Jason and the Argonauts

Jolly juvenile adventure in which Jason (the rather stolid Armstrong) is aided - or hindered - by assorted whimsical gods on Olympus as he quests for the Golden Fleece, and the film itself is given an enormous boost by Ray Harryhausen's special effects. The bronze Titan is an arthritic disappointment, but most of the other inventions are pleasingly imaginative, not least the army of waspishly pugnacious, sword-wielding skeletons which pop out of the ground when the Hydra's teeth are sown. Great fun, as these things go, with a Bernard Herrmann score to boot.