The Valley of Gwangi [Blu-ray]

DVD Wholesale Quick Overview:

BOTTOM LINE: Dream combination of tough-as-leather Wild West cowboys + dynamic Dynamation dinosaurs = an ALMOST sure-fire winner. Bland-as-paste leading man James Franciscus and a bored-looking dubbed Gila Golan drag the otherwise thrill-filled proceedings down a notch. Blu-ray presentation features much-improved picture & sound. Marginally worth a double dip if you already have this; a must-buy if you don’t. 4 STARS

THOUGHTS: Enjoyable old school adventure flick full of stop-motion thrills & chills. Winning mix of cocky cowpokes & Cretaceous critters is a hoot. Film showcases one of legendary stop-mo animator Ray Harryhausen’s most ambitious sequences, as he creates an encounter between a half dozen cowboys on horseback attempting to lasso a seriously pissed-off Allosaurus. So many other amazing dinosaurs on hand as well, and the tiny Dawn Horse/Eohippus is just so cute — every kid’ll want one! Our square-jawed hero James Franciscus postures well enough but he’s just stiff as a post, like a living Ken doll. Leggy redhead Gila Golan looks plenty sexy in her spangly tights, but her dubbed voice is hollow and her mostly cold stares make her overall performance come across rather stilted & awkward. And that one-eyed Gypsy hag and her ever-cackling midget henchman are irritating as hell. You’ll wish they’d get eaten by Gwangi before the end of the first reel. And this film has one of those annoyingly adorable ragamuffin little kids that you’re almost instantly sick of (BLACK SCORPION, DINOSAURUS!, etc. etc.). Scrappy little orphan Lupe’ is like the Mexican cousin of Gamera’s Kenny. LOL. Thank goodness for the presence of genre vet Richard (Creature for the Black Lagoon, et.al) Carlson, and the delightfully devious turn by Laurence Naismith as the befuddled Professor Bromley. Still, it’s the rampaging pre-history reptiles that are the real stars here, and there are more than enough of them scattered throughout the film to keep young children (and Harryhausen fans) sufficiently entertained.

THE BLU-RAY: Warner’s coughs up yet another by-the-numbers hi-def offering from their Harryhausen catalog. Improved video & audio make it look much cleaner & sharper than any previous version but the format also has strike against it, in that many of the inherent flaws in Ray’s Dynamation F/X process are highlighted by the crispness of the 1080p resolution; matte lines are more noticeable, as are wires and compositing work. Yet the rest of the film benefits quite a bit from the HD remaster. Six of one, half dozen of the other, I suppose. There are a few bonus goodies but nothing new or of real value. The film itself is the reason to pick this up.

– Hose Knows (aka Jinzo Ningen)

I Love the Artistry of the Great Ray Harryhausen and this was his last Dinosaur Movie. These animations are some of his absolute Best! The Blu-Ray transfer is beautiful and the film is well written and directed, with an excellent cast including Janes Franciscus, Gila Golan, Laurence Naismith, and Richard Carlson. The rousing Musical score is by Jerome Morris, who wrote the memorable score to The Big Country! I’ve already watched it 3 times and thoroughly enjoyed every viewing!-Tiger Ron

With over 300 stop-motion animation cuts, VALLEY OF GWANGI has plenty of eye-candy for dinosaur lovers or enthusiasts of Harryhausen’s many films. The film, a sci-fi western, is loosely adapted from a script which was to have been a Willis O’Brien (KING KONG 1933) project but was never completed. The Blu-ray is spectacular and I was pleased to see such a high-quality version of the film to be available at last. Many people also feel the soundtrack is one of the best ever done for an adventure film.-wolfster

DVD Wholesale Main Features:

Actors: James Franciscus; Gila Golan; Richard Carlson; Laurence Naismith
Directors: James O’Connolly
Format: Blu-ray
Language: English
Region: All Regions
Number of discs: 1
Rated: G-General Audience
Studio: Warner Archive Collection
DVD Release Date: March 14, 2017
Run Time: 95 minutes
ASIN: B01LTIB7YE