The 60s were tough years for the fantasy geeks. In fact, the word "geek" wasn't cool yet; now fans wear it like a badge of honor. Dungeons and Dragons wouldn't be invented for years, and the works of Tolkien were still just ratty paperbacks from the used bookstore that only a few had heard of. Fantasy films were a long, long way from being the hot property they are today. Journey back to a time when being a fantasy fan made you a member of a very small, but passionate club, and view one of the classic fantasy films of the 60s.
Jason and the Argonauts (1963)
For a lot of fantasy fans, this was the film that started it all. Most people remember this fondly as a movie they saw when they were kids that, at the time, was the coolest thing they ever saw. Based on the Greek hero legend of Jason and his quest for the golden fleece, this film is the masterwork of producer Ray Harryhausen, whose 1958 Sinbad film was a cult hit.
Today, the movie may seem stilted and dated, but in the 60s the stop-motion special effects were mind-boggling. When Jason fights a seemingly endless legion of skeleton warriors, each one had to be painstakingly moved piece by piece to create the scene. Supposedly it took four-and-a-half months just to create that one sequence. In the days before CGI, we'd never seen anything like it. A seven-headed hydra and a giant bronze statue that comes to life to stalk Jason are just a few more of the thrills that made our childhood flesh break out into goosebumps. Jason and the Argonauts made fantasy geeks of us all, before we even knew what that meant.
The Sword in the Stone (1963)
When the musical Camelot was made into a movie in 1967, most of the magical elements disappeared. For fans of wizards-and-magic fantasy, the movie version of the legend of young King Arthur had already been made successfully by Disney. Based on T. H. White's novel The Once and Future King, the animated version was the last feature-length animated movie made while Walt Disney was still alive.
The movie has plenty for magic lovers, as it follows Arthur during his youth while he trains with the legendary wizard Merlin. Previously, England was mired in the Dark Ages, waiting for a ruler to fulfill the prophecy of pulling the sword from the stone. Arthur, who is an orphan known as "Wart", seems an unlikely candidate for future king. Under the tutelage of the great wizard, he learns science, magic arts, fighting and chivalry. Will this lovable ragamuffin become the future King of England? We know he will, but it's still worth watching just to see the journey, and to see Merlin in action as the man behind the man.
Kaidan (1964)
If you think that groundbreaking Japanese films are a new trend, think again. The truth is, Japanese films broke new ground in movie visuals almost fifty years ago. Kaidan is a case in point. Based on four ghost stories ("kaidan" means "ghost stories" in Japanese), the film combines spellbinding supernatural stories with powerful imagery that some have said resembles a moving painting. Kaidan doesn't resemble just any painting though. It evokes the stylized art of the Japanese watercolor. In fact, every single frame of this film could stand alone as a single work of art. Once all of these images are put together, it's clear why it seems to be a painting in motion.
The four stories that make up this film are the subtle type of ghost stories that are found in Japanese legends -no clanking chains or ectoplasm here. Of the four, the most haunting may be "Black Hair. A samurai leaves his first wife to marry into money. When he later discovers that he is unhappy, he returns to his first love, but after spending one night with her, the house turns into a shambles, and his wife is a decayed corpse. She seeks revenge on him using the black hair of the title, an image that suggests scenes that would later be incorporated into The Grudge. Watching Kaidan is like stepping into an art gallery where all the pictures come alive. It is a hauntingly beautiful, unforgettable fantasy.
The 7 Faces of Dr. Lao (1964)
When this movie premiered, it was like nothing else. Four decades later, there's still nothing like it. Based on the fantasy novel The Circus of Dr. Lao, it begins when an old Chinese man rides into a sleepy Arizona town on a donkey. He erects a circus where the townspeople enter tents only to see creatures that somehow mirror their true souls. Tony Randall, from TV's The Odd Couple, is at his best here playing a total of 8 roles which are far from normal.
One of the more sinister roles is that of a serpent, who may be a reflection of the slimy nature of the businessman. Randall also plays Appollonius of Tyana, The Abominable Snowman and Medusa. As the Greek god Pan he shares an eyebrow-raising erotic scene with Barbara Eden of I Dream of Jeannie fame. The 7 Faces of Dr. Lao picked up an Oscar for Best Makeup, but it also picked up a legion of young fans, drawn to the themes of good and evil and their existence since the beginning of time.
Thanks to films like these, fantasy fans started coming out of the closet, or at least had something to share in common. Now of course, conventions, DVD rentals and book clubs are in every neighborhood, but in the 60s, it was midnight drive-in showings of Sinbad and Dr. Lao. Every true fantasy lover owes homage to these fine films that quietly started it all.