Twilight Time’s "Limited Edition Series" has released
on Blu-ray THE 3 WORLDS OF GULLIVER, the 1960 Columbia Pictures fantasy very
loosely based on Irish author Jonathan Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels,
featuring “SuperDynamation” special effects from wizard Ray Harryhausen,
and starring Kerwin Mathews, Jo Morrow, June Thorburn, Lee Patterson, Gregoire
Aslan, Basil Sydney, Charles Lloyd-Pack, Martin Benson, Mary Ellis, Marian Spencer,
Peter Bull, Alec Mango, Noel Purcell, and Sherri Alberoni. A studio pick-up
job for producers Harryhausen and Charles H. Schneer, following their sizeable
international stop-motion hit, THE 7TH VOYAGE OF SINBAD, the low-key, whimsical
THE 3 WORLDS OF GULLIVER didn’t have quite the critical or box office
impact of their earlier “Dynamation” outing, perhaps because the
emphasis this time around was on creating seamless “small/big” optical
effects, rather than showcasing numerous, flashy, action-packed stop-motion
set pieces. Seen today, some Swiftian wags may suggest THE 3 WORLDS OF GULLIVER
works best as an illustrated Bernard Herrmann score; however, the small fry
still get a kick out of its gentle fairy tale tone, while the amusing performances
should please the tykes’ giant parents. Other than that sparkling 1080p
HD Blu transfer (offered in optional 1.66 and 1.78 ratios), the only new extras
here are a commentary track, a booklet with liner notes by Julie Kirgo, and
an isolated score track. Other extras, including a nice Richard Schickel doc
on Harryhausen, are ported over from previous DVD releases.
Tired of getting paid in chickens, Dr. Lemuel Gulliver (Kerwin Mathews, JACK
THE GIANT KILLER, BATTLE BENEATH THE EARTH) decides to ditch 1699 Wapping, England,
and set sail with Captain Pritchard (Noel Purcell, MAN IN THE MOON, THE VIOLENT
ENEMY) for the West Indies in search of riches. His fiancée, spunky Elizabeth
Whitley (June Thorburn, tom thumb, ESCORT FOR HIRE), doesn’t care about
money; she only wants Gulliver, and she’s willing to stow away on Pritchard’s
ship to prove it. Determined not to be dumped at the nearest port, Elizabeth
argues with Gulliver, who’s swept overboard during a squall. He awakes
on a beach in Lilliput, where he discovers he’s a giant compared to the
tiny human inhabitants. Gulliver offers to (basically) become their “god,”
eliminating work and greed and hunger through his Herculean physical efforts.
However, nothing can quell the petty, even homicidal obsessions of the Lilliputians,
particularly of their emperor (Basil Sydney, SIMBA, THE HANDS OF ORLAC). He
sees in giant Gulliver the perfect weapon to destroy Lilliput’s arch enemy,
the neighboring Blefscu, who are at war with the Lilliputians because both countries
disagree...on which end of an egg one is supposed to crack open. Gulliver ends
the conflict by easily tugging the Blefscu navy out to sea—he does so
to save his friend Reldresal (Lee Patterson, THE SEARCH FOR THE EVIL ONE, DEATH
WISH III), the new prime minister who refuses to renounce his traitorous fiance,
Gwendolyn (Jo Morrow, DOCTOR DEATH: SEEKER OF SOULS, TERMINAL ISLAND)—but
must run for his life when he offends the Emperor and the Queen by doing a good
deed badly (he spits wine on them to put out a castle fire). Coming ashore to
the island of Brobdingnag, Gulliver’s previous problem is reversed: he’s
now as small as the Lilliputians in comparison to little big girl Glumdalclitch
(Sherri Alberoni, TV’s THE MICKEY MOUSE CLUB, JOSIE AND THE PUSSYCATS).
The kindly, loving Glumdalclitch takes Gulliver to the king’s (Gregoire
Aslan, SEX-SHOP, THE GOLDEN VOYAGE OF SINBAD) castle, for that is the law of
the land, where the king has acquired an equally tiny menagerie. Gulliver is
now a contented pet, made briefly happy when he discovers a erotically-attired
Elizabeth has already arrived at the castle via her own shipwreck. A quick marriage
by the King settles the movie censors’ hash, but accusations of witchcraft
against Gulliver by jealous sorcerer Makovan (Charles Lloyd-Pack, THE TERROR
OF THE TONGS, THE SHUTTERED ROOM) ends his horny idyll, and yet again Gulliver
must run for his life.
Ray Harryhausen always took great pains to let everyone know he and his producing
partner Charles H. Schneer did not originate the THE 3 WORLDS OF GULLIVER
script (...that probably should give you a solid hint on how he felt about the
movie in general). Screenwriter/director Jack Sher (THE YOUNG AND THE INNOCENT,
TV’s HOLMES AND YO-YO), working with scripters Arthur Ross and Sy Gomberg,
had originally been contracted by Universal-International Pictures to deliver
a Gulliver movie in 1958, after Ross’ proposed Gulliver TV musical special
for NBC was cancelled after a writer’s strike. When it was announced that
Columbia and producer Schneer were prepping an A-list Gulliver movie with possibly
Danny Kaye or Jack Lemmon in the lead, the cheapskates at Universal blinked
and sensibly cut a deal, letting Sher go to Columbia with the project. Presented
with a finished script and a studio eager to capitalize on their past hit, THE
7TH VOYAGE OF SINBAD, producers Schneer and Harryhausen did their best to insert
their patented “Dynamation” stop-motion effects into the storyline—the
reverse of how they usually worked (story points were written around planned
effects for earlier efforts IT CAME FROM BENEATH THE SEA, EARTH VS. THE FLYING
SAUCERS, and 20 MILLION MILES TO EARTH, and of course, SINBAD).
When the A-listers dropped out of the project and Columbia contract player and
SINBAD’s star Kerwin Mathews was finally attached as the lead, Columbia
not surprisingly dropped THE 3 WORLDS OF GULLIVER’s budget. That necessitated
Harryhausen to seek cheaper, faster alternatives for his special effects sequences
(in-camera techniques, such as old timey forced perspective, or new-fangled
split-beam sodium backing process mattes), at the expense of scenes featuring
the laborious, time-consuming stop-motion “Dynamation” that had
made THE 7TH VOYAGE OF SINBAD such a boffo box office bonanza. Only three such
sequences appear in THE 3 WORLDS OF GULLIVER: the brief introduction of the
King’s tiny menagerie; the huge squirrel that snatches Gulliver, and Gulliver’s
fight to the death with a large/tiny alligator. Still...Columbia thought they
had a big “family picture” winner on their hands; they ballyhooed
a sizeable promotional campaign in support of THE 3 WORLDS OF GULLIVER, including
a fairly extensive—for that era—range of merchandise tie-ins (Gulliver
even got his own float in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade). Profits
were okay for Columbia when it was released...but THE 3 WORLDS OF GULLIVER didn’t
come close to matching, let alone exceeding, THE 7TH VOYAGE OF SINBAD’s
take (a Gulliver sequel was announced...but Harryhausen said “thanks
but no thanks” to another studio assignment he didn’t dream up).
Straight up: if you’re into Harryhausen’s work, THE 3 WORLDS OF
GULLIVER is bound to be a bit of a letdown. The alligator battle is cool (if
a bit too late coming in the already measured pace of the picture)...but that
squirrel scene is pretty sad, which Harryhausen freely admitted (why did they
use one of those kids plastic whirring “police siren” whistles for
the squirrel’s “voice?” They must have died laughing over
at the Disney studios...). And that’s it for “SuperDynamation”
in THE 3 WORLDS OF GULLIVER. The rest is trick shots that show Gulliver big
or small. Granted, some of them are done quite well, and some others...not so
much (that first shot of a huge Gulliver looming over the beach rocks must have
been as impressive as hell to the screaming kiddies back in the theaters...but
the wavering matte lines in a surprising number of shots reminds one of cheap
TV chromakeying). But after awhile, you get used to the optical effects and
start focusing on the story. And that’s usually not something you want
to do in your average Ray Harryhausen movie.
Thankfully, kids will just let all that confused tripe fly over their heads
as THE 3 WORLDS OF GULLIVER’s fairytale elements take hold. Gulliver’s
first adventure plugs right into their own feelings of invincible power when
shoving around their own dolls and action figures, before his second adventure
taps into their own fears of being little and defenseless around big, menacing,
frequently inexplicable adults. Kerwin Matthew’s gentle, easygoing style
is a perfect, pleasant blank slate for small viewers, while fans of 1960s international
movies will get a kick out of funny turns from pros Gregoire Aslan, Basil Sydney,
Charles Lloyd Pack, Martin Benson, Mary Ellis, Peter Bull, and Marian Spencer
(former "Mouseketeer" Alberoni is quite charming, too). None of what
works in THE 3 WORLDS OF GULLIVER, however, would work half as well as it does
without composer Bernard Herrmann’s delightful score (remarkably, according
to reports, he began composing it only four days after he delivered Hitchcock’s
PSYCHO score, and completed it in a mere two weeks). Alternately jaunty and
whimsical when riffing on 18th Century classical themes, and foreboding and
eerie when deepening the more frightening fairytale aspects of the story, simple
scenes that would have been routine or ordinary or frankly deadly flat, deliver
a far greater impact than they would have any right to expect, thanks to Herrmann’s
absolute straight-faced respect for what he’s composing (how else can
you explain the truly unnerving undertone you can’t help but feel during
silly scenes like the giant squirrel attack?). It’s another memorable
Harryhausen score from Herrmann, and probably the chief reason today to watch
THE 3 WORLDS OF GULLIVER.
Twilight Time’s new 1080p HD Blu transfer of THE 3 WORLDS OF GULLIVER
looks better than I’ve ever seen the movie. It looks like it could have
been shot yesterday. Colors are bright, skin tones even and nicely modulated,
fine image detail is remarkably improved over previous releases, and grain is
tight and filmic in most shots (where it’s not, I’m going to blame
the original cinematography). You get your choice of seeing this in 1.66 or
1.78 anamorphic widescreen. There were past controversies about previous fullscreen
releases (even from some “savants” who couldn’t quite figure
out open mattes and projection masking). No doubt THE 3 WORLDS OF GULLIVER was
shot Academy ratio with the intent of minimum projection masking (if you saw
it in true 1.33 fullframe in a theater back in ’60, the projectionist
screwed up), so it’s up to you how much top/bottom information you want
to lose when watching this (in the cartoon opening credits, when the big hand
comes in to grab Gulliver, the thumb is mostly masked out in 1.78...so use that
as a rule of thumb). The English 1.0 DTS-HD MA soundtrack has a healthy re-recording
level, and it’s super clean (pity there wasn’t more in the movie’s
budget for an original stereo recording session). English subtitles are available.
New extras include a commentary track featuring film historians Randall Cook,
C. Courtney Joyner, and Steven C. Smith. Cook’s a little hard to take,
but everyone contributes some solid background info on the movie’s production
(not enough, however, on its reception), and the difficulties of the shoot in
terms of special effects. Next, there’s an isolated music track for when
you’re doing the dishes. Old bonuses include 1995’s "The Making
of The 3 Worlds of Gulliver" (7:31), where Ray Harryhausen discusses the
production, his fondness for Mathews, and his displeasure at the squirrel sequence
(there’s also a promotional gallery stuck on the end of this extra). 1997’s
"The Harryhausen Chronicles", written and directed by “film
critic” Richard Schickel (he’s a far better documentarian than reviewer...),
is a pretty fascinating look at Harryhausen’s career, narrated by Leonard
Nimoy. Lots of cool footage of Harryhausen’s first stop-animation efforts.
"This is Dynamation!" (3:25) is a vintage promotional short touting
Harryhausen’s stop-motion/optical effects in THE 3 WORLDS OF GULLIVER.
And finally, there’s an original trailer (3:21) for the movie. (Paul
Mavis)