The 3 Worlds of Gulliver (1960)
Review by Thespia
Film:
DVD:

Directed by Jack Sher
Written by Arthur Ross & Jack Sher, based on the novel Gulliver's Travels by Jonathan Swift
Starring Kerwin Matthews, Jo Morrow, June Thorburn, Lee Patterson, Grégoire Aslan

Features:

• This is Dynamation featurette
  
• The Harryhausen Chronicles featurette
  
• Making-of featurette
  
• Theatrical trailers
  
• Filmographies
  
• Production notes
  

Anamorphic: Nope; pan and scan only.

My Advice: Rent it.

Gulliver (Matthews) sets out for the East Indies but instead gets a little sidetracked. He gets washed up on the island nation of Lilliput, which is inhabited--but inhabited by people no bigger than one of Gulliver's fingers. However, just because you're big doesn't mean there isn't anybody bigger than you. He then encounters the denizens of Brobdingnag, who are all towering giants--and where even the squirrels can be deadly. And there's the matter of his fiancee, Elizabeth (Thorburn) who stowed away on the ship when it originally left port...

So here we have Jonathan Swift’s classic fairy tale/social commentary brought to life once again. The title is a little misleading since of the four lands encountered in the original book, only two appear here (the third world is England). Excised are Laputa and the land of the Houyhnhnms--but that's par for the course with film versions of the book, really. What we have here is a pretty much straightforward adventure story.

This movie is cute, funny, and at times surprisingly clever. I must admit that I'm biased because it was a childhood favorite of mine, but I believe it can be satisfying even for the adult palate if one is in the mood for a simple plot and equally simple characters. The acting is fairly good, especially considering the numerous opportunities in the script to ham up performances. Some people can't fully appreciate this era of movie making--especially in these days where CGI is replacing a lot of what used to have to be done "in camera." But it's nice to have from a cinematic history standpoint, since it's a reminder of the growing process that created the caliber of movies available to today’s audiences.

Part of that process is documented in The Harryhausen Chronicles, a featurette included in the DVD. It traces the career of Ray Harryhausen, the man--well, the legend, really--who became a god of stop motion animation. This is the most prominent (and longest) feature on the disc and is actually good for Harryhausen fans and non-fans alike. It's a shame that director Sher is no longer with us, because I would have liked a commentary very much. Again, more of that cinema archive thought process going on.

Still--in general, this is a good movie to see...especially for kids, who will hopefully enjoy it as much as I did in my youth. Fans of the story or Harryhausen completists will probably want to snag it but everyone else should just rent it to enjoy it at least once.