Les voyages de Gulliver

This takes place in 1699 England. Dr. Gulliver (Kerwin Mathews) is poor and miserable in England. He takes an ocean voyage and is swept overboard during a storm. He comes to in a land named Lilliput which are all people shorter than him. He agrees to help the people of Lilliput to stop a war and build him a boat to get off. Then he ends up in another land where he's the small person and everybody else is a giant.

I never read the book it was based on so I can't make comparisons...but the book was a political satire. Obviously this does not make it into the movie--this is aimed squarely at kids. The characterizations are broad (to say the least) and some of the characters act like total idiots (to amuse the kids). It also has simplistic (if amusing) remarks on how war is evil and people have to live for themselves. The story moves haltingly--it seems large chunks were either not filmed or left on the cutting room floor. Also Mathews breaks into song (!!!) at one point. It's more than a little silly but Mathews does have a great singing voice. Also the special effects by Ray Harryhausen aren't really that special--they're more than obvious.

The film is very colorful and I was never really bored--most of the time though I was trying to figure out what was going on. Kerwin Mathews was easily one of the best-looking men ever to come out of Hollywood. His acting is just OK but really--the guy had to react to things that just weren't there. That couldn't have been easy. So the color and Mathews kept me entertained...but most adults will probably be thoroughly bored. I think kids will like it but I can only truthfully give it a 6.

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

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.

Never viewed this 1960 film dealing with Gulliver's travels and found it very enjoyable to view along with excellent photography. The story starts out with Dr. Lemuel Gulliver, (Kerwin Williams) having a fight with his girlfriend, Elizabeth, (June Thorburn) about his wanting to go aboard a ship as a doctor and she does not want him to leave. The ship sails and becomes shipwrecked and Gulliver finds himself in a completely different land where there are miniature people and he appears to them as a huge giant who must be captured and tied up. The rest of the story will hold your interest from the very beginning to the end and I almost forgot, a war was almost started over cutting an egg on the top and other people who cut their eggs on the bottom of the shell. Enjoy.

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.