Special Effects Collection: Mighty Joe Young (1949), Son of Kong (1933), Them! (1954), and The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms (1953)

Details: By Loron Hays; 03 November 2015

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Special Effects - Blu-ray Review

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Warner Home Video outdoes itself this Halloween season with the release of a 4-film Special Effects Collection on blu-ray. The set includes Mighty Joe Young (1949), Son of Kong (1933), Them! (1954), and The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms (1953); all of which are new to the HD format. If the chance to see some the stop-motion charms of special effects guru Ray Harryhausen in HD glory doesn’t sell you on this release, then I highly doubt anything I have to say from here on out will convince you either. The point is that these are classics of the genre and, quite frankly, you should scoop this release up as quickly as possible.

Housed in a beautiful slipcover, the collection features a set of four films that are literal landmark titles in advancing special effects for the motion picture industry. Things get started with 1933’s Son of Kong. The movie advances the original Kong storyline and sees Robert Armstrong returning in the role of filmmaker Carl Denham as he returns to Kong’s Island after having his life sued right from beneath his feet in the wake of all the destruction the mighty Kong caused. With special effects by Buzz Gibson and Willis O'Brien, director Ernest B. Schoedsack tackles the script by Ruth Rose (writer of the original King Kong) and entices audience with a 12-foot version of Kong who – as he is kinder and a bit gentler – ends up committing a most selfless act of courage.

In 1949’s Mighty Joe Young, the filmmakers behind the original King Kong return with a bit more bounce in their collective step and slap a bit of jovial free-swinging nature to the whole monster genre. Sure, the simian this time is much smaller but that didn’t stop the film's stop motion animation special effects team of Ray Harryhausen and Willis O’Brien from developing some rich Oscar-winning effects that were just as good – if not better – than what had previously been seen by audiences; there is a sophistication to the entire body and movement of Mighty Joe Young as the simian fights for his freedom and his life that is borderline revelatory in what it achieves for the industry.

Eugène Lourié’s 1953 American black-and-white science fiction monster film, The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms is next in the set. One of the first adaptations of horror’s Ray Bradbury, The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms enters the atomic-age and – as a movie – proves that Harryhausen’s genius would not go unrecognized. The movie is the first time he would have complete control and it fires on all cylinders as a fictional dinosaur, the Rhedosaurus, is awoken from its hibernating state by an atomic bomb in the Arctic Circle. Harryhausen’s work dwarfs over the rest of the narrative with style and grace and his work on the film helped usher in the era directly responsible for the final movie in the set, Them!, a film not so much about giant radiation-mutated ants as it is a commentary about the threat of communism during the Red Scare threat in the late 1950s.

There is no denying that, with each passing year, these movies only get better and better. I will fight to the last breath arguing that they are more significant nowadays then they were during their original release and, now that we get to see them in dynamic HD, there is no denying that they are more than artifacts from another era; they are living and breathing testimony to the power of the imagination. Simply put, you NEED this collection for the betterment of your health.

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Special Effects - Blu-ray Review

Blu-ray Details:

Available on Blu-ray - October 27, 2015
Screen Formats: various
Subtitles: The Son of Kong - English SDH, French, Spanish; Mighty Joe Young - English SDH, French, Spanish; The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms - English SDH, French, Spanish, Japanese; Them! - English SDH, French, Spanish, Japanese
Audio: The Son of Kong - English: DTS-HD Master Audio Mono (48kHz, 24-bit)Spanish: Dolby Digital Mono; Mighty Joe Young - English: DTS-HD Master Audio Mono (48kHz, 24-bit) Spanish: Dolby Digital Mono; The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms
English: DTS-HD Master Audio Mono (48kHz, 24-bit) French: Dolby Digital Mono Spanish: Dolby Digital Mono Spanish: Dolby Digital Mono (Spain); Them! English: DTS-HD Master Audio Mono (48kHz, 24-bit) Spanish: Dolby Digital Mono Spanish: Dolby Digital Mono (Spain)
Discs: 50GB Blu-ray Disc; Single disc (1 BD)
Region Encoding: A

Warner Bros newly-minted 1080p/AVC MPEG-4 transfer is crisp with detailed black-and-white clarity. The films, while old, shimmer with defined lines like never seen before. Sure, some show their age but there is nothing worth scoffing at here.. There are some scratches and a couple of scenes of dirt and other debris in the lens but, for the most part, the prints have never looked better. The black levels are deep and consistent and the detail is to the middle range of fine. The DTS-HD Master Audio Mono tracks keeps things active, just not busy with additional artifacts in the field of sound.