Ray Harryhausen loved mixing up things when making his films. In CLASH OF THE TITANS (1981), he incorporated the Kraken with Greek mythology. The Kraken is Scandinavian mythology. In this film, the Hydra beast is actually associated with Hercules, not Jason. Hercules confronts the Hydra as part of his twelve labor. Even so, this scene is great, with the help of the powerful Bernard Hermann score. The scene after this, when the corpse of the hydra is pulverized, it's even better than this moment.
This is a really first class Peplum in my view.
ReplyDeleteHarryhausen is one of my great creative heroes. He inspired me to start with stop-motion animation, and he also inspired me with his bold storytelling choices. I'm sure he figured that the hydra would be more visually arresting than the "standard" dragon attached to the original Greek Jason myth, and he was right.
ReplyDeleteThere is also some dialog between Zeus and Hera (just after the Clashing Rocks scene) implying that the Olympian gods will cease to exist when their worshippers no longer believe in them. That idea has more in common with Norse mythology than with Greek.
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