Harryhausen on DVD

Take a thrilling ride to yesteryear when movie special effects were created by hand, not by computer. Two two-disc sets featuring special effects and animation by Ray Harryhausen have such appeal that they still work today. Flying saucers and sea creatures animated frame by frame and then projected behind actors or in matte shots propel the respective plots of It Came From Beneath the Sea and Earth vs. Flying Saucers the same way CGI robots and monsters jolt Transformers and Cloverfield. Perhaps not oddly, as is always the case, while ICFBTS and EvFS were originally made in black and white and the DVDs have both that version and a color version so will the recent The Mist, which was a color film, go to disc in color and in black and white.
Personally the color versions of these old sci-fi classics are the least interesting factor among the various extras on the DVD set. For starters, Harryhausen hosts a featurette for each film, plus does a commentary track with a group of fellow special effects artists. Only these guys were acolytes of the Harryhausen School who went on to create the current generation's classics. Joining Ray on the commentary for It Came From Beneath the Sea are Arnold Kunert (produced docs on Harryhausen), Randy Cook (LOTR), and John Bruno (Titanic). On Earth vs. Flying Saucers Ray is joined by Kunert, Jeff Okum (Last Samurai, the upcoming remake of The Day the Earth Stood Still), and Ken Ralston (Polar Express, also worked on Star Wars). Are you kidding, the banter is like an advanced seminar in effects that fans of these films could only dream about. If you've never seen the films you will warm to its old school style rapidly.
A couple of the additional special features are repeated on each disc and rank highly in terms of information and even geek-factor. One explores the musical cues for the films and another has a sit down interview between Tim Burton and Harryhausen. You're going to be watching these twice.