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3 Worlds Of Gulliver  Hot
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Written by Staff Writer   
Sunday, 16 January 2005


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3 Worlds Of Gulliver

Grade

Content Grade: B
Sound Grade: B
Extras Grade: B
Picture Grade: B-

Specs

http://www.cthv.com/ TColumbia-Tristar-MSRP $19.95 1.33:1 fullscreen-Remastered in high definition English Dolby Mono, Spanish Dolby Mono English, French subtitles, closed-captioned 99 mins., color, 1960

Review

Part of Columbia's Ray Harryhausen series, this wondrous tale of Gulliver has seen many adaptations from Jonathan Swift's book "Gulliver's Travels"; as a full length cartoon by the Fleischer Brothers, and also a lavish mini series starring Ted Danson. This 1960 version stars Harryhausen veteran Kerwin Matthews as Gulliver, who had previously starred in "Seventh Voyage of Sinbad", also a Harryhausen production. Harryhausen was called upon to create images never attempted before and invented a new process for the project which he named Superdynamation.
Dr. Gulliver is about to be married in England after he returns from a voyage. When his fiancee is found stowed away on board, the ship runs into heavy weather and Gulliver is washed overboard. He lands on an island where he finds he is a giant in the land of Lilliput. The classic scene of being staked out on the beach by the frightened inhabitants is faithfully duplicated in this film. Once the population gets over their fear, Gulliver tries to help them with tasks such as clearing a forest and gathering fish for the citizens. But when he tries to help with a political romance between the kingdom of Lilliput and its rival, he wears out his welcome. It seems the two countries have been feuding over which end of an egg to break open and Gulliver can not convince either side how ridiculous their arguments are. In the end, Gulliver has to flee the island and its silly inhabitants. After days of drifting, Gulliver puts ashore on a new land; the island of Brobdingnag, where the tables are turned and Gulliver is the tiny person and all the inhabitants are giants. He's captured by a charming girl who brings him home, where he is held captive in her dollhouse castle. When he gives out some of his common chemistry formulas to the adult giants, he is branded a witch and once again must flee, with the help of the girl, Glumdalclitch. The satire in the script is witty and made to show how silly some human problems are and can be avoided with common sense. The wit of Swift's book and the script tell lessons of morality subtly. This film fantasy is ideal for children and adults alike.

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Picture and Sound

I had high hopes for this DVD as it boasts a high definition transfer and digitally mastered video. I could forgive the fullscreen only picture if the picture was clean. I was very disappointed as I found that a lot of dirt and flaws are present in this edition. Columbia should have taken the extra step to clean the video up a bit. The flaws are most noticeable in scenes with lots of sky, such as Gulliver on the beach talking with the the Lilliputians. The colors are still bright and well balanced for a film this old. Only Dolby digital mono is used but the fidelity is acceptable, as it is sent through the two front channels. There was no harshness in the soundtrack and the music by Bernard Herrmann, who did a lot of Hitchcock scores, comes through beautifully.

Extras

The disc comes with a 5 minute demonstration of "Dynamation", a "Harry Chronicles" featurette, in which Harryhausen talks specifically about this feature and its challenges, and another short "making of 3 Worlds of Gulliver" featurette. There are also trailers, filmographies and production notes in the paper insert.

Summary

While I welcome the addition of this feature to the Ray Harryhausen classic collection, I think a little more effort should have been made to clean up the video portion of the disc. The extras are a great bonus and the sound on the disc is acceptable. The film is an excellent example of Ray Harryhausen's work, and his dedication to the art of special effects. Reasonably priced, fans will want this fantasy of Harryhausen's but it could have been better.

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