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Harryhausen: The Lost Movies
The official guide to the unrealised films of Ray Harryhausen.
Known for his iconic stop-motion creatures, Ray Harryhausen was at the forefront of Hollywood special effects for much of the 20th century. His films include One Million Years B.C., Clash of the Titans and Jason and the Argonauts, among others. But for every film that reaches the big screen, half a dozen projects are never realised.
Harryhausen: The Lost Movies explores Harryhausen's unrealised films, including unused ideas, projects he turned down and scenes that ended up on the cutting room floor. This book includes never-been-seen-before artwork, sketches, photos and test footage from the Harryhausen Foundation archives.
Known for his iconic stop-motion creatures, Ray Harryhausen was at the forefront of Hollywood special effects for much of the 20th century. His films include One Million Years B.C., Clash of the Titans and Jason and the Argonauts, among others. But for every film that reaches the big screen, half a dozen projects are never realised.
Harryhausen: The Lost Movies explores Harryhausen's unrealised films, including unused ideas, projects he turned down and scenes that ended up on the cutting room floor. This book includes never-been-seen-before artwork, sketches, photos and test footage from the Harryhausen Foundation archives.
192 pages, Hardcover
First published September 10, 2019
3 people are currently reading
76 people want to read
About the author
John Walsh
9 books46 followersJohn Walsh is a double BAFTA and double Grierson-nominated filmmaker, best-selling author and founder of Walsh Bros Ltd, one of the UK’s top 100 production companies.
John met Ray Harryhausen as a film student to make a documentary about his life and work. Today, John is a Trustee of the Ray & Diana Harryhausen Foundation and, in 2021, founded the Harryhausen Awards.
His books include Harryhausen The Lost Movies and his acclaimed non-fiction Official Story of the Film series with titles on Flash Gordon, Escape From New York and Dr Who & The Daleks. All four Rondo Award Nominees for “Book of the Year”. 2023 saw the release of Conan The Barbarian, and The Wicker Man. 2024 saw the publication of The Third Man: The Official Story of the Film, celebrating the 75th anniversary of “The best British film of all time.” New book in 2025, Gladiator II: The Art and Making of the Ridley Scott Film.
John's notable film and television work includes the historical feature film Monarch, restored and remastered after John tracked down the original 35mm camera negative in a film vault and was the subject of a BBC News story about lost films and is now available on Prime Video.
ToryBoy The Movie was nominated for the Grierson Award for “Best Documentary on a Contemporary Theme.” The film unlocked politics to a broad audience and is Britain’s most successful political documentary feature film. It is now available on Prime Video.
John’s landmark Grierson-nominated homeless series Headhunting The Homeless for BBC2 lifted the lid on the corporate world and today’s most vulnerable adults. Sofa Surfers for the BBC was television’s first homeless series for children and was Rose d'Or nominated. The BAFTA-nominated Don’t Make Me Angry brought clinical psychology into the home environment for the first time. All programmes can be viewed in full on the Walsh Bros YouTube Channel.
John met Ray Harryhausen as a film student to make a documentary about his life and work. Today, John is a Trustee of the Ray & Diana Harryhausen Foundation and, in 2021, founded the Harryhausen Awards.
His books include Harryhausen The Lost Movies and his acclaimed non-fiction Official Story of the Film series with titles on Flash Gordon, Escape From New York and Dr Who & The Daleks. All four Rondo Award Nominees for “Book of the Year”. 2023 saw the release of Conan The Barbarian, and The Wicker Man. 2024 saw the publication of The Third Man: The Official Story of the Film, celebrating the 75th anniversary of “The best British film of all time.” New book in 2025, Gladiator II: The Art and Making of the Ridley Scott Film.
John's notable film and television work includes the historical feature film Monarch, restored and remastered after John tracked down the original 35mm camera negative in a film vault and was the subject of a BBC News story about lost films and is now available on Prime Video.
ToryBoy The Movie was nominated for the Grierson Award for “Best Documentary on a Contemporary Theme.” The film unlocked politics to a broad audience and is Britain’s most successful political documentary feature film. It is now available on Prime Video.
John’s landmark Grierson-nominated homeless series Headhunting The Homeless for BBC2 lifted the lid on the corporate world and today’s most vulnerable adults. Sofa Surfers for the BBC was television’s first homeless series for children and was Rose d'Or nominated. The BAFTA-nominated Don’t Make Me Angry brought clinical psychology into the home environment for the first time. All programmes can be viewed in full on the Walsh Bros YouTube Channel.
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
June 4, 2022
A fascinating book about the movies stop motion master Ray Harryhausen never got to make. It's interesting to see how often he was able to take a cool creature or monster he meant to use in one movie and make it work in another. It's also a little sad to read about those projects that would have made wonderful movies but simply didn't get made for various reasons. The world is a sadder place because movies involving Sinbad fighting dinosaurs or traveling to Mars never got made.
February 8, 2021
Once one gets over lamenting the what-could-have-beens, this trip through unrealized projects and dropped scenes from final films is lovingly assembled and presented. Just beautiful and enlightening.
January 19, 2022
'Harryhausen: The Lost Movies' explores the many unrealised projects undertaken the master of special effects, Ray Harryhausen; a man responsible for some of my earliest and most cherished cinematic memories.
As a one man industry, Harryhausen was responsible for more than just the incredible stop-motion animation that populated classics such as 'Jason and the Argonauts' and 'Clash of the Titans'. Behind the scenes, he was also responsible for the creation of screenplays and artwork, for directing actors on set, and then for eventually advertising and promoting the finished movies. To discover that there were some 80+ unmade films from his already prolific career was staggering.
Delving into the archive which was left by the great man for posterity, some incredible lost treasures have been shared here. Author John Walsh has set out this book in a chronological fashion, exploring the films that Ray was never able to make, alongside famous films that he was offered or asked to work upon. This allows for an in-depth exploration of Harryhausen's creative talents, as well as his practicality and tenacity in dealing with the film industry. It is incredible to see the amount of work which went into projects such as 'War of the Worlds' or 'Force of the Trojans', and much of the artwork here has been newly uncovered for this book. The publication's landscape format is perfect, with a classy layout and fascinating introduction from a variety of famous filmmakers.
This book is a must for fans of Ray Harryhausen's work, or of classic cinema in general. The book also contains an important lesson for fans of all ages, on the importance of persistence and determination when dealing with the often harsh lessons of creative life.
As a one man industry, Harryhausen was responsible for more than just the incredible stop-motion animation that populated classics such as 'Jason and the Argonauts' and 'Clash of the Titans'. Behind the scenes, he was also responsible for the creation of screenplays and artwork, for directing actors on set, and then for eventually advertising and promoting the finished movies. To discover that there were some 80+ unmade films from his already prolific career was staggering.
Delving into the archive which was left by the great man for posterity, some incredible lost treasures have been shared here. Author John Walsh has set out this book in a chronological fashion, exploring the films that Ray was never able to make, alongside famous films that he was offered or asked to work upon. This allows for an in-depth exploration of Harryhausen's creative talents, as well as his practicality and tenacity in dealing with the film industry. It is incredible to see the amount of work which went into projects such as 'War of the Worlds' or 'Force of the Trojans', and much of the artwork here has been newly uncovered for this book. The publication's landscape format is perfect, with a classy layout and fascinating introduction from a variety of famous filmmakers.
This book is a must for fans of Ray Harryhausen's work, or of classic cinema in general. The book also contains an important lesson for fans of all ages, on the importance of persistence and determination when dealing with the often harsh lessons of creative life.
January 19, 2022
I received this book today and was delighted with it. It is lavishly illustrated (the incredible pencil illustrations are detailed and large) and extremely informative. There are some concept covers from other artists here, based on Harryhausen's work (namely 'The War of the Worlds' project idea) and the intriguing vision it would have portrayed. The author has produced a fine piece of work, based on mainly Ray's film ideas that didn't quite pan-out, but of which is a historical record of a man who was quite simply a genius. The cover is beautifully presented and the book itself is attractive. It's also nice to know that it is sensibly sectioned, regarding proposed and produced films. Superb ... and congratulations to John Walsh for an insightful history. Purchase the book - it's a beauty.
January 19, 2022
I have been watching Ray Harryhausen movies since I was a kid. 'Earth vs The Flying Saucers', Mysterious Island, through to the Jason and The Argonauts/Sinbad etc. Even today, his work is more realistic than much of the cheaply made CGI work on television shows and some major films. I even had the privilege of seeing some of the models at an exhibition over 30 years ago. They are stunningly detailed close up and have recently been restored for an Exhibition (I recommend the Titan of Cinema book which accompanies it). But onto this book: it is the third Harryhausen book in my collection now and is a worthy addition. Ray was a great artist/visionary as well as an animator and seeing his work displayed in this way is always a joy. Some of this has never been seen before, so thank you to the author, John Walsh, for keeping the memory alive and supporting the Harryhausen Foundation.
January 19, 2022
If you know a fan of stop motion animation, film making, or science fiction - chances are they have heard of the legendary Ray Harryhausen.
Ray, in many ways was ahead of his time in the areas of special effects and film making, so much so that long after he retired, the great directors and film artists will openly admit to trying to capture some of the charm, personality, and thrill of his creations.
This book covers the many films and project that Ray was affiliated with that were ultimately never produced, or, at least during his lifetime. It is a fantastic behind-the-scenes journey that follows his career, his art and his imagination right up until the end. It is also written by the fantastic Mr. John Walsh, who is himself a film maker, writer and trustee of the Ray and Diane Harryhausen foundation. Mr. Walsh does a great job of making sure that the fun, interesting details, projects and art are given their proper due in this book and no amount of effort was spared in creating it.
Ray, in many ways was ahead of his time in the areas of special effects and film making, so much so that long after he retired, the great directors and film artists will openly admit to trying to capture some of the charm, personality, and thrill of his creations.
This book covers the many films and project that Ray was affiliated with that were ultimately never produced, or, at least during his lifetime. It is a fantastic behind-the-scenes journey that follows his career, his art and his imagination right up until the end. It is also written by the fantastic Mr. John Walsh, who is himself a film maker, writer and trustee of the Ray and Diane Harryhausen foundation. Mr. Walsh does a great job of making sure that the fun, interesting details, projects and art are given their proper due in this book and no amount of effort was spared in creating it.
September 8, 2025
Really great book of the unfinished and half-done or cut-for-time/budget scenes and movies of Ray Harryhausen. Super in-depth deep dive on it. It's always refreshing to see that for every masterwork out there, there's usually about three dozen abandoned, failed, or uncompleted projects by the same artist. The creativity, passion and the work ethic needs to keep trucking because 'getting ideas' is not the issue. He, like a lot of creatives, was a fire hose of ideas and if stuff doesn't work out, load another project into the clip and start filming. Some pretty wild stuff that didn't get made. Well worth a read for the Harryhausen fans out there.
May 17, 2020
A fairly informative look at Harryhausen's unrealized projects that goes into a fair bit of detail on some and much less detail on others. Probably as complete as it could be, given the fact that Harryhausen is no longer with us, but I still just wish there was a little more to it.
There are also quite a few typos which is just a minor annoyance, but definitely less than ideal for such an otherwise-handsomely-produced book.
There are also quite a few typos which is just a minor annoyance, but definitely less than ideal for such an otherwise-handsomely-produced book.
September 5, 2023
Lavish picture book.
My favorite quote from Ray Harryhausen: "If you make it too real, it destroys the fantasy. Fantasy is supposed to [have] a dream quality, and stop-motion gives it that element."
Jonathan Webb: "Ray thought the magic was going out of special effects. CGI makes things look real, but not as magical."
My favorite quote from Ray Harryhausen: "If you make it too real, it destroys the fantasy. Fantasy is supposed to [have] a dream quality, and stop-motion gives it that element."
Jonathan Webb: "Ray thought the magic was going out of special effects. CGI makes things look real, but not as magical."
January 12, 2025
This book is an excellent read and showcases so many projects that I wish could have happened in Mr. Harryhausen’s life.
Readers will love seeing the many illustrations, and reading about both unused ideas and ideas that were scrapped for whatever reason.
Pretty straightforward: Harryhausen fans, film historians, special effects enthusiasts, dive in!
Readers will love seeing the many illustrations, and reading about both unused ideas and ideas that were scrapped for whatever reason.
Pretty straightforward: Harryhausen fans, film historians, special effects enthusiasts, dive in!
April 24, 2021
Intriguing look at all the ideas Harryhausen had but didn't get to make, along with projects he was offered but turned out. Tons of great Harryhausen artwork and models as well.
January 30, 2024
John Walsh has created a seminal book on the career of a giant of cinema. Impossible not to have it in your collection.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews