Clash of the Titans **** (1981, Laurence Olivier, Harry Hamlin, Claire Bloom, Maggie Smith) – Classic Movie Review 1858

Director Desmond Davis’s 1981 classical mythology caper stars Laurence Olivier as a commanding Zeus and a dashing, spirited Harry Hamlin as his handsome son Perseus who tames winged horse Pegasus and battles scary monsters like the Medusa, a trio of Stygian witches and the Kraken monster to save the entrancing Princess Andromeda (Judi Bowker) and win her love.

This extremely enjoyable old-style fantasy adventure, based on the characters from Greek mythology, is powerfully cast with seven big-name old-time stars to back up the two young stars. As well as Lord Olivier, there are Claire Bloom (Hera), Maggie Smith (Thetis), Ursula Andress (Aphrodite), Burgess Meredith (the playwright Ammon), Siân Phillips (Cassiopeia) and Flora Robson (a Stygian Witch).

And the very handsome movie is realised on a lavish scale thanks to a huge budget from the MGM studio and producer Charles Schneer. Legendary movie SF/X wizard Ray Harryhausen’s equally old-style special effects with stop-motion animated monsters are splendidly entertaining.

It is filmed on location in four different countries, including in England at Rank’s Pinewood studios, with the rear of the building plus a few polystyrene classical-column pillars standing in for the heavens of Mount Olympus. It is expertly written by Beverley Cross, Smith’s husband, mixing erudition with entertainment. (Cross died on March 20 1998, aged 66.)

Jack Gwillim (Poseidon), Susan Fleetwood (Athena), Freda Jackson (a Stygian Witch), Donald Houston, Tim Pigott-Smith (Thallo), Pat Roach (Hephaestus), Neil McCarthy, Vida Taylor, Harry Jones and Anna Manahan (a Stygian Witch) are also in the cast.

It surprisingly has a 15 certificate, with some mild language and nudity.