HD Screencaps of Jason and the Argonauts.
Jason and the Argonauts is a classic film dating back to 1963, it was filmed in an age when CGI was unheard of and stop motion technology was used to create elaborate effects sequences, younger generations brought up on CGI who have never seen such films before may well consider such effects dated but they have a certain charm and grace about them and i myself have no problem with such effects work.
The Gods give Pelias the throne of Thessaly but warn him that he must give up his right to rule and that Jason will gain his crown, Pelias tricks Jason and tells him he must first assemble a crew and sail to the other side of the world and capture the legendary golden fleece and only then should he return to claim his rightful place as heir to the throne of Thessaly, Jason's crew consist of the very best men that Greece has to offer including Hercules, unbeknown to Jason, the son of Pelias has also managed to get onboard with the aim of stopping Jason should he ever get close to the golden fleece.
This is a swords and sandals epic with fantasy elements thrown into the mix, the cast are likeable and the music score by Hitchcock regular Bernard Herrmann is fantasic, Nigel Green who plays Hercules is very good and you may recognize Avengers and Bond girl Honor Blackman playing Hera, Todd Armstrong who plays Jason didn't really make many movies but does a fine job here.
Image quality is good and i had no complaints about the encoding job done by Sony for this release, effects sequences involving stop motion often have an outline around them, are softer and have more film grain, this is not a fault of the transfer but due to how they would optically add such effects to the film which meant those sequences when spliced back into the main film could be several generations removed from the original film print, in the 1980's film companies would often use VistaVision film stock for optical effects which helped to blend in the effects sequences better with the main film content and not add in additional grain.
The sound mix available is either the original mono mix which is heard via both left and right speakers or you can listen to the remixed 5.1 soundtrack, i chose the 5.1 and it helps bring the exciting music score alive, the mix is front heavy with little use made of the rear speakers although occasionally i heard things like water hitting the sides of the ship, this is a sound mix where you could easily switch your subwoofer off and not miss it, for me the best part of the soundtrack is the Herrmann music score, it's good they have included the original sound mix although the remix stays faithful to it and simply opens up the soundstage a little.
I really enjoyed re-visiting Jason and the Argonauts in high definition and Sony have once again shown how to release a quality back catalog title, no excessive DNR or EE and a fine encoding job, you might be interested to know there is a new Jason and the Argonauts film coming out in 2012, it's called Jason and the Argonauts: The Kingdom Of Hades.
View movie screencaps of Jason and the Argonauts below. Click twice for the full HD image.
