Zeus transforms Calibos into a monster and he is shunned and forced to live as an outcast in the swamps and marshes. Thetis, furious at her son's fate, vows that if Calibos cannot marry Andromeda, then no other man will either.

Perseus is brought by Thetis from his island home on Seriphos to Joppa. He learns of Andromeda and her plight: she cannot marry unless her suitor successfully answers a riddle, which is given to her by Calibos. Any suitor that fails to answer the riddle correctly is burned at the stake. Using a number of gifts given to him by the gods, including the winged horse Pegasus and a helmet given to him by Athena that renders its wearer invisible, he discovers the answer to the riddle. Calibos nearly captures him, but Perseus cuts off his hand with a sword (another divine gift, this one from the goddess Aphrodite).

Zeus orders Hephaestus to make the mechanical owl Bubo as an aid for Perseus. At the next ceremony for a new suitor, Perseus enters, guesses the riddle correctly and presents Calibos's severed hand, winning Andromeda's hand in marriage. At the wedding, Queen Cassiopeia foolishly compares Andromeda's beauty to that of Thetis herself, which angers the goddess. Thetis demands the life of Andromeda as a sacrifice to a sea monster (the Kraken, a modern addition to the myth, the Greek version had Cetus as the sea monster) in 30 days; otherwise, the Kraken will destroy Joppa.

Enlarge picture
The gorgon Medusa from the film
Perseus seeks a way to defeat the Kraken, the Last of the Titans (a reference to the race of monsters that pre-dated the gods.) He visits the Stygian Witches, three blind women who disclose that the only hope of survival in combat against the Kraken is by using the head of another monster, Medusa the Gorgon. Medusa, once a beautiful woman, was transformed by a jealous Aphrodite into a monster so horrible that mere eye contact will turn any living creature to stone, including the Kraken. She makes her home on the Isle of the Dead, which lies across the River Styx, at the very edge of the Underworld. Perseus travels there and kills her, removing her head, though he must contend with Calibos along the way - whom he finally kills with Aphrodite's sword.

Just as Andromeda is about to be sacrificed to the Kraken, Perseus appears astride Pegasus and turns the Last Titan to stone with Medusa's head, which is then cast into the ocean where it can do no more damage. Perseus frees Andromeda and they live happily together. The hero and heroine become constellations at the decree of Zeus, who does the same for Pegasus and Cassiopeia.

Cast

Trivia

  • From an off-screen romance that occurred during the filming of this movie, Hamlin and Andress have a son named Dimitri.
  • As of May 1, 2006, writer Travis Beacham is writing a new script for a planned remake of the film. [1] The general plot outline seems to be the same, but a "darker, more realistic" tone is going to be infused into the story.
  • A cartoon about teenagers descended from Greek heroes bears the name Class of the Titans, as a homage to the film.
  • Harry Hamlin reprises his role as Perseus by providing the character's voice in the 2007 video game God of War II.
Wrath of the Titans
Bluewater Productions
First appearanceMay 2007
Ray Harryhausen and Darren G. Davis
Characteristics
Alter ego*

Box Office

Clash of the Titans was a box office hit, grossing $41 million dollars[1] domestically alone, on a $15 million dollar budget. It was the 11th highest grossing film of the year[2].

See also

References

External links

[3]
Nelvana Limited

Subsidiary
Founded 1971
Headquarters Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Key people Founders:
Michael Hirsh
Patrick Loubert
Clive A.
..... Click the link for more information.
Availability
Satellite
Bell ExpressVu Channel 554 (East)
Channel 555 (West)
Star Choice Channel 554 (East)
Channel 555 (West)
Cable
Available on most Canadian cable systems Check local listings

..... Click the link for more information.
Class of the Titans is a Canadian animated television series created by Studio B Productions and Nelvana. It premiered on December 31, 2005 at 5PM ET/PT on Teletoon with a special 90-minute presentation of the first three episodes.
..... Click the link for more information.
Desmond Davis (born May 24, 1926 in London) is a British film and television director. After serving a long apprenticeship as a clapper boy in the 1940s, with Britain's Army Film Unit, Davis worked as a camera operator on such notable films as A Taste of Honey,
..... Click the link for more information.
Ray Harryhausen (born Raymond Frederick Harryhausen, June 29, 1920 in Los Angeles, California), is an American Film producer and, most notably, a special effects creator most famous for his brand of stop-motion model animation.
..... Click the link for more information.
Charles H. Schneer is a film producer most widely known for working with special effects pioneer, Ray Harryhausen. He was born in Norfolk, Virginia in 1920.

Filmography

  • The Seventh Voyage of Sinbad
  • First Men in the Moon

..... Click the link for more information.
Beverley Cross (April 13, 1931 - March 20, 1998) was an English playwright and screenwriter.

He was born into a theatrical family, and started off by writing children's plays in the 1950s.
..... Click the link for more information.
Laurence Olivier

photo by Carl Van Vechten, 1939
Birth name Laurence Kerr Olivier
Born 22 May 1907(1907--)
Dorking, Surrey, England
Died 11 July 1989 (aged 82)
..... Click the link for more information.
Harry Hamlin

Harry Hamlin in 1987
Birth name Harry Robinson Hamlin
Born September 30 1951 (1951--) (age 56)
Pasadena, California, United States

..... Click the link for more information.
Dame Maggie Smith

Birth name Margaret Natalie Smith
Born November 28 1934 (1934--) (age 74)
Ilford, Essex, England

Spouse(s)
..... Click the link for more information.
Ursula Andress

Ursula Andress in 2006

Born March 19 1936 (1936--) (age 71)
Ostermundigen, Switzerland

Awards

..... Click the link for more information.
Laurence Rosenthal (born November 4 1926) is an American composer, arranger, and conductor for theater, television, and films.

Born in Detroit, Michigan, Rosenthal attended the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York, where he studied piano and composition.
..... Click the link for more information.
Ted Moore (August 7, 1914 - 1987) was a cinematographer and camera operator on nearly fifty films, and is probably most famous for his work on seven of the James Bond films in the 1960s and early 1970s.
..... Click the link for more information.
Timothy Gee is a motion picture film editor who has teamed up on a number of films with director Bryan Forbes and cinematographer Tony Imi.

Credits

  • Salome's Last Dance (1988)
  • The Country Girls (1984) (TV)
  • Ordeal by Innocence (1984)

..... Click the link for more information.
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Inc.

Subsidiary of Sony, Comcast and their equity partners
Founded April 16, 1924
Headquarters Los Angeles, California, USA
(Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios, Inc.)

Key people Harry E.
..... Click the link for more information.
This article or section is written like a personal reflection or and may require .
Please [ improve this article] by rewriting this article or section in an . (, talk)

This article or section may contain original research or unverified claims.
..... Click the link for more information.
June 12 is the 1st day of the year (2nd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 0 days remaining.

Events

  • 1381 - Peasants' Revolt: In England rebels arrive at Blackheath.

..... Click the link for more information.
19th century - 20th century - 21st century
1950s  1960s  1970s  - 1980s -  1990s  2000s  2010s
1978 1979 1980 - 1981 - 1982 1983 1984

Year 1981 (MCMLXXXI
..... Click the link for more information.
-1981- 1982 1983 1984  1985 .  1986 .  1987 .  1988  . 1989  . 1990  . 1991 
In home video: 1978 1979 1980 -1981- 1982 1983 1984     
..... Click the link for more information.
Fantasy media
  • Fantastic art
  • Fantasy anime
  • Fantasy art
  • Fantasy authors
  • Fantasy comics
  • Fantasy fiction magazines
  • Fantasy films
  • Fantasy literature
  • Fantasy television
Genre studies

..... Click the link for more information.
The word mythology (from the Greek μύθολογία mythología, from μυθολογείν mythologein
..... Click the link for more information.
Film is a term that encompasses individual motion pictures, the field of film as an art form, and the motion picture industry. Films are produced by recording images from the world with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or special effects.
..... Click the link for more information.
Perseus, Perseos, or Perseas (Greek: Περσεύς, Περσέως, Περσέας
..... Click the link for more information.
Stop motion (or frame-by-frame) animation is a general term for an animation technique which makes a physically manipulated object appear to move. The object is moved by very small amounts between individually photographed frames, creating the illusion of movement when the
..... Click the link for more information.
Ray Harryhausen (born Raymond Frederick Harryhausen, June 29, 1920 in Los Angeles, California), is an American Film producer and, most notably, a special effects creator most famous for his brand of stop-motion model animation.
..... Click the link for more information.

..... Click the link for more information.
Kraken ( kra’ ken, IPA: /ˈkrɑːkɛn/) are legendary sea monsters of gargantuan size, said to have dwelled off the coasts of Norway and Iceland.
..... Click the link for more information.
Calibos is a fictional character from the MGM film Clash of the Titans, released in 1981, and its main antagonist. Although the film was based on many elements from Greek Mythology, Calibos is not found in any of the Greek myths, though his presence does
..... Click the link for more information.
Thetis (ancient Greek Θέτις) is a sea nymph, one of the fifty Nereids, daughters of "the ancient one of the seas," Nereus, and Doris (Hesiod, Theogony), a grand-daughter of Tethys.
..... Click the link for more information.
Andromeda was a Greek mythological figure who was chained to a rock to be a sacrifice to a sea monster as divine punishment for her mother's bragging. She was saved from death by Perseus, her future husband.
..... Click the link for more information.

This article is copied from an article on Wikipedia.org - the free encyclopedia created and edited by online user community. The text was not checked or edited by anyone on our staff. Although the vast majority of the wikipedia encyclopedia articles provide accurate and timely information please do not assume the accuracy of any particular article. This article is distributed under the terms of GNU Free Documentation License.