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S E A R C H D V D B e a v e r

H D - S E N S E I

A view on Blu-ray by Gary W. Tooze

The 3 Worlds of Gulliver [Blu-ray]

(Jack Sher, 1960)

Only available at present from Indicator in their The Wonderful Worlds Of Ray Harryhausen, Volume One: 1955-1960 Blu-ray Boxset

Released Individually by Indicator on Blu-ray in March, 2021:

or buy directly from Indicator:

or in the US:

Sony's The Ray Harryhausen Blu-ray Collection, from 2008 has 20 Million Miles to Earth, Earth vs. Flying Saucers, It Came from Beneath the Sea, and The 7th Voyage of Sinbad

Indicator's The Wonderful Worlds Of Ray Harryhausen, Volume One: 1955-1960 Blu-ray Boxset has 20 Million Miles to Earth, It Came from Beneath the Sea and The 3 Worlds of Gulliver

and their The Wonderful Worlds Of Ray Harryhausen, Volume 2: 1961-1964 Blu-ray Boxset, coming out in November 2017, has Mysterious Island, Jason and the Argonauts and First Men in the Moon

Review by Gary Tooze

Production:

Theatrical: Columbia Pictures

Video: Twilight Time / Indicator (Powerhouse) UK

Disc:

Region: FREE (both) (as verified by the Oppo Blu-ray player)

Runtime: 1:38:37.161 / 1:38:37.953

Disc Size: 46,323,144,483 bytes / 37,519,697,772 bytes

Feature Size: 20,678,215,680 bytes / 30,913,318,272 bytes

Video Bitrate: 19.97 Mbps / 34.99 Mbps

Chapters: 24 / 12

Case: Transparent Blu-ray case / Custom BD Case

Release date: December, 2016 / September 25th, 2017

Video:

Aspect ratio: 1.66:1 or 1.78:1 / 1.66:1

Resolution: 1080p / 23.976 fps

Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC Video

Audio:

DTS-HD Master Audio English 1891 kbps 2.0 / 48 kHz / 1891 kbps / 24-bit (DTS Core: 2.0 / 48 kHz / 1509 kbps / 24-bit)
Isolated Score:

DTS-HD Master Audio English 2068 kbps 2.0 / 48 kHz / 2068 kbps / 24-bit (DTS Core: 2.0 / 48 kHz / 1509 kbps / 24-bit)
Commentary:

DTS-HD Master Audio English 2043 kbps 2.0 / 48 kHz / 2043 kbps / 24-bit (DTS Core: 2.0 / 48 kHz / 1509 kbps / 24-bit)

LPCM Audio English 1152 kbps 1.0 / 48 kHz / 1152 kbps / 24-bit
Commentary:

Dolby Digital Audio English 192 kbps 2.0 / 48 kHz / 192 kbps
Isolated Score:

LPCM Audio Undetermined 2304 kbps 2.0 / 48 kHz / 2304 kbps / 24-bit

Subtitles (both):

• English (SDH), None

Extras (both):

• Audio Commentary by Film Historians Randall Cook, C. Courtney Joyner, and Steven C. Smith
• Isolated Score and Effects Track
• The Making of The 3 Worlds of Gulliver (7:31)
• The Harryhausen Chronicles (57:56)
• This Is Dynamation! (3:25)
• Original Theatrical Trailer (3:22)

• Liner notes by Julie Kirgo

Limited to 3,000 Copies!

• Audio Commentary by Film Historians Randall Cook, C. Courtney Joyner, and Steven C. Smith
• The Making of "The 3 Worlds of Gulliver" (5:22)
• Interview with Peter Lord (10:14)
• Interview with David Sproxton (9:29)
• Interview with Dave Alex Riddett (8:38)
• Isolated Score
• Theatrical Trailer (3:22)
• Image Gallery

Bitrate:

1) Twilight Time (1.66:1) - Region FREE - Blu-ray TOP

2) Indicator (1.66:1) - Region FREE - Blu-ray BOTTOM

Description: The phenomenal team of special effects wizard Ray Harryhausen, composer Bernard Herrmann, and director Jack Sher bring their gifts to bear on The 3 Worlds of Gulliver (1960), a spritely adaptation of Jonathan Swift’s acerbic satire, Gulliver’s Travels. Satire gives way here, however, to the fantastical tale of a doctor (Kerwin Mathews) and his stowaway fiancée (June Thorburn) who adventure first to Lilliput – a land populated by four-inch-tall schemers – and then to Brobdingnag, where giants prove no more politic.

1) (1.66:1) - Blu-ray TOP

2) (1.78:1) - Blu-ray BOTTOM

The Film:

This Gulliver's travels are unexpectedly realistic, at least from a visual standpoint. Indeed, they may be a little too credible for very young children, or those of an impressionable nature. For, while yesterday's matinee audience seemed to enjoy the blustering Lilliputian emperor and his doll-like army, there were some audible howls of fright in the second half, when Gulliver's life was repeatedly menaced by some physically awesome giants.

While the adults will find it all too mechanical to really capture the imagination, and may resent the unclear ending that seems certain to provoke some youthful queries, they should be grateful for a children's film that treats a classic without condescension or burlesque.

Excerpt from theNYTimes located HERE

The 3 Worlds Of Gulliver I first saw on the big screen, and in color, and later saw it a few times on television, but not for a quarter century or so. So, I had to rewatch the 100 minute film. Kerwin Matthews, from The Seven Voyages Of Sinbad, does a surprisingly good job as the semi-zomboid, but buff, Dr. Lemuel Gulliver. He plays Gulliver as a real guy his genuineness makes up for his sometimes wooden reactions. June Thorburn plays his fiancée (then wife) Elizabeth. She’s sufficient eye candy, and that alone is reason enough to justify her sweet insertion into the tale (she is not in Swift’s novel). Gotta love her silly ‘Don’t ever wanna lay eyes on you again moment’ after Gulliver objects to her naïve-te regarding the purchase of an old shit shack. None of the other actors who play any of the other characters leaves that great an impression, although the girl who plays Glumdalclitch (Sherry Alberoni, a child star on the original The Mickey Mouse Club on television) does a solid job with the little she’s given. Her petulance and warmth make her the only semi-realistic character in all of Lilliput (land of the tint people) or Brobdingnag (land of the giants).

This film features less of the stop motion photography Harryhausen was noted for, and more visual tricks involving split screens and traveling mattes, to make use of forced perspective in portraying Gulliver against his smaller and larger costars. Cinematographer Wilkie Cooper is credited in the film, but, realistically, he was, in effect, just a cameraman for Harryhausen.

Excerpt fromTalkingPix located HERE

Image : NOTE: The below Blu-ray captures were taken directly from the Blu-ray disc.

The 3 Worlds of Gulliver comes to Twilight Time Blu-ray in a dual-layered, 1080P transfer but it offers both the 1.66:1 aspect ratio version of the film and, a separate but identical technical transfer, via a 1.78:1 version. From Lawrence French's excellent article in Cinefantastique (interview with Ray Harryhausen HERE) we know that Ray Harryhausen never really wanted his movies to be projected in any of the then new “widescreen” formats. He accepted the 1.85 aspect ratio (for The 7th Voyage of Sinbad) under protest from the studio, but he hated working in the extreme widescreen formats, especially when he had to make First Men in the Moon in Panavision. So while the negative format for The 3 Worlds of Gulliver was 1.37:1 - it was shown in 1.66:1. I don't quite follow the inclusion of the 1.78:1 which feels like a compromise and the screen captures below don't show a significant difference although some, generally superfluous, space at the top and bottom is gone. The visuals are reasonable but not overwhelming. Contrast has some decent layering and colors look true and fairly tight in the HD transfer. I appreciate the grain textures. It looks quite consistent in-motion with no damage or speckles. I see no evidence of manipulation or noise. This Blu-ray gives a good presentation but splitting into two separate transfers (1.66 + 1.78) the overall bitrate becomes lower. I'd have preferred sticking with the 1.66:1 even if the 1.78:1 composition may be slightly superior in some people's opinion.

Indicator don't mess around with the two ratios and only transfer The 3 Worlds of Gulliver in 1.66:1. So as opposed to sharing the dual-layered disc, Indicator have been able to max out the bitrate gaining the edge in the image with warmer flesh tones, better grain and a noticeably superior presentation in-motion. We've added some exact frame comparison captures but the superiority may also depend on your computer viewing device. Framing is exact and I suspect the source is the same - and also a 4K restoration from the original camera negative.

CLICK EACH BLU-RAY CAPTURE TO SEE ALL IMAGES IN FULL 1920X1080 RESOLUTION

1) Twilight Time (1.66:1) - Region FREE - Blu-ray TOP

2) Twilight Time (1.78:1) - Region FREE - Blu-ray MIDDLE

3) Indicator (1.66:1) - Region FREE - Blu-ray BOTTOM