-40%
Valley of Gwangi Ray Harryhausen Stop Motion Animation Dinosaur Monster Poster
$ 52.77
- Description
- Size Guide
Description
Valley of Gwangi King Kong Stop Motion Animation Dinosaur Monster Poster 30X40Valley of Gwangi Ray Harryhausen King Kong Stop Motion Animation Dinosaur Monster Western and The Good Guys and the Bad Guys Combo Double-Feature British Quad 30X40 Vintage Original 1969 Movie Theatre Poster
Click images to enlarge
Description
THIS IS A NO RESERVE AUCTION!
PLEASE SCROLL DOWN FOR FRESHLY SHOT PICS OF THIS
VERY FINE VINTAGE ORIGINAL 30X40 FOLDED BRITISH QUAD~ A LITTLE WEAR AT THE BOTTOM BORDER ~SEE ALL PICS~~GENERAL WEAR FROM AGE BUT REALLY NO PROBLEMS~GREAT LOOKING POSTER ~~~VERY VERY NICE DISPLAY
VERY NICE CONDITION
EXCELLENT~ VINTAGE ORIGINAL SCI-FI/WETERN /HORROR STOP-MOTION ANIMATION RAY HARRYHAUSEN AND MUCH MORE GEM~
NO SURPRISES HERE...WHAT YOU SEE AND WHAT I DESCRIBE IS WHAT YOU GET AND YOU MUST BE HAPPY!..
AND YOU WILL BE!
ANY GLARE IS FROM THE CAMERA FLASH!
THE VALLEY OF GWANGI plus THE GOOD GUYS AND THE BAD GUYS
ALL-NEW DOUBLE THRILLS! MONSTERS ON A RAMPAGE IN THE LOST WORLD OF FORBIDDEN VALLEY!
PLUS...
THE GOOD GUYS AND THE BAD GUYS
Valley of Gwangi Ray Harryhausen King Kong Stop Motion Animation Dinosaur Monster Western and The Good Guys and the Bad Guys Combo Double-Feature British Quad 30X40 Vintage Original 1969 Movie Theatre Poster
WACKY MONSTROUS IMAGE OF MONSTER DINOSAUR GWANGI FIGHTING COWBOYS AND MUCH MORE!
The Valley of Gwangi is a 1969 American western-fantasy film directed by Jim O'Connolly and written by William Bast. It stars James Franciscus and, in their final film appearances, Richard Carlson and Gila Golan. It was filmed in Technicolor with creature effects provided by Ray Harryhausen, the last dinosaur-themed film to be animated by him. Harryhausen had inherited the project from his mentor Willis O'Brien, the special effects master behind the original King Kong, who had planned to make The Valley of Gwangi decades earlier and died six years before this completed film was realized.
Mexico at the turn of the 20th century, a beautiful cowgirl named T.J. Breckenridge (Gila Golan) hosts a struggling rodeo. Her former lover Tuck Kirby (James Franciscus), a heroic former stuntman working for Buffalo Bill's Wild West show, wants to buy her out. Along the way, he is followed by a Mexican boy named Lope (Curtis Arden), who intends to join the rodeo on a quest for fame and fortune. T.J. is not interested in Tuck because of this, but Tuck is still attracted to T.J., especially when T.J. jumps off a diving board on her horse. T.J. finally accepts Tuck when he saves a matador from a bull and the two kiss on the lips.
T.J. has an ace she hopes will boost attendance at her show - a tiny horse, El Diablo. Tuck meets a British paleontologist named Horace Bromley (Laurence Naismith), who is working in a nearby Mexican desert. Bromley shows Tuck fossilized horse tracks, and Tuck notes their similarity to El Diablo's feet. Tuck sneaks Bromley into the circus for a look at El Diablo, and Bromley declares the horse to be an Eohippus.
The tiny horse came from a place known as the Forbidden Valley. A Gypsy known as Tia Zorina (Freda Jackson) claims that the horse is cursed, and demands that it must be returned. Later, she and other gypsies collaborate with Bromley to steal El Diablo and release him in the valley. Bromley hopes to follow the horse to its home in search of other prehistoric specimens. Carlos (Gustavo Rojo), an ex-member of the Gypsy tribe now working for T.J.'s circus, walks in on the theft and tries to stop it, but is knocked out.
Tuck arrives just as the Gypsy posse leaves. Carlos sees him as he is regaining consciousness. Tuck notices that the horse is missing, and sets off after Bromley. When T.J. and her crew discover Carlos, Carlos claims that Tuck has stolen El Diablo for himself. Carlos, T.J., and the others decide to follow Tuck and Bromley into the valley.
Making their way into the Forbidden Valley, Tuck, T.J., and the rest of the group meet up and soon discover why the valley is said to be cursed when a Pteranodon swoops down and snatches Lope but due to the weight it falls back to the ground. After Carlos kills the Pteranodon by twisting its neck, they spot an Ornithomimus, a small dinosaur which they chase after in the hopes of capturing it. Just as the Ornithomimus is about to escape, it is killed by Gwangi, a vicious Allosaurus which chases Bromley and the rest of the group. However, a Styracosaurus appears and drives Gwangi away. As Gwangi leaves, he takes the dead Pteranodon with him.
Later, Gwangi pursues the people to their base camp and the cowboys try to rope him down but he breaks free when the Styracosaurus reappears. When the styracosaurus battles Gwangi, Gwangi kills it with Carlos' help.
Gwangi manages to catch and kill Carlos, but is knocked out while trying to exit the valley in pursuit of the rest of the group. Securing the creature, Tuck and other men in the group take Gwangi back to town to be put on display in T.J.'s show. On the opening day of the show, a Gypsy dwarf sneaks in and begins to unlock Gwangi's cage in an effort to free him, only to be killed and eaten when Gwangi breaks free. The crowd begins to flee as Gwangi attacks, and Tia Zorina is trampled to death in the chaos. Bromley is crushed by a broken piece of the cage, and Gwangi attacks and kills a circus elephant before rampaging through the town. Tuck, accompanied by T.J. and Lope, tries to hide the crowd in a cathedral, but Gwangi finds them and breaks in. Tuck urges the crowd out through a back exit, leaving Tuck inside with Gwangi, T.J., and Lope.
Gwangi tries to eat Lope, but Tuck manages to distract him by stabbing him with a flag. Tuck is eventually able to throw a torch onto the floor near Gwangi, setting the building on fire. Tuck and the others manage to escape and lock the door behind them, trapping Gwangi in the burning building. Roaring in agony, Gwangi dies in the fire as Tuck, T.J., the crowd, Lope (with tears in his eyes), and the townspeople look on.
Gwangi was originally conceived by Willis O'Brien , the man who created the special effects for the original King Kong (1933). The plot was inspired by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's book The Lost World (1912), with added elements from King Kong (capturing a monster and bringing it to civilisation where it runs amok). In O'Brien's scenario, then called Valley of the Mists, cowboys discover an Allosaurus in the Grand Canyon. After finally roping the dinosaur, they put it in a Wild West show, but the creature, now called Gwangi, breaks free and fights lions in the show that have also escaped. After killing the lions, Gwangi goes on a rampage around the town and is run off a cliff by a man in a truck. O'Brien died before The Valley of Gwangi was filmed. A similar film, The Beast of Hollow Mountain, appeared in 1956, produced by O'Brien and a Mexican film company with the same story. Harryhausen was not involved with the visual effects for that film.
Gwangi was described in O'Brien's original script as an 'Allosaurus', although O'Brien apparently didn't draw much distinction between Allosaurus and T. rex, as he also referred to the T. rex in the original King Kong (modeled by Marcel Delgado) as an allosaur. According to Ray Harryhausen, his own version of Gwangi (and O'Brien's Gwangi too, as well as Delgado's Kong T. rex) was based on a Charles Knight painting of a T. rex - one of the two most famous paintings by Knight, and one that is instantly recognizable by the eye being placed too far forward on the skull (this was based on concurrently incomplete skeletal remains and the eye was mistakenly placed in one of the nasal sockets), as well as incorrectly portraying T. rex with a three-fingered hand. This famous T. rex image is also reflected in Harryhausen's Rhedosaurus in 'The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms', and even in the 2005 King Kong's 'Vastatosaurus'. In a DVD interview Harryhausen said "We sometimes called it an 'Allosaurus'... They're both meat eaters, they're both Tyrants... one was just a bit larger than the other." Gwangi was scaled to be 14 feet tall, within the size range of an average adult T. rex (although not the largest), and at the upper limit of the largest Allosaurus specimens.
The Valley of Gwangi was the last dinosaur-themed film that Harryhausen animated, and he made much use of his experience in depicting extinct animals from his earlier films. Close to a year was spent on the special effects (there were over 300 'Dynamation' cuts in the film, a record number for Harryhausen), with the roping of Gwangi being the most labour-intensive animated sequence. It was achieved by having the actors hold on to ropes tied to a "monster stick" that was in the back of a Jeep. The jeep and stick when filmed with Gwangi are on a back rear projection plate and hidden by his body, and the portions of rope attached to his body are painted wires that are matched with the real ropes. The coo
rdination of Gwangi's animation with live actors on horseback (and the horses appearing to react to Gwangi) was particularly difficult to film, and the source of an editorial lapse in a following scene. Gwangi bites through the ropes around his neck when first lassoed and later has his jaws roped together when unconscious. However, he is then shown being transported in a cart again held only by ropes around his neck but with jaws now un-bound.
The first animated sequence in the film is a diving act done by T.J. and her horse. Because it was decided that it was too risky to have a rider and horse jump off a 40-foot high platform into a tank of water, a model horse and rider were used. After tempting Gila Golan's horse to jump from a mock-up platform onto a trampoline, the film cut to an animated model suspended on wires (actually it was just a tiny toy horse and rider bought in a toyshop). The splash was real, triggered by an electric charge inside the tank.
The Eohippus horse was well animated and is a delight to see in the film. After local Gypsies steal it, it is released into the Forbidden Valley. For all the scenes where the cowboys are chasing the creature, the animated model was used. However, in one long shot, a baby goat was used instead because the model would have been far too small.
The pterosaurs were mistakenly given bat's wings (with elongate fingers supporting the membrane; pterosaurs had one finger forming the wing's leading edge but none on the membrane). The wings appear to mimic those of a pterosaur from an earlier Harryhausen film, One Million Years BC (1966). Close-up sequences of the pterosaurs in Gwangi were provided by life-size models. For the scene when Lope is snatched from his horse by the Pteranodon, the boy was raised by wires painted out in the studio and Ray animated the eight-inch high model pterodactyl to correspond with his movements. However, once the creature gets up to a certain altitude the real boy was replaced with a model which was used until he crawls away from the creature which is being killed by Carlos on the ground. Bromley the paleontologist mistakenly calls it a Pterodactyl (a common error) while he is inspecting it on the ground.
The scene where Gwangi pounces on the Ornithomimus has been copied many times in dinosaur movies, primarily in Jurassic Park, when the Tyrannosaurus Rex pounces on the raptors. The smaller dinosaur had never appeared on the movie screen before and although its movements were unlikely it was one of Ray's favorite sequences in the film. The battle between Gwangi and the Styracosaurus is another great scene and features battle moves such as biting, stabbing, butting, and pinning. It is well planned and above all, very dramatic. After Gwangi is captured, he is whelled back to town in a cart and for several of the long shots of this scene the crew built and used a full-sized mock-up of Gwangi, again because an actual model would have been far too small.
Harryhausen originally planned to have used a real elephant in some of the scenes for the fight with Gwangi. This did not work out because Ray wanted to have used a 15-foot tall elephant (the world's biggest elephant was two feet shorter than this). So the live 8-foot elephant was only used in the beginning when T.J. is seen briefly riding on its back. For some of the elephant fight scenes Ray used the animation table as the bullring floor.
For Gwangi's death scene a number of special effects were used. When the torch hits the ground near Gwangi, the flames are seen quickly developing and surrounding Gwangi. The flames were added in by double printing the camera. The outside of the burning church was a mixture of composites: the lower half was the real church photographed on location in Spain, and the upper, burning half was a miniature, again added in by double printing the camera.
The model of the Eohippus was supposed to have had toes but appears to have had regular hooves with 'toes' painted on (the sound effects of the animal moving also resemble hooves). The model of the Styracosaurus featured an inflatable air 'bladder' to simulate the animal breathing heavily after its combat with Gwangi (a feature first used in models made for much earlier films by Marcel Delgado).
Some of the models used in the film featured were reused model armatures from earlier films. Gwangi, the Ornithomimus, and the Styracosaurus were all made from the Ceratosaurus, the phororhacos, and the Triceratops, who were stripped down and had their armatures modified for further use. The actual model of Gwangi was about 12 inches high and the Ornithomimus was about 8 inches high. A solid-latex, non-armatured model of Gwangi was also used for the scenes when he knocks himself out while trying to exit the valley in pursuit of the cowboys (Ray was never pleased with this, as the solid model looked awful).
Although the habitat shown in the Forbidden Valley was highly unlikely to have ever harbored large dinosaurs given its restricted canyons and sparse desert vegetation, the barren terrain may have made it easier to merge the stop-motion animation with live action sequences
.
VERY RARE AND VERY NICE INDEED! VERY FINE ~ GENERAL WEAR FROM AGE BUT REALLY NO PROBLEMS~GREAT LOOKING POSTER ~~~VERY VERY NICE DISPLAY
VERY RARE AND VERY COOL!
THIS IS AN ARTICLE I WROTE FOR "SCARY MONSTERS" MAGAZINE ABOUT GHOSTMASTER JACK BAKER...DR. SILKINI!
Direct From Hollywood!”
ASYLUM OF HORRORS!
A unique brand of entertainment in American Movie House history was known as the Midnight Ghost Show. From its rise in the late 1920’s to its eventual demise in the late 60’s, the Spook Show captured imaginations and thrilled audiences in movie houses and drive-ins around the country.
Midnight Ghost Shows or Spook Shows, later called Midnight Horror Shows, were orchestrated by a magician or “Spook Master,” and occurred live in the theatre before, between and after feature horror films. Spook Show operators would take their shows on the road to small theaters across the country. Thousands of dollars could easily be made with a good routine and the willingness to live a somewhat transient existence. Theater operators made easy money booking these shows, with little out of pocket expense. Because the shows typically began at midnight, when the theater would otherwise be closed, the theater owners risked nothing by booking them and were all but guaranteed a profit.
Elaborate advertising and posters were provided way in advance by the Spook Show operators, who mailed them to the theater with instructions about how to build up interest and suspense in their patrons. Intriguing posters often bearing shocking claims were placed in the movie house lobbies weeks before the show rolled into town for its one- night- stand.
Trailers for these events were shown with the feature films in the weeks leading up to the Spook Show, generating intense interest and advance tickets sales. Gimmicks such as give-aways and free passes were employed to great success, as was radio advertising. Advertising included such blurbs as, “SO SCARY WE DARE YOU TO SIT THROUGH IT ALL! IF YOU DO---YOU WIN FREE 2 FOR 1 PASSES TO A NEAR FUTURE MOVIE!” Another promised, “MONSTERS AND WEIRD BEAUTIES.” Or from the Ahmen Ra and His Weird Tomb of Terrors featuring the Mummy in Person, “MONSTERS GRAB GIRLS FROM THE AUDIENCE!”
The Spook Show phenomena began in the lavish theaters of the 1920’s where they were billed predominantly as midnight Magic Shows complete with magicians, seances, floating phantoms, illuminated spirits and often comedy as well. One of the unique aspects of these shows was the “blackout” where at the end of the show the theater lights would be turned off and glow-in-the-dark ghosts would appear to materialize overhead and on the stage, thrilling and terrifying audiences. Everything and anything could happen. Spiders would fly from the balcony, James Dean, Marilyn Monroe or Elvis Presley might materialize, if you were brave enough to sit through the whole show you might win a “dead body.” Then the feature film, generally a horror film, would be shown.
Some would consider one man to be the king of the Spook Show Circuit- Jack Baker.
John Kessler, later known as Jack Baker, was born in Detroit Michigan in 1914. He started his career in show business as a teenager, doing magic. He later went on to sell trade magazines and in his travels he was invited to a Midnight Ghost Show. When the mentalist, Mel-Roy didn’t show, Jack was tapped to do his magic act for the expectant audience. He was hooked.
In time young Kessler joined up with Wyman Baker. Adopted by Baker’s parents, (thus the change from Kessler to Baker) the two “brothers” teamed up to create “Dr. Silkini’s Spiritualistic Séance and Ghost Show in 1938: what would become the long-standing, “Asylum of Horrors.”
The advertising for the “Asylum of Horrors” promised Monsters and Fright but leaned towards a “Hellsapoppin’ type show, replete with laughs as well as shrieks. Typical Baker poster advertisement ‘ballyhoo’ for the Asylum of Horrors Show consisted of blurbs such as: “Eerie! See it Happen-right before your startled eyes- IN PERSON!…And on a rampage. DIRECT FROM HOLLYWOOD…THE FRANKENSTEIN MONSTER.”
The show was a big hit. In fact it broke box office records. Over the years, real movie actors from Universal Films such as Glenn Strange, Bela Lugosi and Lon Chaney Jr., made guest appearances in Jack’s show. Universal even gave Baker special permission to use their Frankenstein character in the show because they felt that it contributed to the popularity of their monster. At one point there were 7 “units” like franchises, doing the show around the country. For many years Asylum of Horrors was the most successful and lucrative Spook Show on the circuit and Jack Baker became known as the King of the Spook Shows.
The decline of Spook Shows had many causes; greed for profit, jaded audiences, television and cinemascope, (resulting in the removal of stages from movie theaters.) But perhaps there was more. In the advent of Abbott and Costello meeting all the monsters, the Addams Family and The Munsters, there was a saturation of comedy into horror that spelled doom for the whole shebang. Or perhaps too, the world was growing up, becoming more cynical, unwilling to suspend their disbelief even for a few short hours, when the Magic could happen.
HERE'S WHAT THE CUSTOMERS ARE SAYING!!!
I buy from Colossusofny often and am always pleased.
casarama
Nice vntg. item in great condition! FAST shpng. & friendly service!
thebonechief
Wasn't beauty killed the beast....twas COLOSSUS, The best EBAY has to offer!!
mo38
ED IS THE ULTIMATE SPOOK SHOW HISTORIAN AND COLLECTOR
cinemanure
Poster is in beautiful condition, thank you!
jlsx
Beautiful poster,good packing,fast shipping,A 1 Seller
shadowman_65
Honest, dependable, reliable, considerate dealer. Packaging flawless. Excellent
hinton1000
Unusual items, extremely low price, very happy with deal
buy4jim
EXCELLENT!!! Honest and pleasant ebayer, truly one of the best!! Thanks Ed!
rods-n-bods
Thanks Ed & thanks for the bonus card! Great poster & speedy delivery
greshplow
THE BEST OF THE BEST - FEEL WHAT ITS LIKE TO DEAL WITH A PRO - BID W/CONFIDENCE!
audiobknow
INCREDIBLE ..DON'T MISS IT!!!
POSTER WILL BE SENT FLAT FOLDED SECURELY
~ANY QUESTIONS OR MORE PICS PLEASE JUST ASK~
SENT FLAT FULLY PACKED TO THE WINNER!
FREE ANYWHERE IN THE U.S.A.
45.00 OVERSEAS
GO NOW!, BID AND WIN! WINNER CAN COMBINE ANY AND ALL WINS FOR ONE LOW SHIPPING PRICE OF
FREE
FOR WHAT IT TAKES HERE IN THE U.S.A.! ......
.00 FOR OUR FRIENDS OVERSEAS! NO RESERVE! LOW MINIMUM PAYPAL ONLY PLEASE AS EBAY STATES
I WILL BE AUCTIONING OFF SOME ONE OF A KIND RARE SPOOK SHOW ITEMS,VINTAGE COMIC BOOKS,SCI FI AND HORROR SEXPLOITATION ORIGINAL MOVIE POSTERS,8MM FILMS,NON SPORTS TRADING CARD WAX PACKS,KING KONG,VINTAGE MENS STAG MAGAZINES,DVD'S, VIDEOS, AND MORE IN THE UPCOMING WEEKS SO STAY TUNED, AND CHECK OUT OUR MANY OTHER FINE STUFF!!! PLEASE E-MAIL WITH ANY QUESTIONS AND QUERIES
Get images that
make Supersized seem small.
Showcase your items with Auctiva's
Listing Templates!
THE simple solution for eBay sellers.
Track Page Views With
Auctiva's FREE Counter