Jason and the Argonauts (1963)
Starring: Todd Armstrong as Jason, Nancy Kovack as Medea, Gary Raymond as Acastus, Laurence Naistmith as Argos, Honor Blackman as Hera, Niall MacGinnis as Zeus, Jack Gwillim as King Aeetes, Douglas Wilmer as Pelias, Nigel Green as Hercules, John Cairney as Hylas
Director: Don Chaffey
Production: Columbia Pictures corporation, Morningside Productions
Genre: Adventure | Fantasy | Family
Language: English
Runtime: 104 min
Short review (Spoilers Alert)
Jason and the Argonauts movie from the year 1963 is actually pretty good. I went into it with low expectations despite seeing a reasonable imdb rating. Although the plot is not original, It was a positive surprise how they managed to open up the movie in such a short time and very well. Almost all matched the true myth of Jason. Pelias did not want to kill Jason because he was told by so called priestess, who was actually Hera, that if he killed Jason, he would be destroyed himself. So he gave Jason all the resources at his disposal, when Jason asked to get the Fleece for his kingdom which would end famine and wars and restore prosperity. He went to Argos with the request for the ship and assemled all the great heroes, including Pollux, Castor, Hylas and, the mightiest of all, Heracles. The travel in this movie is only one way, they are not coming back. Perhaps they wanted to make the second movie but it seems that all collapsed after. On the way to the distant land, there are some events included that happen on the way back, but that's ok because it's easily watchable. The rest, more or less, stick to the myth of Jason which is really a good thing.
The acting is far better than in nowadays films. Actors are convincing. The effects are not good enough for today's standards, but I can only imagine how proud they must have been back then. I mean, it's not so bad after all, as it didn't bother me. But that's me. Anyway, what I also wanted to mention is the music and sound effects. Very good! The overall aspect of the movie is good and I would recommend anyone to watch it, even though they might had already seen it in the past.