Jason and the Argonauts

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Movie
German title Jason and the Argonauts
Original title Jason and the Argonauts
Country of production USA , England
original language English
Publishing year 1963
length 105 minutes
Age rating FSK 12
Rod
Director Don Chaffey
script Beverley Cross ,
Jan Read
production Charles H. Schneer
music Bernard Herrmann
camera Wilkie Cooper
cut Maurice Rootes
occupation

Jason and the Argonauts is a fantasy film from 1963 that interprets the Argonaut saga of Greek mythology quite freely.

action

Pelias misinterprets a prophecy of Zeus and seizes the throne of Thessaly by killing King Aristo and numerous members of his family. With this he draws the wrath of Hermes and Heras, who from now on protect his nephew Jason. Jason , incited by Pelias, goes in search of the Golden Fleece to secure his rule over Iolkos . Pelias hopes Jason doesn't survive the trip. Many heroes who are named after Jason's ship, Argo, Argonauts have joined Jason's journey. On an island, the Argonauts must stand up to a bronze titan ( talos ). King Phineus, blinded by the gods, advises the Argonauts in Phrygia, where they also succeed in capturing two harpies . When crossing the strait to the Black Sea, they barely escape a rock fall thanks to a lucky amulet from Phineus. In Colchis, Jason defeats the Hydra and has to fight the skeletal warriors who have emerged from their teeth, and he manages to escape. Jason loses several companions and makes the journey home to Thessaly with Medea and the surviving Argonauts. On Mount Olympus, Zeus informs Hera that he will soon call Jason back to do new things.

background

The special effects were produced by Ray Harryhausen - the work on the now famous scene with living skeletons took four months. In the film, the sequence only lasts three minutes.

Jason and the Argonauts premiered on June 19, 1963. In the Federal Republic of Germany the film was released on December 20, 1963. The work was released on DVD on August 12, 1999 .

Deviations from mythology (selection)

  • In mythology Talos is not defeated by Jason, but by Medea.
  • In mythology, Talos guarded Crete and the queen of Europe, not a bronze island.
  • The harpies were not captured but chased away.
  • In mythology, Castor and Phalerus survive.

Reviews

  • “Very well done entertainment with lots of show values. The story is entertaining: It keeps a very high tempo and tries to portray the characters in a credible way [...] In addition, there are many original details borrowed from the classic saga, which still seem refreshingly different today [...] ” - Peplumania.info
  • Todd Armstrong: Jason is not exactly enthusiastic, the fleece looks like a glittering chimney rug and Olympus looks like an airport building complete with a water TV and bored and quarrelsome staff. In spite of everything, such deficiencies increase the fun of a film that is more in the tradition of Méliès and Flash Gordon than that of Lang's “Die Nibelungen ”. ” -“ The Monthly Film Bulletin ”
  • “'Jason and the Argonauts' [...] visualized the fantastic content of the sagas like no other and remains the definitive film on this subject to this day. [...] Like so many Harryhausen films, "Jason and the Argonauts" also suffers from a bland direction, weak sodium light mattes and pale actors [...]. The biggest plus, of course, were the animation effects. "Jason and the Argonauts" impresses above all with Harryhausen's stop-motion work, the best of his entire career; like Disney , after this masterpiece he should sink into formulaic self-citations. ” - Norbert Stresau
  • “Jason's search for the Golden Fleece sets an adventure in motion that is determined by fantastic events, whereby the relationship with Greek mythology is limited to external appearances. The film gets its main attraction through the wonderful tricks of the specialist Ray Harryhausen. ” -“ Lexicon of international film ”

Reception and awards

In 2004, Empire Magazine rated Talos as the second best movie monster of all time, behind King Kong.

The film was nominated for AFI's Top 10 Fantasy Film List in 2008.

The film currently (July 2015) has a positive rating of 93% on the film review website Rotten Tomatoes .

DVD release

  • Jason and the Argonauts . Sony Pictures Home Entertainment 2002.

Soundtrack

  • Bernard Herrmann : Jason and the Argonauts. The Complete Motion Picture Soundtrack . The Excalibur Collection. Intrada, Oakland 1999, audio carrier no. MAF 7083 - 20-bit digital re-recording of the complete film music (world premiere) by the Sinfonia of London under the baton of Bruce Broughton .
  • Bernard Herrmann : Jason and the Argonauts. Symphonic Suite From the Original Motion Picture Score , on: Bernard Herrmann: Classic Fantasy Film Scores . Cloud Nine Records, London 1988, sound carrier no. ACN 7014 - Recording of a suite of film music conducted by the composer.
  • Bernard Herrmann : Jason and the Argonauts. Prelude Talos Talos' Death Triton. In: Bernard Herrmann: Music from Great Film Classics . Decca, London 1996, sound carrier no. 448 948-2 - phase 4 stereo re-recording of excerpts from the film music by the London Philharmonic Orchestra and the National Philharmonic Orchestra under the direction of the composer.

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Jason and the Argonauts. In: Zelluloid.de. Archived from the original on March 4, 2016 ; accessed on September 26, 2018 .
  2. ↑ a b Jason and the Argonauts. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed September 26, 2018 .Template: LdiF / Maintenance / Access used 
  3. ↑ Jason and the Argonauts. In: Peplumania.com
  4. ↑ Norbert Stresau: The Fantasy Film. Heyne-Filmbibliothek, Volume 68. Heyne, Munich 1984, ISBN 3-453-86068-3 , pp. 140-142.
  5. ↑ King Kong tops movie Monster poll , BBC. April 3, 2004. 
  6. ↑ AFI's 10 Top 10 Ballot (PDF; 1.8 MB)
  7. ↑ Jason and the Argonauts. In: Rotten Tomatoes. Flixster, Inc., accessed July 19, 2015 .