a Clash of the Titans: Collector's Edition [Blu-Ray] (1981)
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MOVIE INFO

Director:
Desmond Davis
Cast:
Harry Hamlin, Judi Bowker, Burgess Meredith
Writing Credits:
Beverley Cross

Synopsis:
Perseus must battle Medusa and the Kraken to save the Princess Andromeda.

MPAA:
Rated PG.

DISC DETAILS
Presentation:
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
Audio:
English Dolby Atmos
English LPCM Stereo
Subtitles:
English
Closed-captioned
Supplements Subtitles:
None

Runtime: 118 min.
Price: $49.95
Release Date: 11/17/2026

Bonus:
• “Ray Harryhausen & Charles Schneer at the BFI” 1970 Audio Recording
• “Ray Harryhausen at the BFI” 1981 Audio Recording
• “A Conversation with Ray Harryhausen” Featurette
• “Myths and Monsters” Featurettes
• “Courage & Imagination” Documentary
• Trailers
• Image Galleries


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RELATED REVIEWS


Clash of the Titans: Collector's Edition [Blu-Ray] (1981)

Reviewed by Colin Jacobson (November 9, 2026)

While the phony qualities of some computer-generated imagery (CGI) cause most of my objections to the format, I have other reasons as well. At the risk of sounding like a Luddite, I simply miss the sheer artistry behind the better physical effects.

Even if they don’t seem totally realistic and convincing, they offer such warmth and charm that I don’t care. I respect the work of CGI artists and know many of them put a lot of time into their material, but those shots often seem cold.

Lots of people use phrases like “charm” and “warmth” to excuse flaws, and one might accuse me of this as well. One can argue that I’m simply swapping one set of problems for another.

The effects I espouse often seem unconvincing. What makes their artificiality superior to the fakeness of the CGI?

I think the fact that most non-CGI effects actually exist in a real space makes a difference. The intangibles sway me as well, as the simple fact that I know someone needed to physically build and manipulate an element rather than just create it inside a computer.

To clarify: I don’t want to insult all of the CGI artists out there, for I think some of them do incredible work. I simply dislike Hollywood’s heavy dependence on the form and also the fact that this means the probable death of so many other kinds of effects. Everyone’s so heavily into CGI that there seems to be little reason for newcomers to invest their time in older forms.

One of the oldest kinds of physical effect, stop-motion animation brought life to classics like the original King Kong. The field reached its zenith with the pioneering work of Ray Harryhausen, arguably the most famous effects man of all-time.

Harryhausen’s film career concluded with 1981’s Clash of the Titans. It delivered a veritable feast of stop-motion animation that relied exceedingly heavily on his work.

Too heavily, if you ask me. Despite my affection for older methods of visual effects, they clearly have their flaws, and Titans exposed many of them.

To be sure, the movie boasts its charms and seems entertaining as a whole. However, I think it goes overboard in its use of different effects elements.

Perseus exists as the spawn of king of the gods Zeus (Laurence Olivier) and beautiful mortal Danae (Vida Taylor). When her father King Acrisius of Argos (Donald Houston) casts Danae and the infant Perseus into the sea, Zeus has the pair rescued and relocated to the island of Seriphos, where Perseus grows to manhood.

The adult Perseus (Harry Hamlin) begins a quest to return to his rightful throne in Argos, which Zeus had destroyed as punishment for Acrisius’ act. As Perseus heads home, he starts to learn his place in the grand scheme of things.

At times, the flick feels like the computer adventure games I played in the 1980s. Perseus goes from place to place to retrieve objects and slay creatures without any real sense of plot or character development, so the movie suffers from a fragmented tale that never really comes together.

Despite the seemingly capricious nature of the story, Clash manages to offer some fun. It’s an awkward flick, as exposition gets tacked on in unnatural ways.

For example, Zeus’ introduction of the other gods makes no sense because he states their roles as he chats with them. Shouldn’t these folks already be really aware of who they are and what they do? In a movie filled with lots of different – and semi-complicated – personalities, those moments become a distraction at times.

Despite that, the film contains enough adventure to seem moderately compelling. Actually, on the surface Clash appears weak.

As I break down the various elements, most of them come across as flawed. Despite a fairly strong cast, the acting doesn’t stand out from the crowd. Major talents like Olivier and Maggie Smith phone in their work, and both Hamlin and Judi Bowker as Princess Andromeda seem attractive but dull.

The effects material in Clash doesn’t represent Harryhausen’s finest hour. The work appears ambitious – probably too ambitious, really.

Quite a few scenes include stop-motion animation for no apparent reason. For example, Neil McCarthy plays deformed monster Calibos for close-ups, but in wide shots we go to a puppet.

Why? Sure, the puppet moves his tail, but those elements easily could have been achieved alongside the real-life McCarthy.

The same goes for the Medusa, as there was no need to feature her solely via stop-motion. The sequences seem interesting but pointless, and they take me out of the film.

Probably the most effective animated character comes from Bubo the mechanical owl. As a robotic creature, he’s supposed to seem somewhat stiff and artificial, so it made more sense for him to be a stop-motion creation.

Even Bubo has his problems, though. Nonetheless, I think a lot of these stem from the progress seen in effects since 1981, as back then, Bubo really impressed me, but he looks pretty cheesy now.

One might argue that Bubo’s the best-acted and most memorable character in Clash of the Titans. Overall, the movie seems watchable and generally entertaining, but it fails to become more than that.

Clash stands as a historical footnote since it delivers the last hurrah of Ray Harryhausen. Otherwise, it doesn’t seem terribly memorable.


The Disc Grades: Picture B/ Audio B+/ Bonus C

Clash of the Titans appears in an aspect ratio of approximately 1.85:1 on this Blu-ray Disc. The nature of the source made this a good but erratic image.

Sharpness seemed inconsistent but usually appeared positive. Most of the movie presented a reasonably crisp and detailed image despite sporadic soft shots.

I noted no problems related to jagged edges or shimmering, and I also detected no signs of edge haloes. Grain felt natural – albeit heavy thanks to all the effects work involved – and I witnessed no print flaws.

For the most part, colors looked vibrant and distinct. Titans featured a somewhat hazy look that fit the mythological setting and all that grain took a toll, but the hues usually seemed fairly clear and accurate.

Black levels came across with fairly solid depth and outside of the inevitable murkiness in day for night shots, low-light elements felt clear. No one will view this as a visual showcase but the Blu-ray did well with a challenging source.

Downconverted to Dolby TrueHD 7.1, the remixed Dolby Atmos soundtrack of Clash of the Titans provided a positive affair. The soundfield seemed active and involving.

Music showed nice stereo imaging, while effects spread smoothly across the forward spectrum. In addition to some localized speech, the effects seemed accurately placed and they blended together neatly and efficiently.

The surrounds added a nice sense of environment, especially during the action sequences. The material moved nicely around the spectrum and provided a fairly convincing setting.

Audio quality seemed a bit more average for the era but the sound still worked well. Speech seemed somewhat flat but the lines always remained intelligible, and the lines demonstrated no problems related to edginess.

Effects came across as moderately thin with some boomy bass, but those elements sounded fine for an older flick. The effects offered no significant distortion, and most of the material appeared acceptably vivid and clean.

Music fared best of all, as the movie presented a nicely bright and rich score. Overall, the audio for Clash of the Titans has held up nicely over the decades.

How did this 2026 Arrow Blu-ray compare to the prior BD from 2010? The Arrow’s Atmos track became a bit more involving but I thought it offered only moderate expansion compared to the 2010 version’s DTS-HD MA 5.1.

As for visual quality, the Arrow Blu-ray lacked the 2010’s print flaws and it felt more accurate and clear. The nature of the grainy source restricted improvements but this still turned into the more satisfying of the pair.

This 2026 Arrow release mixes old and new extras, and we find Ray Harryhausen & Charles Schneer at the BFI, an audio recording that plays along with the film for its initial one hour, 33 minutes, five seconds. Recorded in 1970, it combines creature effects creator Ray Harryhausen with longtime producer Charles Schneer.

They dig into the history of stop-motion animation as well as their work. On the negative side, it can become tough to hear audience questions, and some of the material relates to visuals we can’t see.

Still, we get a good look at the topics. Harryhausen covers the technical side of filmmaking while Schneer takes the bigger picture in this informative piece.

In the same vein, we get Ray Harryhausen at the BFI. Taped in 1981, it gives us an audio reel that runs alongside the first one hour, 23 minutes, three seconds of Clash.

A session that took place after a screening of Clash, creature effects creator Harryhausen gives a live chat that covers domains similar to those in the 1970 recording but with the addition of notes related to Clash.

Inevitably, we find some repeated facts and stories. However, Harryhausen brings enough new material to make this a good session.

We get more extras on a separate Blu-ray, the first two of which also appeared on the prior BD. A Conversation with Ray Harryhausen offers exactly what one might expect: a 12-minute, 14-second program in which the special effects legend discusses his work.

Harryhausen briefly goes over his early career and also ends with his thoughts about fantasy films in general, but mostly he covers his efforts for Titans. He provides some good general notes about the flick as well as some specifics about his creations during this reasonably interesting piece.

Myths and Monsters allows us to learn more about the film’s creatures so we get short discussions of Calibos, Bubo, Pegasus, the scorpions, Medusa, the Kraken, and Dioskilos. Each of these segments offers quick notes from Harryhausen about the different characters.

The segments run between 41 seconds and 113 seconds for a total of eight minutes, 35 seconds of footage. Some of Harryhausen’s comments seem bland – such as his quick discussion of Bubo – but most appear quite useful. He explains topics like the inclusion of the live actor for Calibos and covers a number of other nice details.

New to the Arrow release, we find a documentary entitled Courage & Imagination. It spans one hour, 48 minutes, seven seconds and brings info from film scholars David Cairns and Fiona Watson, filmmakers Joe Dante and John Landis, special effects artist Randall William Cook, Harryhausen’s daughter Vanessa, and Ray and Diana Harryhausen Foundation collections manager Connor Heaney. Archival remarks from Ray Harryhausen also appear.

“Courage” examines the participants’ interest in Ray Harryhausen’s work and its impact on them as well as Harryhausen’s career, with some emphasis on Clash. With so much else about Harryhausen’s life elsewhere in the set, we don’t get a ton of new information here, but “Courage” still offers an enjoyable enough overview and the elements specific to Clash add value.

Along with two trailers, we locate six image galleries that cover “Costume Designs” (20), “Behind the Scenes” (3), “Pressbook” (8), “Posters” (13), “Color Stills” (133) and “Black & White Stills” (70). These create a good collection of elements.

As the final work from effects legend Ray Harryhausen, Clash of the Titans merits notice for historical reasons, but the movie itself seems fairly lackluster. To be sure, it provides a moderate amount of entertainment, but the whole feels like less than the sum of its parts. The Blu-ray offers appropriate visuals along with surprisingly positive audio and a strong roster of extras. Arrow makes this a quality release for an inconsistent film.

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