The Dinosaur Films of Ray Harryhausen: Features, Early 16mm Experiments and Unrealized Projects

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Summary: The first to use science in dinosaur films....
Review: It might not be as well reported that Ray was the first special effects man to use known research on dinosaurs for an accurate showing in his movies as much as possible. In 1953, when he did the Beast from 20,000 Fathoms, he talked with scientists at the American Museum of Natrual History and read every book that he could find on dinosaurs so that the creature portrail in the movie was consistent with Fossil evidence. Years later when he did One Million Years BC and the Valley of Gwanci, he again researched and drew upon what scientists knew of dinosaurs so that the creature apperance and performance in the dinosaur scenes were as accurate as he could make them. While some may debate on how good or not these films were, One can not deney the fact that Ray was the first to put science knowledge about dinosaurs to work on film.