I took a calculated risk with the Film at 11 podcast this week. Even knowing my poor track record for watching fantasy and adventure movies from the late 1970s or early 1980s with my son Thomas, I pushed him into sitting through the original 1981 Clash of the Titans anyway. Thomas has been studying Greek mythology in school and is very much interested in stories about ancient gods and demigods and monsters right now.

I hadn’t watched Clash of the Titans myself in ages, and even as a kid I thought it was pretty cheesy. I wasn’t sure how Thomas would react to it. His tolerance for old-fashioned special effects is usually pretty low.

Watching it again as an adult, the swan song for famed visual effects pioneer Ray Harryhausen is indeed quite a cheesefest. I think it must have always felt that way, even in 1981, and I assume deliberately. Casting young Californian actor Harry Hamlin as Greek hero Perseus, with Burgess Meredith from the 1960s Batman as his sidekick, plays right into that. Respected thespian of stage and screen Sir Laurence Olivier goes into full-blown ham mode as the god Zeus, surrounded by a halo of lasers around his head. I just can’t imagine this was meant to be taken all that seriously. Nonetheless, Harryhausen’s stop-motion creatures have tons of personality and charm, despite their lack of photorealism, and I found the movie fun on its own terms.

Title:	Clash of the Titans
Year of Release:	1981
Director:	Desmond Davis
Watched On:	Blu-ray
Also Available On:	Various VOD rental and purchase platforms

The Blu-ray

The 1981 Clash of the Titans was first released on Blu-ray in 2010, initially packaged in a Digibook case. To my knowledge, all subsequent reissues have been copies of the same disc. At the time of this writing, the film has not been remastered in 4K, which is a shame. It could really use an upgrade, even if just a better Blu-ray.

The paper backer attached to the Digibook claims: “This film has bee remastered utilizing state-of-the-art digital technology, while maintaining the visual appearance of the original theatrical release.” Looking at it, I have a hard time taking that too seriously. Even considering the movie’s deliberately soft-focus photography and grainy optical composites, this disc looks pretty awful.

The opening shots starts the movie off on poor footing. The full-screen 16:9 image (opened up slightly from the original 1.85:1) is swarming in thick, heavy grain, exaggerated by harsh electronic sharpening. Much of the film looks like that, not just the scenes with opticals or visual effects (though those are usually the worst). Dirt and physical artifacts also frequently litter the source elements.

At its best, in scenes with moderate grain, the disc has a hazy picture with little contrast. That much may be endemic to the style of the piece, but I’m sure a new scan of the camera negative with modern technology could make some big improvements to this.

The DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 soundtrack opens with a very weak MGM lion roar. I recommend boosting the volume several decibels over usual defaults. Even doing so, the track has virtually no depth or dynamic range. Thankfully, the musical score spreads nicely around the soundstage and bleeds into the surround channels.

In addition to a printed essay and cast profiles in the physical Digibook itself, the disc provides a twelve-minute interview with Ray Harryhausen about his career, plus several additional interview snippets focused on specific creatures in this film.

Annoyingly, before you even get to the main menu, the disc opens with a forced (but luckily skippable) five-minute promo for the 2010 remake that absolutely no one will want to watch today.

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