Die drei Welten des Gulliver

The reteaming of Kerwin Mathews, Bernard Herrman and Ray Harryhausen after the success of THE 7TH VOYAGE OF SINBAD may not be the classic we were hoping for, but instead is a kiddie-orientated version of the classic Jonathan Swift tale GULLIVER'S TRAVELS with enough ingredients to make it enjoyable for adults too. Sure, at times the film is sentimental and goes overboard in promoting a strong moral message, but this is never offensive as in recent productions. In retrospect, it all seems rather charming and a little dated, but that's what makes it unique. This is a colourful and lively romp which is fun for adults and children alike.

I'm sure the classic tale is familiar to most readers so I won't bother readdressing it, other than that this film concerns solely on the two kingdoms of Lilliput and Brobdingnan, ignoring the other minor lands of Swift's tale and concentrating on the most well-remembered ones. The first half of the film concerns Lilliput, and is boosted by some fine effects from Harryhausen which involve lots and lots of back and forward projection which is never less than convincing. Indeed the classic scene of Gulliver being tied down by the little people is present and as realistic as you could ever want it. The characters are interesting, the story good and bolstered by the likable presence of Kerwin Mathews, one of the most naturally charming of fantasy actors from the period who always lifted any movie he appeared in (another good one is JACK THE GIANT KILLER).

The second half of the film, concerning the land of the giants, isn't quite as good, but again the special effects of the miniature Mathews and Thorburn are better than average. Although it drags a little at times, the characters are interesting if not likable, and thankfully some stop-motion animation is interested by Harryhausen to enliven the proceedings. The creations include a briefly-seen but genuinely impressive giant squirrel which abducts Mathews, miniature animals kept in cages, and a miniature crocodile which then proceeds to battle Mathews in a fight to the death, a classic action moment which comes as a reward to those looking for Sinbad-style monster action.

THE 3 WORLDS OF GULLIVER is a film worth watching for the talent involved alone. As well as Mathews, the quality cast includes the lovely June Thorburn as the love interest and a whole host of familiar British character actors - including Charles Lloyd Pack in a meaty role for a change as an evil wizard - playing the miniature people and the giants. Bernard Herrman's score is also lively and always entertaining, whilst Harryhausen seamlessly integrates the large and small people so that you never for a moment doubt the quality of his effects. Not a classic, but a fine, friendly, old-fashioned adventure, as heartwarming and cliffhanging in equal measure as you could want. A TV-movie adaptation (with lots of unnecessarily-added extraneous scenes) with Ted Danson followed in the mid 90's.

Lemuel Gulliver (Kerwin Matthews) is a hardworking but not very wealthy doctor who wants to make a success of himself in order to provide for his betrothed, Elizabeth (played by the gorgeous June Thorburn, who sadly died way too young in a plane crash). Taking a position as a ship's physician, Gulliver hopes to earn enough money to pay for a cottage, but he doesn't realise that Elizabeth has stowed aboard the vessel to be with him.

During a storm, Gulliver is washed overboard and finds himself in the land of Lilliput, where he is a giant compared to the inhabitants. After failing to solve a conflict between the Lilliputians and the neighbouring Blefuscudians, who are at war over which end of an egg should be cracked before eating, he escapes, only to end up in Brobdingnag, where he is the tiny one (along with Elizabeth, with whom he is reunited). Treated as toys by the Brobdingnagian king (Grégoire Aslan), and accused of witchcraft by royal sorcerer Makovan (Charles Lloyd Pack), Gulliver and Elizabeth escape back to England with the help of a young Brobdingnagian girl, Glumdalclitch (Sherri Alberoni).

Fantasy film legend Ray Harryhausen delivers a whole host of excellent special effects in The 3 World's of Gulliver, utilising hundreds of travelling mattes and some very convincing forced perspective to achieve marvellous results. However, those looking for lots of Harryhausen's trademark stop motion work might well be a little disappointed: there's a cool animated crocodile, with which Gulliver battles, a mini menagerie, and a rather moth-eaten looking squirrel (which is far from the man's finest work). But that's it.

Still, with such a timeless tale, performed by a wonderful cast, it's hard not to have a good time with this charming fantasy which not only astounds with its stunning visuals, but also acts as a satire about politics and imperialism, and as an indictment of human nature, illustrating man's many weaknesses: vanity, pride, ignorance, jealousy, stubbornness etc. (as per Jonathan Swift's novel, or so I believe—can't say I've ever read it).

6.5/10, rounded up to 7 for IMDb.

The Three Worlds of Gulliver is produced out of Columbia Pictures and is directed by Jack Sher. It stars Kerwin Matthews as Lemuel Gulliver, June Thorburn as his fiancée Elizabeth, with support coming from Basil Sydney (The Emperor of Lilliput), Grégoire Aslan (King Brob), Mary Ellis (Queen), Charles Lloyd Pack (Prime Minister Makovan) & child actor Sherry Alberoni as Glumdalclitch. Filmed in England and Spain, it features stop-motion animation and special visual effects by Superdynamation genius Ray Harryhausen. Sher & Arthur Ross adapt for the screen with a loose reworking of the 18th-century English novel Gulliver's Travels written by Jonathan Swift. And music maestro Bernard Herrmann provides the score.

Swift's biting satirical novel has been watered down and given a romantic edge for the family market. That said, as the kids are enjoying the froth and tickle, the adults will note that there's just enough caustic comment in the piece to get the message across. This adaptation has slimmed down the four parts of Swift's work to just the two; Lilliput land of the little people and Brobdingnag land of the giants. With our intrepid normal sized hero Gulliver and his stowaway fiancée Elizabeth under threat either way.

While the script has its pleasing moments it is still only serving as a bridging work for Harryhausen's effects to be shown. Be it the giant and tiny people sequences or the perils that come to our undersized protagonists courtesy of a Gator and a Squirrel, it's these that the children will find beguiling. This, however, can not be said for Harryhausen aficionados or adults more accustomed to more modern advancements. For this is bottom rung for Harryhausen, not bad at all, yet although there's a charm here, and no one should ever dismiss the painstaking amount of time it took him to weave it together, the work is creaky and lacking the dynamism so befitting his best work.

Major bonus' come with the swirling and pounding score from Herrmann and the vibrant performance of Matthews. The role of Gulliver was first offered to Danny Kaye, which naturally makes sense given Kaye's previous work on Hans Christian Andersen some years earlier. That it was also offered to Jack Lemmon, though, makes no sense at all. Anyway, Matthews got the gig, and following on from his fine work in The 7th Voyage of Sinbad, he laid down a marker in the fantasy adventure genre that secured him fondness from legions of fans throughout the years. A safe, colourful and pleasant enough piece if ultimately not one for most fantasy adventure fans to revisit often. 6/10

The 3 Worlds of Gulliver could easily have been made into an adult satire as Jonathan Swift originally intended, but I daresay Columbia Pictures would not have realized too much box office had they gone that route.

I saw it as a 13 year old back in the day in theater which is really the only way to appreciate the special effects of Ray Harryhausen. It's a wonderful film for a juvenile, but later in reading about the times one can appreciate what Swift was trying to say and the humorous way he said it.

At the time Gulliver's Travels was originally written the age of the religious wars of the 17th century was coming to an end. Swift was a member of the Tory Party who sought to put an end to the War of Spanish Succession which the Whigs in power seemed to drag on and on. For the Whig view of the conflict I suggest strongly reading Winston Churchill's Life of Marlborough which equates the Tories of the day with the Baldwin-Chamberlain led Tories of the Thirties. Swift looked about and just saw a lot of carnage with power politics and religion all jumbled together so that you could not tell where one left off and the other began.

Gulliver's Travels is how Swift saw the world of his day, religious intolerance and a budding imperialism. Swift was in fact an ordained minister who apparently had a vision that HIS way of worship was not necessarily THE way of worship for all. A novel idea back then, expressed in the war the Lilliputians and Blefescuans wage over which end of the egg to break.

The Brobdingnag tale where Gulliver once a giant in Lilliput is now a small wee creature in a land of giants. And these giants think that because they're bigger and mightier they can rule over all. They see Gulliver and his bride as pets to kept as long as they amuse. It's a classic commentary against imperialism, unusual in its day and made Swift most unpopular in high places.

These issues aren't for kids of the Saturday matinée crowd and Kerwin Matthews as Gulliver is playing for them. Matthews had a great career doing these fantasy things and he was real good in them. Maybe because he played the roles absolutely straight and we believed because he believed the part.

Ray Harryhausen is at the top of his game and the film holds up very well. Even better in fact when you know the background from which the material came from.

A poor Englishman doctor called Gulliver (Kerwin Matthews) has adventurer plans , so nothing keeps him in the little town he lives , not even his girlfriend Elisabeth (June Thornburn) who wishes to marry him . He signs on to a ship to India in spite of objections his beautiful fiancée . But in a storm he's washed ashore and discovers a fantasy land of small inhabitants called Lilliput in the East Indies where everyone is about two inches tall . Later on , he managed to convince them he's harmless and is accepted as one of their villagers , but their king wants to utilize him in war against his enemies . After that , Gulliver goes to land of Bobdingnag where inhabits giant people .

This is an amusing adventure movie , a colorful family rendition of Jonathan Swift's classic as well as satiric novel written in 1726 . Many scenarios have been constructed in miniature , others have been made by special techniques and remaining are staged by natural outdoors from Spain such as Alcázar de Segovia, Segovia, Ávila, Palacio de La Granja De San Ildefonso palace, La Granja, San Ildefonso, Segovia, Castilla y León, and Paltja d'Aro, Girona, Catalonia . Flavorful performance from Kerwin Matthews , Jo Morrow , Lee Patterson , Gregoire Aslan , Basil Sydney , Martin Benson , among others . Adequate and spectacular art direction by Gil Parrondo who subsequently would achieve Academy Award for Patton . Rousing and evocative score of Bernard Herrmann , Hitchcock's regular . Glimmer and glamorous scenarios well photographed by Wilkie Cooper . Professional though uneven direction by filmmaker Jack Sher

The highlights of the movie are the great visual effects by craftsman Ray Harryhausen , including his ordinary monsters using his customary system Dynamation . After three sci-fi monster films such as The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms , 20 Million Miles to Earth , It Came from Beneath the Sea and work with Willis O'Brien in Mighty Joe Young and on an Irwin Allen documentary titled : The animal world , Harryhausen did the effects work for The 7th Voyage of Sinbad or Sinbad and the princess (1958) also starred by Kerwin Matthews , his first split-screen film shot entirely in color, which was highlighted by Harryhausen's mythological monsters interacting with actors . Because Harryhausen worked alone on his stop-motion animation sequences, the filming of these could often take as long as two years, the most famous example of the kind of patience required being the exciting skeleton sword fight sequence in his most popular film Jason and the Argonauts (1963) in which Harryhausen often shot no more than 13 frames of film (one-half second of elapsed time) per day . The 1960s were Harryhausen's best years, among the spotlights being his reunions with dinosaurs and other creatures in Hammer Films' One Million Years B.C (1966) , The Valley of Gwangi (1969) , Mysterious Island (1961) and this The 3 Worlds of Gulliver (1960) . His pace slowed in the 1970s, but he produced three of his masterworks during that period : The fantastic voyage of Sinbad (1973); Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger (1977) and Clash of Titans (1981).

Other versions about this immortal novel are the followings : ¨Gulliver's travels¨(1939) by Max and Dave Fleischer , being an animated retelling ; ¨Gulliver's travels¨(1977) by Peter Hunt with Richard Harris , Catherine Schell , in which real life and cartoon mix in a three-dimensional tale ; TV adaptation (1995) by Charles Sturridge with Mary Steenburgen , Edward Fox , Peter O'Toole , Edward Woodward , Ned Beatty , in which Gulliver/Ted Danson is confined in Bedlam insane asylum after being lost at sea for eight years and he relates his odd adventures in the tiny land and among the giants and the silly and impractical intellectual of Laputa . And recent comical recounting (2010) by Rob Letterman with Jack Black , Jason Segel , Emily Blunt and Amanda Peet .