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This blog is dedicated to Malta - my island home. My aim is not to bore you with history but to share my thoughts and a few facts together with a photo or two. For a more in -depth background of the island please go here. The purpose of this blog is not to point out the short-comings of the island. There are plenty that do that already. My wish is to show you the beauty of an island at the cross roads of the Mediterranean, a melting pot of history; a place where fact and fiction are sometimes fused to create unique myths and legends; a country that has been conquered so many times that our culture is a mish mesh of the lands that surround us and of lands far away. I confess that my greatest desire is to make you fall in love with this tiny enchanting island.

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Tuesday 24 July 2012

Malta And The Movies (2): Clash Of The Titans (1981 version)

It’s hard to believe that so many years have passed since this movie first came out and that it has now been re-released. Prior to the advent of computer generated animation, a special effects technique known as stop motion animation was used to create the mythological creatures in the movie. Clash Of The Titans is an adaptation of the Greek myth of Perseus and his quest to destroy both the Gorgon, Medusa, and the Kraken sea monster to save princess Andromeda. The storyline in the movie is rather different from the original myth – but then, movies usually are. Laurence Olivier as Zeus, Ursula Andress as Aphrodite, Harry Hamlin as Perseus and Claire Bloom as Hera were amongst the stellar cast.

Although many people are familiar with the original movie and have probably seen it, not many people know that a portion of the movie was filmed on the island of Gozo (one of the three major islands that make up the Maltese archipelago). The scene below, with the Kraken rising out of the sea, was filmed at the Azure Window, one of the most recognisable landmarks in Gozo. The clip is a bit long but you can see the Azure Window at 1:19.

 

1 comment:

  1. How cool!

    I watched this movie a lot as a kid. I remember the first time we viewed it, we convinced my uncle who was babysitting us to 'pretend to be our parental guidance' since the movie was rated PG.

    ReplyDelete

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