Best pre-Star Wars special effects

WillMunny

Gold Member
Feb 1, 2016
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Yep, this is sort of inspired by the favorite sci-fi space movie thread, so it may feel a bit related. Anyway, here's my picks:

2001 - That's a no-brainer I don't need to elaborate

Silver Streak (1976) - I thought the train crash into the station was beautifully done & directed. And obeyed the laws of physics - the way the train engine was instantly turning all those cement pillars into powder - as such a heavy object would certainly do to stone.

Forbidden Planet (1956) - As I mentioned in the other sci-fi thread, this has the fanciest, most epic-looking production design of any 1950's movie.

Then 10 Commandments (1956) - The gargantuan parting and uparting of the Red Sea was ferociously incredible-looking and STILL looks decent compared to today's fx. Especially when the Red sea closed, Cecil B. DeMille gave you a real sense of the massive, MASSIVE tons of water folding up over the pharaoh's army. I've never seen "liquid action" handled so epically well in an old movie.
 
Ray Harryhausen's stop-motion animations.



Mr. Harryhausen was certainly an extremely ambitious movie artist for his time. I think his best work was the 1981 Clash of the Titans. That giant Kraken was absolutely terrifying, the stuff of which nightmares are made. Remember how the ocean god Poseidon got that look of astonished horror on his face each time he released the Kraken?
 

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