Re: The "Animal World" Spoilers!

["TIMOTHY BRIDGEMAN" <timlee3005@earthlink.net>]

>According to Ray Harryhausen's new book, _An Animated Life_, the
theropod animation models for "The Animal World" all came from the same
mold. They were slightly "tweaked" when they became different taxa. Add a
nose horn for the ceratosaurs, etc.<

It worked out well,in my opinion.I noticed the same scale patterns on all
three theropods,but the Tyrannosaurus had smaller forelimbs,and less
pronounced brows over the eyes (I saw a still showing another stop-motion
Tyrannosaurus made for the film with a slightly larger head than the one
used in the film,which in my opinion would have been more properly
proportioned.It incidentally,was posed with the Triceratops for their fight
sequence).Allosaurus (again
from stills) and Ceratosaurus were more similar to each other than to
Tyrannosaurus,with each having larger forelimbs and more pronounced brows
over the eyes,especially Ceratosaurus (which also had a horn added)
,possibly
accounting for the knobs in front of it's eyes.As for colors,Allosaurus was
tan,Ceratosaurus bright gray (almost like Gwangi of "The Valley of
Gwangi";did the book give a clear identification of precisely what Gwangi
was Allosaurus,Tyrannosaurus,what?)and Tyrannosaurus a gray and brown
pattern.

>The models are generally very good for the time. The Stegosaurus has a
breathing bladder, a long-time Willis O'Brien trick.<

As does the Triceratops.

> The baby "Brontosaurus"
has an eggtooth. The offscreen Tyrannosaurus has the voice of "The Beast
from 20,000 Fathoms" (hey, it was Warner Bros., too). Harryhausen animates
the
fifteen minute sequence with his usual verve. I believe the main problem
with the set-ups (which I've never heard mentioned before) is that the
landscape
settings and the miniature trees and foliage are about the same quality as
an average model railroad layout. Irwin Allen, the director, did this on the
cheap, but it was still fun seeing it nearly fifty years since the last
time.<

It also happened to be one of my favorites .My favorite,Ceratosaurus got to
really wreak havok!

>The clip is on the DVD of O'Brien's "The Black Scorpion". ..other points to
bring up are:The Tyrannosaurus vs Triceratops episode appears to have been
trimmed (possibly for bloody violence)<

Yes, I noticed that too.The Triceratops seemed to suddenly have bloody
wounds on it's upper leg when it and the tyrannosaur were running from the
exploding volcano.

John Bridgman