In stop-motion color…

Two Ray Harryhausen classics, It Came from Beneath the Sea and Earth vs. The Flying Saucers will finally be released on DVD on January 15. Each title will be available in a two-disc special edition that will include both the black and white version and the newly colorized version of the movie.

Synopses

It Came from Beneath the Sea

It Came From Beneath the Sea was the first of several fruitful collaborations between producer Charles H. Schneer and special-effects wizard Ray Harryhausen. “It” is a giant, six-tentacled octopus, which is galvanized into action by an H-bomb test. Worse still, the monster is highly radioactive, rendering useless the normal means of defense against it. Scientists Donald Curtis and Faith Domergue team with atomic-submarine commander Kenneth Tobey to halt the creature’s progress before it begins to attack major coastal cities. Alas, the monster manages to reach San Francisco, wreaking havoc on the Golden Gate Bridge, the Ferry Building, and Market Street before Tobey figures out a way to destroy it. The stop-motion animation utilized by Harryhausen in It Came From Beneath Sea is convincingly frightening, but before long he’d top this achievement with such superb projects as Earth vs. Flying Saucers and Seventh Voyage of Sinbad.

MOVIEWEB VIDEO OF THE DAY

Earth vs. The Flying Saucers

Anyone who’s seen the 1996 science-fiction lampoon Mars Attacks may have trouble watching Earth vs. the Flying Saucers with a straight face. Hugh Marlowe plays scientist Russell Marvin, who is on-hand when an alien spacecraft lands on earth. The saucermen at first insist that they’ve come in peace, but Marvin suspects otherwise. Sure enough, the visitors eventually declare their intention to take over the earth within the next 60 days, adding that the military’s weapons are useless against them. The two-month window gives Marvin and his cohorts plenty of time to build-up superweapon, and thus stave off the seven-saucer invasion force. Special effects maestro Ray Harryhausen does a nice job laying waste to Washington DC in the film’s memorable finale. The supporting cast of Earth vs. the Flying Saucers includes those two sci-fi flick stalwarts of the 1950s, Morris Ankrum and Thomas Browne Henry.

Special Features

  • 1.85:1 Anamorphic Widescreen

  • English DD5.1 Surround

  • English, French, Spanish and Portuguese subtitles

  • Featurette: Ray Harryhausen on It Came From Beneath The Sea

  • A Video Discussion of It Came From Beneath the Sea’s 1955 marketing and advertising campaign by producer Arnold Kunert

  • Featurette: A Present Day Look at Stop Motion

  • Featurette: David Schecter on Film Music’s Unsung Hero

  • Featurette: Tim Burton Sits Down with Ray Harryhausen

  • Still and Production Art Gallery

  • Sneak Peek of Digital Comic Book It Came from Beneath the Sea…Again!

  • Featurette: Harryhausen on Earth vs. The Flying Saucers

  • Video Photo Galleries

  • Featurette: Interview with Joan Taylor

  • Advertising Artwork video montage of film’s ad materials by Producer Arnold Kunert

  • Featurette: The Hollywood Blacklist and Bernard Gordon

  • Sneak Peek of Digital Comic Book Flying Saucers vs. the Earth

  • English audio and English subtitles