ALL SCI-FI

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Harryhausen: The Lost Movies by John Walsh.

Plans for ray and Charles' next film after Clash of the Titans had slowed down. Ray's eye had been caught by another offer, this time from film director and producer Michael Winner (Death Wish). Ray had first been contacted by Michael as far back as 1971.

Michael had purchased the rights to The People of the Mist, one of Sir H. Rider Haggard's lesser-known stories. The script needed work to make it more dramatic, and Ray helped with rewrites to include more of his creations.

The tale begins in Victorian England, and follows two brothers as they travel from England to Africa seeking their fortune. One brother dies saving a woman from a lion, but the other brother discovers the Land of the Mist on a mountainous plateau populated by primitives and prehistoric creatures. There, he finds the secret of the mist: aliens controlling the very existence of evolution and mankind.

New Dinosaurs: Ray was excited about incorporating prehistoric creatures he'd never created before. The script included a fight between a stegosaurus and two vicious dryptosaurus, reminiscent of the showdown between the T-Rex and velociraptors in the Visitor Center building during the finale of Jurassic Park.

False Idol: Ray built a small model of the sacrificial statue, which would be a visual centerpiece to the film. Women were to be sacrificed by being flung from the mouth of the statue and ending up in the deadly waters below, which were populated by prehistoric water creatures. At the feet of the figure, the gong to call the sea creatures to the surface of the water was an homage to the one used to summon King Kong in the original 1933 classic.

Venus Fly Trap: The man-eating plant cut from Mysterious Island was back too. It was modified to fit in People of the Mist.

Flying Acts: Ray wanted to create some fusion creatures such as a pterodactyl mutation with a vulture-like appearance. This has echoes of War Eagles, the abandoned Willis O'Brien project from 1939.

Script Conflicts: Ray suggested the aliens remain unseen throughout the film, but Michael was determined they should be seen. This was an early indicator that Michael Winner was not going to be the same kind of collaborator as Charles Schneer. In April 1983, Ray wrote a frank letter to Michael voicing his concerns: "The script seems to fall somewhere between a Bob hope-type send-up and a Maria Montez Siren of Atlantis. Some of the monsters still appear to be injected into the story just for the sake of having more and more monsters."

Shortly after this exchange, an audience test was carried out, which concluded there was no appetite for this sort of old-fashioned adventure - a curious conclusion, as the Indiana Jones franchise was about to deliver its first sequel in 1984 to a bumper box-office reception.

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Sidebar: While I have no doubt that this project could have been entertaining had it been supported by a strong script and Ray's marvelous stop-motion animation, it does have elements of repetition to it. The lost, isolated plateau, prehistoric creatures, primitive tribes, false idols have been trotted out in many a film over the decades. It seems to me as Ray was drawn to material that he would do over and over in his movies. The idea of aliens being involved does present a different aspect to it that I find intriguing. However, I think Ray's idea to never reveal the aliens on screen was a huge mistake. An audience would have been extremely disappointed if the extraterrestrials were never featured. I find it strange that such an experienced and master showman as Ray would have thought that this was a good idea at all.

I just would have enjoyed seeing Ray branch out into unfamiliar territory for a refreshing change of pace with a brand new film project, rather than return to all too recognizable story elements that we have seen in his, as well as others, films dealing with lost worlds and dinosaurs.