Book Review: Ray Harryhausen's Fantasy Scrapbook: Models, Artwork and Memories from 65 Years of Filmmaking

This is a delightful scrapbook style collection of stories, photos and artwork from the films that Ray Harryhausen has worked on.

Going through this book is like uncovering how a magician does his tricks. It's captivating to read about how he started out, working from small projects to the big screen. The first models he made were from wool, cloth and paper mache. What a humble beginning before going on to create cult classic films.

Stories of his film-making techniques and improvisation are fascinating. I've always wondered he animated models to interact with live action actors. That's in the book and it's actually called a split-screen process. Along the way, he has also invented a few ingenious camera tricks.

There are lots of photos and artworks included. The art include storyboards, and even drawings of armatures he designed and constructed. Some of the drawings are really detailed and drawn by Ray Harryhausen himself. He's a great artist.

The content is arranged according to themes. The first part is more on dinosaurs and creatures, the second on sci-fi, and last on mythologies.

Below's a list of films featured. I've excluded the animated shorts that are in the book.

• Mighty Joe Young (1949)
• The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms (1952)
• The Animal World (1956)
• One Million Years B.C. (1966)
• The Valley of Gwangi (1969)
• War of the Worlds (1949)
• The Elementals (1952)
• It Came From Beneath the Sea (1955)
• Earth vs. The Flying Saucers (1956)
• 20 Million Miles to Earth (1957)
• Mysterious Island (1961)
• First Men in the Moon (1964)
• People of the Mist (1983)
• The 7th Voyage of Sinbad (1958)
• The Golden Voyage of Sinbad (1973)
• Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger (1977)
• The Satyr (1940)
• The 3 Worlds of Gulliver (1959)
• Jason and the Argonauts (1963)
• Clash of the Titans (1981)
• Force of the Trojans (1980)

There's commentary for everything and captions for all graphics included.

Highly recommended for film buffs.

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This book was borrowed from Basheer Graphic Books for review purposes. You can order the book from them. Check with Basheer on Facebook or visit their website.

Ray Harryhausen's Fantasy Scrapbook: Models, Artwork and Memories from 65 Years of Filmmaking is available at Amazon (US | CA | UK | DE | FR | IT | ES | JP | CN)

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This book was borrowed from Basheer Graphic Books for review purposes. You can order the book from them. Check with Basheer on Facebook or visit their website.