The tale of Jason and his quest for the Golden Fleece marks the greatest achievement of stop-motion animator Ray Harryhausen. For those of us of a certain age, this was cinema at its finest, derring-do, walking skeletons, Gods and monsters. Let's hear it for a brilliant Bernard Herrmann score too. Highly recommended.

The best of the many films based on Greek myth, primarily because the script has depth and is not just a frame to hang Harryhausen's effects upon. This is something other films of this ilk need to remember, especially when their vaunted digital effects will look as quaint as stop-motion a half-century on.

And the performances are equally fine, though I am sure British moviegoers must have been confused to hear the Invisible Man's voice coming out of Jason! Standouts: Nigel Green's blowhard of a Hercules, suddenly humbled and saddened by the loss of his friend, left to reflect while searching for Hylas, who is obviously dead. And Patrick Troughton's tortured blind seer, who brings a Shakespearian pathos to his small role ("Zeus, I was a sinner. I've never tried to deny it. But I didn't sin every day. Why then do you punish me every day?") A Marvelous film.